I cannot know what Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton felt while he exited Neyland Stadium as Tennessee fans rushed the field following the Vols’ upset of the Crimson Tide.
But I think I have a good idea of what one Tennessee fan must have been feeling as she ran onto the field with thousands of her peers. The woman epitomized the sheer joy that comes from being a college student and seeing your team’s last-second field goal vanquish a rival that Tennessee had not beaten since 2006.
I thought Nick Saban should have benched Burton for at least one game for what came next.
While the woman ran past Burton, the video that she posted to TikTok of the incident showed that he turned, raised his right arm and made contact with her head with enough force that she momentarily stopped running and grabbed her head. Burton continued to the locker room.
Saban chose to play Burton, one of the team’s best receivers, in an important game against Mississippi State.