4 Florida, Tennessee Players Suspended for On-Field Fight During Saturday’s Game
The SEC announced on Monday that three Florida Gators players and one Tennessee Volunteers player will be suspended for one half in their next game after an on-field fight during Florida’s 29-16 upset win on Saturday.
Offensive linemen Damieon George Jr. and Micah Mazzccua and tight end Dante Zanders were suspended for Florida, while defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott was suspended for Tennessee.
Florida faces Charlotte on Saturday, while Tennessee takes on UTSA that same day.
The fight happened as Florida was attempting to run out the clock. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel took a surprising timeout with nine seconds remaining, and on the next play Florida quarterback Graham Mertz ran around in the backfield before taking a knee.
As he went to the ground, Tennessee’s Omari Thomas hit him. Florida’s players didn’t like the contact and a fight broke out, with punches thrown between the teams.
Thomas, however, was not penalized for the contact.
Heupel justified the bizarre timeout by noting that he was trying to get the ball back to score a touchdown and then get the ball back again on an onside kick, as Florida was facing a fourth-down attempt.
“I don’t know if you’re going to have enough time at an onside and maybe get a shot back,” he told reporters. “You are trying to finish and compete the right way. Obviously, at the end of it by the time of when it happened, we weren’t going to be able to have a full sequence of plays to try and get back into the end zone.”
So instead of going for the score upon getting the ball back, Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton took a knee instead, ending the contest.
Heupel also stuck up for his players and how they responded to the kneeldown.
“Do we want to be composed in that situation and all situations? Absolutely,” he told reporters. “Their guy is dancing and you have to go tackle him.”
Thomas said the Volunteers thought Mertz was taunting them by running around in the backfield.
“We’re expecting you to catch the ball, one step back and take a knee,” he said Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club, per Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel. “But once we see you back there dancing around with the ball, like we kind of take it as disrespect because you easily could just take a knee right there.”
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