A Texas state trooper yells at South Carolina football players after bumping into them during a game vs Texas A&M in College Station. Photo Credit: ESPN Photo Credit: ESPN
By Matt Clapp on

A strange, inexcusable incident occurred during the South Carolina-Texas A&M college football game on Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, TX, that was shown on the ESPN broadcast.

Late in the second quarter, South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers and wide receiver Nyck Harbor connected for an 80-yard touchdown. Harbor’s momentum, to go with pain in his right leg, led him into the tunnel after the long run-after-catch for a touchdown.

Harbor was joined by several Gamecocks teammates in the tunnel. As the players were exiting the tunnel to return to the field, a Texas state trooper walked up and bumped into Harbor and teammate Oscar Adaway III. The trooper then turned and pointed at the players and appeared to yell at them.

The incident went viral on social media, and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith is among the many people showing disgust over it.

“This is a no-brainer to me,” Smith began in a video posted to X. “Nyck Harbor for South Carolina catches a pass, scampers down the field for a damn long touchdown run, runs into the tunnel because he’s holding his hamstring, and then his teammates come to help him because they know that something must be wrong because he kept going in there and he’s holding his hamstring. He comes back out. You can see the officer at the stadium walking in between two players, bumps into both of them, and flexes his arms out, before turning around and telling them to get on out of here and all of this other stuff. We saw it. It’s clear as day.”

“It’s an automatic suspension,” Smith said. “The man shouldn’t be allowed to work the game again. What’s you doing messing with a player like that for? Wasn’t somebody in street clothes that you didn’t know was a player. You knew exactly who it was. You knew it was a player for South Carolina. You knew that. And you did it anyway.”

“There’s nothing to think about here,” Smith continued. “There’s no argument. There’s no excuse on the part of the behavior of the officer. He shouldn’t even be allowed to cover the games anymore. And definitely should be suspended.”

In the second half of Saturday’s game, the Texas A&M Police posted to X, “We are aware of the incident in the NE tunnel involving a DPS trooper. He has been relieved of his game day assignment.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) also released a statement on X:

“The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is aware of the incident that occurred today during the Texas A&M football game. The DPS Trooper involved was sent home from the game. Our Office of Inspector General (OIG) is also aware of the incident and will be further looking into the matter. No additional information will be released at this time.”

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.

He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp