Omari Thomas explains why Tennessee felt 'disrespect' from Florida at end of Saturday's loss
Omari Thomas and Tennessee suffered a disappointing 29-16 loss to Florida in Gainesville on Saturday. For a Volunteers team looking to take the next step after an 11-2 mark in 2022, Saturday marked a letdown.
Toward the end of the game, tempers flared between the 2 teams after Graham Mertz took a late hit. That caused the benches to clear and ultimately saw Tennessee’s Omarr Norman-Lott and 3 Florida players suspended for the 1st half against UTSA and Charlotte, respectively.
Thomas, on Monday, explained things from his point of view, stating that the Vols took exception to the fact that Mertz ran around in the pocket rather than kneel down and run the clock out.
“We’re expecting you to catch the ball one step back and take a knee. 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,” Thomas said during an appearance at the Knoxville Quarterback Club.
Ultimately, the Vols came away with a loss. Their last win at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was in 2003. They’ll look to get back in the win column as they host UTSA at Neyland Stadium.
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That was a clean hit. what was he supposed to do push him down?
Never would have happened if disrespect wasn’t first shown by Heuple taking a timeout with 8 seconds left. That caused all the tempers to flare. Never should have been called.
And please don’t try to justify that. Just let the clock run out and get better for next week.
I agree with you butttttt that was a clean hit.
Then why did they call a penalty for a late hit?
He was extending the play. Kept backing up to run more time off the clock. He never took a knee. That’s no late hit.
Not only was it a late hit but it was a hit to the head, should have been targeting. But again it all started with Heup the clown and his classless and useless timeout. Heup should be the one suspended and fined if anything for stupidity & lack of class
It was called for targeting but it was overturned after review. Which is the right call. I’m glad you’re not making the calls.
It was anything but a clean hit, and Omari Thomas is an idiot in his explanation: it was 4th down, so of course a QB is going to run as much time off the clock before taking a knee.
Was not a clean hit, he’s was in the process of taking a knee and the defender was two steps away.
Heup’s last timeout-total Bush-League. It was strange & bizarre and totally illogical.
Wow you are a moron, what about Floridas coach calling one with 14 seconds left? If he was just wanting to let time expire and not try some tricky play why call a time out? Dumb”a” little dog..
The hit on Mertz was called targeting.
Is his football IQ that bad? It was 4th & 16. As soon as he takes a knee the clock stops for turnover on downs. He was dancing to waste as much time as possible. If I knew that in my living room, one would expect the players on the field to get it.
I’m with you Strancharm…what was Heupel hoping to accomplish with the TO? Let them have 1 play to make the score closer?
Florida deserved to have that game end with a victory formation. Heuple was trying to take that away. Hence the timeout.
I guarantee Heuple would have had Milton try a Hail Mary….just cuz.
I can see Heupel taking the timeout to get Milton a shot downfield. It obviously wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but it could have ended the game on a more positive note for his team and I really don’t see anything wrong with playing ’til the final bell. With that said, Mertz did everything he was supposed to Saturday, and more than many people expected. He earned the right to “dance around in the pocket” all he wants. My hat’s off to him.
Heupel states he took the timeout because he believed he could get one last scoring opportunity, Milton may not be that good, but he can chuck the rock 90+ yards.
He took a timeout to bring his offense back on the field to ……….take a knee. What a stupid timeout.
But he needed 2 scores. Why risk an injury to pad stars. It’s all fun and games until someone blows was their knee out on a needless play and makes overcoming that loss even more difficult. Dumb call
I mean, that’s a pretty lame effort by Thomas to try and justify why they felt disrespect. Maybe you should have sent Florida a memo prior to the game explaining your “expectations” on a kneel down.
Worst time out ever..he was totally frustrated and lost his mind. .btw, what’s with the gum chewing and general disheveled appearance?
He reminds me of McElwain.
TheDude…McElwain was a movie star compared to the slob Heup.
He was just trying to run out the clock. The disrespect was the idiot coach calling a timeout.
The disrespect was from Heupel? Also, was not a clean hit.
I am Vol fan, but the Gators disrespected them by running off 26 straight points in the 2nd qtr. If Thomas wanted respect, he should have done something to stop it, but here he is whining about not taking a knee.
Lol!!! As a Gator fan, I love this!
It’s special to hear these Florida fans calling Heupel classless. When thinking about the epitome of classlessness, look no further than the swampy lizard people of Gainesville.
I dunno man, they aren’t the ones calling stupid time outs and throwing condiments at opposing head coaches
are we still acting like this is the first time in history a qb has done this? Everybody knew he would burn as much time as possible till a defender got close enough, he hit him because he wanted to, he could of stopped. Be a man admit it people can respect a guy with some honor. TN can’t handle getting their a$& whipped so they do the same thing every time “we beat ourselves” the refs were cheating”….
1. Heupel’s timeout was idiotic.
2. Mertz was trying to kill clock but I would have taken a knee a bit sooner.
3. The hit was a cheap shot.
4. SDS, fix your d_mn SSL certificate.
Nash…When I saw he had called a timeout, I wondered what was rolling around in his brain to make that decision. Some games you win & some you lose. When you win Do It with Pride. When You lose Do It With Grace. Obviously Heup does not comprehend that.
Neither does Jermaine Burton.
Forget blaming Heupel for calling a timeout. Napier called two timeouts in a row in that series when they were “running the clock out”. If Mertz didn’t want to get hit put that knee down.
This kid obviously doesn’t know how ball works. It was 4th down had he just taken a knee the clock stops on the change of possession. Had it been third down yes he takes a knee and the clock runs out.
Typical classless Vols, looks like it has infected Huepel, who seemed like a good guy before he came to UT. Now he looks and acts like a slob.