A new video that surfaced Thursday night appeared to shed more light on the incident involving Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton.
Burton and the Crimson Tide were upset by Tennessee earlier this month in one of the best college football games all season. Tennessee fans stormed the field at Neyland Stadium, and even brought the goalposts down and tossed them in the nearby river.
The new video appeared to show Burton trying to get through a sea of Volunteers fans in the locker room. He pushes a few fans who were close to him out of the way. When he reaches the end zone, he gets a little bit of room to make his way to the tunnel.
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Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton (3) makes a catch as he’s defended by Tennessee defensive back Christian Charles (14) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee won 52-49.
(AP Photo/Wade Payne)
The female fan in question runs with another person onto the field and it appeared Burton reached back and pushed her down.
Burton came under fire immediately after the game. But as he came under the microscope for his actions, Alabama coach Nick Saban decided to play him in last week’s game against Mississippi State and defended the decision earlier this week in his weekly teleconference.
“I think that everybody’s always looking at what you do,” Saban told reporters when asked about how he weighs discipline for players, via OutKick.
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“I think the difference in what a lot of people think is, is discipline necessarily punishment? And you punish your children only if you think that’s going to change the behavior,” he said. “Otherwise, you try to have them learn lessons from things that they do. And that’s basically how we look at discipline and how we try to discipline our players.”
Jermaine Burton #3 of the Alabama Crimson Tide blows a kiss to the fans after an early touchdown against the Utah State Aggies at Bryant Denny Stadium on September 3, 2022 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
(Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images)
On Saturday night, Saban said he talked to Burton and that the wide receiver said he was “scared.”
“I don’t know how many of you have been in a situation like that. I talked to him. He was scared, I was scared, some of our other players were scared,” Saban said. “I think you learn to respect other people because we have a responsibility to do that, regardless of the circumstance we’re in.
He added, “I talked to the guy, we have him in a counseling program, it’s not an anger management program, as some people announced today. Nobody ever said that, that’s not the problem, that’s not the issue.”
“It’s about having the proper respect for other people. I didn’t think it was necessary to suspend the guy, so if you knew the whole story, maybe you wouldn’t either. But I am not gonna divulge that.”
Saban has said Burton was in counseling over the situation.
Head coach Josh Heupel of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates a win over the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium on September 24, 2022 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won the game 38-33.
(Donald Page/Getty Images)
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was asked Wednesday whether Burton should’ve been disciplined.
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“I’m going to be honest, I haven’t seen the video or paid much attention to anything that’s happening outside of our program,” he said, via On3.com. “There’s enough going on here in Knoxville that we’ve got to continue to develop our roster and our program, so don’t really deal with hypotheticals as far as that happening inside of our own program.”
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