Omari Thomas explains 'disrespect' that led to Tennessee football vs Florida on final play

Omari Thomas knew that Florida was going to kneel down on the final play against Tennessee football on Saturday.

Florida center Kingsley Eguakun told the Vols defensive lineman as much. But then it wasn't exactly the kneel that Thomas expected.

"We're expecting you to catch the ball one step back and take a knee," Thomas said Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club. “But once we see you back there dancing around with the ball, like we kind of take it as disrespect because you easily could just take a knee right there."

At the end of the play, Thomas knocked Florida quarterback Graham Mertz, who had skirted to the right and rolled out to run time off the clock at the end of No. 20 Tennessee's 29-16 loss at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. A brief brouhaha ensued as Florida's offensive linemen came after Thomas as the situation devolved.

It was chaos, dragging out the ending of the loss in ugly fashion, and resulting in the suspension of four players Monday after video review and consultation between the SEC, Tennessee and Florida. UT defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott will miss the first half of for the No. 20 Vols (2-1), who host UTSA (1-2) on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.

What led to the kerfuffle for Tennessee football vs Florida

Vols coach Josh Heupel called a timeout with nine seconds to play against Florida with aspirations of Tennessee getting the ball back despite long odds of completing a 13-point comeback in fewer than 10 seconds.

He explained that the Vols were trying to get the ball back and "take a shot at the end zone" instead of letting the clock run out.

"I don’t know if you’re going to have enough time at an onside and maybe get a shot back," Heupel said. "You are trying to finish and compete the right way. "Obviously, at the end of it by the time of when it happened, we weren’t going to be able to have a full sequence of plays to try and get back into the end zone."

On the play prior, Eguakun communicated to the Vols that the Gators were going to run a play so UT should be prepared for blocking and tackling. Gators running back Trever Etienne ran for 3 yards on third-and-19, setting up a fourth-and-16 with nine seconds to play at the Florida 38.

The Gators started celebrating and came onto the field, but Heupel called timeout.

What Omari Thomas saw before he hit Florida quarterback Graham Mertz

Eguakun communicated a kneel down was coming to the Tennessee defense. Mertz didn't kneel and dropped back before scampering right and started to kneel. The Vols initially didn't put much into pursuing Mertz, but took off after the QB when he did not kneel. Thomas was barreling toward Mertz and tried to slow down.

"I get to the quarterback and he's like going down as I'm getting to them," Thomas said. "So I kind put my shoulder in there, pull out.”

Thomas was flagged for a penalty and a second flag was thrown as the teams had a slight skirmish. Gators offensive lineman Damieon George shoved Thomas. Gators offensive lineman Micah Mazzccua and Vols defensive back Kamal Hadden squared up to fight away from the main crowd. Norman-Lott stormed in and hit Gators offensive lineman Austin Barber, resulting in his suspension Monday. Gators tight end Dante Zanders, George and Mazzccua will be suspended for the first half of Florida' game against Charlotte on Saturday.

At the end of the commotion, Gators players waved the Vols off the field as UT's lengthy losing streak at Florida continued.

"(Mertz) is dancing around," Heupel said. "Do you want the targeting? Obviously no, but the guy is dancing around so you have to go tackle the guy, too. Do we want to be composed in that situation and all situations? Absolutely."

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football's Omari Thomas explains 'disrespect' by Florida football