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Tennessee DL Omari Thomas spotted shoving Arkansas fans during field-storming

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•10/06/24•

BarkleyTruax

Arkansas Tennessee upset
© Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

On an upset-filled day of college football, Arkansas capped the evening with a 19-14 win over No. 4 Tennessee at home. Of course, this led to the crowd inside Razorback Stadium to rush the field after the final buzzer.

Amongst the chaos, video taken from inside the stadium appeared to depict Tennessee defensive lineman Omari Thomas shoving an Arkansas fan to the ground.

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The video appears to show Thomas and the fan crossing paths, and the apparent shove causes two fans to fall to the ground.

The Tennessee football team appeared to be heading back to their locker room following the final buzzer. It just so happened that this was right in front of the Arkansas student section, who had been gearing up to storm the field since the final Razorback possession.

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Notably, the SEC does not allow fans on the field at any time before, during, or after games. Arkansas will eventually be fined by the league for the fans storming the field on Saturday.

The apparent incident once again draws into question how to keep players and fans separated during incidents like this. During this past college basketball season, both Kyle Filipowski of Duke and Iowa‘s Caitlin Clark had run-ins with fans on the court and both instances directly led to physical contact between the player and fan.

Some schools have added additional security measures and personnel to prevent situations like this, but there’s only so much they can do when a hoard of students are rolling down the stadium steps and onto the turf below.

It’s unclear whether or not the SEC or either team will comment on the matter, or if it will be handled internally or not at all. Tennessee will host Florida this weekend, and unless Thomas is noted otherwise it’s assumed he’ll suit up like normal.

Thomas recorded one tackle during the Arkansas loss. The fifth-year Vol has receded six on the season to go with two passes defended.