Georgia bench-warmer Parker Jones collides with ref in loss to Notre Dame and gains internet infamy

A little-known University of Georgia football player accidentally stepped into the limelight Thursday, costing his team 15 valuable yards and earning a permanent spot in social media infamy.

Redshirt sophomore cornerback Parker Jones was still trending online Friday morning even though he wasn't in pads Thursday — but still managed to make a key play in favor of opposing Notre Dame, early in the second quarter of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton hooked up with Arian Smith for a 67-yard bomb down to the Irish 11-yard line.

As side judge JB Garza raced after Smith and Irish defender Xavier Watts, the official collided with Parker — who was not suited up for the game but still wearing a red Georgia jersey —inside a clearly marked white lane that runs out of bounds, along the sidelines, that's meant to be clear of any players.

The Dawgs were flagged for 15 yards, pushing them back to the Notre Dame 26 where the drive stalled. Runs of 2 and 1 yards preceded an incomplete pass as Georgia was forced to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Peyton Woodring.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart called that play "very unfortunate" and a "self-imposed" wound.

"The white is reserved for the officials. That's a safety concern," Smart said after the game. "We still had first-and-10 and didn't take advantage of it. But again, I call those things undisciplined, self-imposed wounds that you know you lose momentum on."

There's no telling if Georgia could have scored a touchdown first-and-10 from the 11. And those lost points probably didn't make any difference in Notre Dame's 23-10 win in the College Football Playoff (CFP) quarterfinal game.

Still, Jones seemed to get the Steve Bartman-like treatment for his inadvertent error.

"If Parker Jones had a sense of the moment he’d wear a fake mustache when he comes out for the 2nd half," Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote Thursday, leading the online pitchfork brigade.

While Parker was the target of a worldwide web of jokes, a fair number of netizens came to his defense and said ESPN cameras shouldn't have focused so much on him in the play's aftermath.

Trent Read, who runs a Utah-based business valuation company, immediately stuck up for Parker via an X response that had more than 80,000 views by Friday morning.

"To take some poor scrub who is not even suited up, beyond having his jersey on, and to make him infamous and compare him to (Cubs fan Steve) Bartman is just over the top," Read told NBC News on Friday.

"It's not like they lost by four points. And you might say, 'Oh, the momentum would have been so different.' They had an entire game to swing the momentum and didn't. Trying to place a whole bunch of blame on this kid is unwarranted."

Jones is listed as a 5-foot-11 cornerback from Albany, Georgia, who attended Deerfield-Windsor School. He does not have any listed statistics.

The student-athlete could not be immediately reached for comment. His father told NBC News on Friday that his son and no one else in the family would comment publicly about the sideline incident.

Thursday's sideline incident was the second time this season a backup player drew Smart's ire for action that was not between the lines.

Smart lashed out at backup safety Jake Pope, calling him an “idiot,” after cameras appeared to catch the player in post-game celebration with Mississippi fans after a Rebels win over the Bulldogs.

Pope apologized and explained he was just excited to unexpectedly run into old friends, while a contrite Smart said he shouldn't have called his player an "idiot."

Click here to read article