ATHENS – Georgia coach Kirby Smart wasn’t pleased with the scuffle between a few UGA and Missouri players before the Bulldogs’ 26-22 win in Columbia Saturday.
It involved defensive linemen Jalen Carter, Nazir Stackhouse and Tramel Walthour jawing with opponents during pregame warm-ups, with some shoves exchanged, too. Players had to be separated by assistant coaches. Carter blew a kiss to the crowd at one point, and posed for a camera that had come close to capture the exchange.
Credit: Sarah K. Spencer/AJC
“All I worry about is our guys’ behavior, and we don’t want to represent that at all,” Smart said at his Monday press conference. “I think we have done a really good job here at Georgia of representing our university the right way. We play with our helmets and we don’t talk to the other team. Disappointed in any player that would talk to somebody on the other team, and we don’t condone it. It’s something we need to get fixed.
“Some teams you play do that more than others, and some teams are from the same line of thinking as yourself in terms of not talking after plays and not talking before games. I’m not saying that Missouri is. I am saying I’m worried about how our guys behave, and that’s not what we want.”
The confrontation occurred in Missouri’s end zone, on the side of the field where the Tigers were warming up. That may have had something to do with why the confrontation began, based on what Walthour said Monday.
“It was just a pregame walk, really, and then they were just, I guess it was a certain side of the field we were supposed to be on, or they were supposed to be on, and they were just trying to clear everybody and make sure they were on the right side,” Walthour said.
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