Fans Demanding Lifetime Ban For UAB Football Player
One member of UAB's football team had fans fired up on social media with his extremely dirty play in Saturday's game vs. Tennessee.
The Volunteers scored on six of their first seven possessions against the 2-1 Blazers on the way to hanging 50+ on their American Conference counterpart. But it's an incident back in the very first quarter that most folks will remember from UT's Week 4 contest.
Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementAfter taking a 14-10 lead in the first quarter, UAB Blazers safety Sirad Bryant looked to intentionally stomp on the foot of kicker Max Gilbert following an extra point attempt.
Bryant was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which is a 15-yard flag and it just may have sparked the offensive onslaught the Vols put on the Blazers in the ensuing minutes of the game.
Tennessee punter Jackson Ross (98) celebrates Tennessee place kicker Max Gilbert (90) on the field during a college football game between Tennessee and ETSU at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 6, 2025.© Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(© Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)UAB stomp goes viral
Bryant's stomp caused an immediate uproar online with some fans even calling for the Blazers DB to be "banned for life."
Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementFootball analyst Warren Sharp was perhaps the most disgusted by the UAB Blazers players' act. Tweeting, "intentionally stomping on the kicker’s foot?? 🗑️🗑️"
It didn't take long for others to chime-in in his mentions where many called for immediate discipline outside of the unsportsmanlike penalty that didn't result in an ejection.
Fans react to 'stupid' penalty
"If it were up to me, I'd suspend him for the rest of the year," a user said. "This should be a zero-tolerance, max-penalty situation."
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement"WoW that's trash. " another exclaimed. "They should be allowed to fight over this."
"Sirad Bryant is a LOSER AND shouldn't be allowed to play football," a fan claimed.
"He had to have been stupid enough to do it on a dare. It would be more stupid if he thought of doing it on his own, especially if he figured nobody would even notice him," another person commented.
"That’s gotta be one of the most intentionally dirty acts by a football player that I’ve ever seen" another user admitted.
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement"🤦♂️These kids are so stupid," another fan posted. "Million views in no time. Be on the lookout for this guy serving you at McDonald’s ."
The Volunteers ended up running away with a 56-24 victory as they head into the SEC part of their schedule next week. Thankfully, Gilbert was OK and ended up being just fine despite the sequence of events.
He finished the game 8-of-8 on his XPs in game that featured no field goal attempts on the part of the Vols' offense.
Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementThis story was originally reported by The Spun on Sep 20, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.