Reggie Davis still bothered, and still not avoiding the subject

ATHENS — Reggie Davis plopped down on a bench in the atrium at the Butts-Mehre building, the same bench he usually sits in, and took what would normally be a routine post-practice question: Was he eager to get back on the field for a real game?

There was a subtext to the question, however. And Davis knew it, and didn’t ignore it.

“I need to get back on the field to get my mind off some things,” Davis said.

Or one thing, which Davis didn’t need to elaborate on. Three days later, even after being lauded by his team and the SEC for his otherwise strong performance, Davis is still bothered by his critical drop late in Georgia’s 38-31 loss at Tennessee.

There are some athletes, or even coaches, who might have avoided the media after the game, and as long as possible. Davis was in the postgame locker room, staying around to answer the same questions over and over. And he was back on Tuesday, talking about it again.

“You can’t run forever,” Davis said. “Eventually y’all would’ve got to me. Long story short, it’s a part of the game. You’ll make big catches, you’ll drop some. I just take it more as a learning experience so I won’t make that mistake again.”

Davis listed the types of people he’s heard from since Saturday night: “Family members. Friends. Fans. Enemies.”

Enemies?

“The opposing team’s fans reached out to me. Some good. Some negative,” Davis said. “It was a part of the game, it comes with it.”

Davis actually had a very good game: He had the 70-yard punt touchdown return, a 48-yard touchdown catch, and a total off 101 receiving yards. Fellow receiver Malcolm Mitchell said Tuesday that Davis needed to stop criticizing himself, as the Bulldogs wouldn’t have even been that close in the game if not for Davis.

“I just don’t support any of his shenanigans,” Mitchell said. “He makes a comment, I ignore it. I have no interest in people beating themselves up.

Davis said he heard about Mitchell’s comments, and he’s heard similar ones around the team. They help.

But he kept coming back to the drop, bringing it up himself a couple times.

“I mean still, that catch, it would have made a difference,” Davis said. “I’m not saying we would have won, but we could have at least gone to overtime. … It was a good performance. But it would have felt a lot better if we had won.”