Reserve Georgia safety Jake Pope was caught on camera after the Ole Miss game and it appeared as if he was celebrating with Rebel fans. Kirby Smart had a chance to speak on the issue earlier today, condemning it pretty heavily. Soon after Smart was done speaking, Pope put out his own comment.

“I wanted to address the videos that have been put out after the Ole Miss game,” Pope said via various social media platforms. “First and foremost I wanted to say sorry for the way it was taken out of perspective and has caused distractions/commotion for my teammates and coaches. This is not representative of who I am in any way. In no way, shape or form would I ever celebrate a loss in this program and anyone who knows me well knows that.

“My long time family friends had came up to me unexpectedly after the game as I was trying to get off the field to safety and were extremely excited to see me after the game. I was also surprised to see them as well and that’s why you saw the reaction that I gave via the video. They are also very close with my former teammate and long time friend on the Ole Miss team which is why they have those jerseys on. (They have come to my games as well.) I am Georgia through thick and thin and have never loved a group of guys more than the guys I go to battle with day in and day out. Lastly, and once again I’m sorry to my teammates, coaches and fans all around about the way that video looked and I choose to move forward and get ready for a great rest of the season with my brothers. Go dawgs.”

Smart certainly wasn’t happy with the optics. He was asked directly about in his Monday press conference where he didn’t mince words but the Georgia head coach is also ready to move past it.

“What an idiot. Just stupid,” Smart said earlier today. “I didn’t see it until today. He’s embarrassed about it. He’s upset about it. That’s obviously a childhood friend of his, they grew up and played with at Buford. Hadn’t seen him in forever. Just not real smart. But to be honest, I don’t have time to waste energy on that. You know what I’m saying? My focus is on Tennessee. I’m not real worried on that.”

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