University of Alabama linebacker Mekhi Brown took a jab at a coach on the team’s sideline during the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday night.
Brown, a sophomore, was taken off the field when he shoved an opposing player after a play and was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The video of ESPN’s telecast, courtesy of Campus Insider, first shows Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaking to Brown and walking away from him.
A few seconds later, Brown suddenly lunged past his teammate, Keith Holcombe, and swiped at an unidentified assistant coach with his helmet in his hand.
Holcombe restrained Brown, who appeared to lose his balance awkwardly.
The incident occurred in the third quarter of the game that Alabama eventually won in overtime, 26-23 over SEC rival Georgia.
What’s ironic is that even before the sideline scuffle, ESPN color commentator Kirk Herbstreit criticized Brown’s penalty, saying, “That’s how you get taken out of the game and don’t get a chance to get back out there.”
However, Brown was neither ejected from the game nor benched by his team, and he later returned to the game to make a tackle on a kick return.
“I really felt like a jerk,” Brown told Yahoo Sports after the game. “That’s not how I am. I wanted to win, that’s what it was. I did something stupid. I could have cost us the game.”
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