ATHENS - Georgia freshman cornerback Sheldon Dawson is being disciplined by head coach Mark Richt for an eye-poking incident in the Alabama game, although it won't involve playing time.

The incident happened at some point during a scrum in the SEC championship game. Dawson sticks his hand into Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner's helmet, although Dawson said Friday he didn't mean to gouge his eye.

"Something happened before, and when I turned around ... I was pointing, and my hand went straight through his face mask," Dawson said. "They were saying I tried to eye gouge him or something like that. I looked at the video too, and it did look like I went into his face, but it didn't go like me grabbing his face or trying to poke his eye. ... You will never see that happen again, because that's not me."

Still, Dawson said he apologized later in the game to Milliner. The two were lined up against each other on a punt, and Milliner brought up the eye gouge. Dawson said that was when he said he was sorry.

"I know I didn't try to go poke and his eye out," Dawson said.

Dawson said he also wanted to apologize to Milliner's coaches and anyone who knows him.

"None of it should've happened," Dawson said.

Richt, speaking after Friday's practice, said that when he saw the video that "to me it looked very bad."

"Dawson saw it, and Dawson realizes it was a bad thing, and a bad image for him and for Georgia," Richt said. "He understood why I needed to discipline him."

Richt said Dawson didn't make any excuse for it, and that he didn't blame Richt for disciplining him. But Richt wouldn't reveal what the discipline would be.