Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Colin Simmons would not face extreme punishment after the defender’s vulgar celebration in front of President Donald Trump, joking: “I’m not going to give the guy the death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.”
Trump was attending the SEC showdown at Neyland Stadium after making a dramatic arrival aboard Air Force One, which prompted a huge ovation from the crowd.
The atmosphere shifted when Simmons broke through the line and sacked Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon on third down. The play should have left the Volunteers facing fourth-and-29.
Instead, the Texas sophomore stood over Brandon and mimicked urinating on the field. Officials immediately threw a yellow flag for the celebration.
The referee later announced over the stadium loudspeaker that Simmons had been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after “simulating using the restroom,” wiping out the defensive stop.
The incident drew immediate criticism during ABC’s broadcast, with analyst Kirk Herbstreit condemning Simmons alongside play-by-play commentator Chris Fowler.
Texas star Colin Simmons stunned college football fans with a bizarre “peeing” celebration against Tennessee
Steve Sarkisian said Simmons would not receive the “death penalty” for the costly celebration
Herbstreit described the decision as an “absolutely idiotic move,” while Fowler agreed, saying: “It doesn’t get much more vulgar, either.”
Sarkisian said the penalty did not warrant the harshest possible response, but he made clear that Simmons had to eliminate that kind of behavior for the remainder of the season.
“We gotta fix it, though, right?” Sarkisian said. “That can’t continue as we move forward.”
“Can’t happen. That’s a bad football play. We had harped and talked about not getting emotional with the crowd, and that was the emotional play.
“We had a couple others that were close, too. We had a real talk about it at halftime, about how we needed to play the second half, and we needed to celebrate with one another.”
Sarkisian said the coaching staff removed Simmons from the game, addressed the incident and then sent him back onto the field. The linebacker responded with a dominant performance, sacking the Tennessee quarterback five times.
“But five sacks was pretty cool,” Sarkisian added.
Simmons later apologized to reporters, saying: “I apologize for the celebration. I was definitely in that mode, feeling myself. It happens.”
Simmons was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after “simulating using the restroom”
The crude celebration occurred in front of Donald Trump, who attended the game in Knoxville on Saturday
Sarkisian also suggested that broader social trends may have influenced Simmons’ behavior as he expanded on the issue.
“Unfortunately, in our society right now, we live in the ‘look at me’ society,” Sarkisian said. “All of you guys have your Twitter accounts, and as fast as you can type something because you want everyone to look at your account, and you get clicks.
‘Well, that’s the world that we live in. So we’ve got to get to – it’s about the team and focus on the team, and not so much ‘look at me.’ So we’ll try to improve upon that.’
The game went down to the final play as Texas held on while Simmons’ antics went viral online in the aftermath.
Teammate Justin Cryer saw the incident unfold having also been right on the scene from his position at linebacker.
‘I tried to run over there and grab him,’ Cryer said. ‘I seen where it was going, and I tried to go grab him before we got a penalty, but it was too late.
‘After the play, I just told him, ‘Look, man, we got to just keep our head.’ I know he’s having fun, he’s excited, but at the end of the day, we don’t want to let those plays, those penalties, dictate how the game’s going to go.’
Texas is now 4-0 after handing Tennessee their first loss of the season. The Longhorns head to rivals Oklahoma in Week 6 on October 10 after a bye week.
