![Tennessee DL Omari Thomas Brutally Shoves Arkansas Fans To The Ground After Vols’ Shocking Loss]()
![Tennessee player shoves fan]()
The College Football Playoff is what everyone wanted, but I gotta say, massive upsets don't quite have the same feel. In other words, because 12 teams are going to make the new CFP tournament, a single loss doesn't put your playoff hopes in jeopardy like it once did.
Saying all that to say this to Tennessee Volunteers defensive lineman Omari Thomas: Why, bro? And I don't mean, "Why are you 6-4, 325 and wearing the jersey No. 21?" I mean why are you shoving Arkansas fans half your size like you're trying to fight through a double team in the trenches?
https://twitter.com/kabbott725/status/1842816740641706063
What I'm getting at here is, Tennessee was ranked fourth coming into this game against the Razorbacks. They lost a tough SEC road game 19-14. As long as they take care of business the rest of the season, they're in the playoffs. So especially considering that as context, what could've possibly made Thomas pop off like this? It's not that serious. There's no excuse for the behavior in the first place, but when you really think big-picture about it, Thomas' actions are even dumber.
A senior defensive leader should know better. Really any football player should know better. No matter what any pipsqueak student says to you, ain't no way you can just dunk somebody to the turf.
We'll see if Thomas faces any disciplinary action over this from the Vols or the NCAA. Pretty damning that it's caught on camera. By the way, how impressive was the camerawork by this videographer? We got, like, a Tarantino-esque explosive zoom-in, and right in the frame mere seconds later we saw Thomas pancake the Arkansas couple, who just appeared to want to get through and join the celebration on the field. Nothing really malicious, or so I thought upon closer review. I don't see any attempt by the kids to talk smack to Thomas. Right? Am I missing something?
It's tough when you have such an ugly moment and it gets shotgunned all over the Internet. According to at least one local who's in the know, Thomas' outburst was out of character for him (surely we'd hope so!):
https://twitter.com/jmbonanno13/status/1842959546777751969
However, I tend to side with this general sentiment about the incident:
https://twitter.com/JenStanderfer/status/1842941259952115737
Thomas' blow-up was more extreme than the Jermaine Burton incident from a while back. Burton didn't get suspended.
https://twitter.com/FootbaIIism/status/1582849350098911232
Have a feeling Thomas will sit for at least a half in Tennessee's next game. Some sort of disciplinary action is fully justified from what I've seen here.