The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dawson disciplined over title game poke
Video shows he stuck fingers in Milliner’s facemask.
ATHENS — Georgia coach Mark Richt said he disciplined freshman cornerback Sheldon Dawson for an incident in the SEC Championship game in which it appears Dawson tried to poke the eyes of Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner. But he said Dawson won’t miss any playing time and no other UGA players are being punished for their actions in that game.
Richt declined comment about the SEC’s decision to not suspend Alabama defensive lineman Quinton Dial for his illegal hit on quarterback Aaron Murray. Richt addressed the situations at the end of the Bulldogs’ practice Friday.
“Dawson, I did (discipline), yes,” Richt said. “I’m not going to give detail of it. But, yeah, and Dawson saw it. He realizes it was a bad thing and a bad image for him and for Georgia. He understood why I needed to discipline him. It won’t be any playing time.”
Video showed Dawson sticking his fingers in Milliner’s facemask after a scrum for a loose ball following an Alabama kickoff return early in the fourth quarter. Milliner actually was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after he shoved Dawson.
Dawson claimed after Thursday’s practice he wasn’t trying to “gouge” Milliner’s eyes but said he apologized to Milliner on the field later in the game.
“I just went to point and my hand just went straight through his facemask,” said Dawson, a 511, 181-pound freshman from Memphis. “I heard people say stuff about eye-gouging and all that. I wasn’t trying to grab his eyes or something like that. It was just a mistake.”
Geathers undecided on NFL: Junior noseguard Kwame Geathers said it’s wrong to assume he’ll turn pro after the season just because both of his brothers and several extended family members did so as juniors.
“They let me make my own decisions, so it’s up to me,” said Geathers, a 6-foot-6, 355-pound junior from Georgetown, S.C. “Sometimes I feel like, ‘All right, break the tradition.’ They were all in college for three years. I’ve been here for four years already, so I feel like I’m already breaking it a little bit.”
Geathers said he has consulted with his brothers, current NFL players Clifton and Robert Geathers, who advised him to fill out the evaluation paperwork for the NFL’s draft advisory process.
Etc. Outside linebacker Jarvis Jones became a consensus All-American for the second year in a row with Friday’s announcement he had received that award for the Football Writers Association of America. A projected first or second pick in the 2013 draft, the junior said Friday he is not ready to announce whether he plans to enter or not. ... Junior right guard Chris Burnette was inadvertently left off Georgia’s list of football players graduating Friday. ... Georgia practiced for 90 minutes in shorts and shoulder pads. It was the third of 15 practices before the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl against Nebraska.