The Loop

The PHOTOGRAPHER from the Georgia-Auburn game is our college football star of the week

November 18, 2019

Late in the first half of Saturday's Georgia-Auburn game, Georgia running back Brian Herrien caught a pass in the left flat from quarterback Jake Fromm, immediately turned up field and was pushed out of bounds at the five-yard line. Herrien had so much momentum that he barreled into a young woman who was holding a camera on the sideline. He did his best to jump out of the way at the last second, as did the young woman, but it was too late for both.

As I watched, I immediately noticed that she was lying motionless on the ground. I promptly rewound the tape, filmed what happened off my phone and tweeted out the video, not knowing it would take off the way it did:

I wasn't the only one to tweet the video, but I was definitely one of the first. In an attempt to get it up quickly I just said the first thing that came to my mind. "Camera girl knocked unconscious at..." You'd think that people would be most concerned that she was knocked unconscious, but alas, this is Twitter. Within minutes a there was a full blown war in the replies over me calling her a "camera girl," rather than a photographer. Never mind the fact that at no point did I say she wasn't a photographer, and never mind the fact that I did not mean to disparage her profession by calling her a camera girl. I, like normal people, was a tad more concerned WITH HER BEING UNCONSCIOUS.

Today, I'm happy to report that Chamberlain Smith, the photographer/University of Georgia intern/camera girl/camera person/human being, was released from the hospital with a concussion and some minor bruises. Smith tweeted a statement on Sunday:

What a champ. Smith was absolutely run over by a Division I football player, carried off on a stretcher and is already ready to get back on the sidelines. For that, Smith is our college football star of the week. We wish her a speedy recovery and a long and fruitful PHOTOGRAPHY career. Actually, according to her Twitter bio, she'd prefer visual storyteller:

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Keep killing it Chamberlain. Awesome name, by the way.

Honorable Mentions

Kirby Smart

Speaking of Georgia, how 'bout them Dawgs? Or, as head coach Kirby Smart put it after UGA's 21-14 win over Auburn, how 'bout them EFFIN DAWGS!!

If it weren't for Coach O, Kirby would be the best character roaming the sidelines in the SEC. Here he was immediately after the game-winning play celebrating a little too hard with the boys:

That didn't stop the party from rolling on in the locker room:

This man needs a national title (besides the three he won with Alabama).

Trevor Lawrence girl

Trevor Lawrence girl (her real name is Bella Martina), is the teenager who has gone viral on the TikTok app for, yep, you guessed it, looking exactly like Trevor Lawrence. If you've not seen the original video, please watch below:

The video became so huge that Clemson had Lawrence watch it and film his reaction, which was also great:

On Saturday, Trevor Lawrence and Trevor Lawrence girl met, and the resulting photos were glorious:

The internet is wild, man.

Pat McAfee

Something tells me ESPN has found their replacement for Lee Corso on "College GameDay," when Corso eventually hangs up the helmet, that is. Hopefully that day is still very far away.

Lavert Hill

If not for our girl Chamberlain Smith, I think Lavert Hill would have easily been our CFB star of the week:

Hill could have absolutely returned this thing another 10 yards, maybe even to the house. But flexing on little brother, who you're already dominating, is way, way better then extending the lead to 30 points. This game was already well in hand. Hill knew it, Sparty knew it, everybody watching knew it. All-time emasculation job by Hill.