Alabama wide receiver Jermaine Burton is facing scrutiny after a video appears to show him making contact with a female Tennessee fan following the Crimson Tide’s 52-49 loss to the Volunteers over the weekend.
Following a game-winning field goal by Tennessee at the end of regulation, Volunteers fans stormed the field inside Neyland Stadium. During the celebration, Burton appeared to reach out and strike a female fan on his way back to Alabama’s locker room.
A separate video appears to show Burton pushing a different Tennessee fan earlier on his way off the field.
Wednesday morning, Alabama sent out a statement from Nick Saban noting that the head coach was aware of the situation surrounding Burton and that the team was "currently working to gather more information.”
During his post-practice press conference later in the day, Saban declined to comment when asked what information the team was trying to get and if there was an update on Burton's current status.
"We handle discipline issues internally, and that's the way we'll handle this," Saban said. "But as I said today when I was asked about the whole [how] the league is trying to control people rushing the field. It's a difficult circumstance for the league. It's a difficult circumstance for the people who are on the field. But we got to go through those difficult circumstances and still respect other people. And I think that's on us to do that, and that's certainly a lesson for all of us to learn relative to this."
Last year, Alabama dealt with a flood of Texas A&M fans who stormed Kyle Field following the Aggies' upset win over the Crimson Tide. Saban suffered multiple bruises from collisions with fans while trying to exit the field. Wednesday, the 70-year-old head coach said he was able to make it out of Neyland Stadium unscathed over the weekend.
The SEC announced Sunday that Tennessee would be fined $100,000 for fans storming the field following Saturday's game.