Kirby Smart has been warned. On Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs coach made contact with Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. It looked he shoved Van Buren after the freshman QB ran out of bounds on the Georgia side of the field. The video had gone viral by Saturday night.
After the game, Smart was asked about the incident.
“No. I think I was going after (Glenn) Schumann. I was trying to get Schumann’s attention. We were trying to change personnel. I think it’s the play they came over to our sideline. And I’m trying to get Schumann’s attention. But, no, I don’t really remember it.” — Kirby Smart
Smart went back and looked at the video to refresh his memory and was again asked about the incident in his Monday press conference.
“I went back and watched it. I didn’t even realize that I had run into him. I reached out to Lebby that night and talked to him, and said the kid was great. Yesterday, I talked to Mike and told him I had no intentions or ill will toward him at all …
It’s really pandemonium when you’re trying to change personnel, and you only got three to four seconds to do it. We were in a bad personnel grouping against empty that we actually had messed up the week before. I was trying to get to Schumann to get that changed, but I reached out to the kid (Van Buren). He was great. He’s a really good player. ” — Kirby Smart
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There have been some calls from college football fans for the SEC office to suspend Smart for the action. Now, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has issued a statement about the incident.
“Coaches cannot make contact with an opposing player. This play should have resulted in enforcement of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I am confident the contact was not intentional and the clear expectation is this conduct won’t happen again.” — Greg Sankey
Sankey made no mention of any discipline, including a suspension for Smart. The commissioner has a history of publicly reprimanding a coach for the first offense of making contact with an opposing player.
The SEC publicly reprimanded Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats in January for making physical contact with Missouri player Aidan Shaw during a game.