Florida’s Brendan Bett planning to apologize to fans and the USF player he spit at during loss

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett was planning to apologize to teammates, fans and the player he spit at during an 18-16 loss to South Florida, coach Billy Napier said.

Napier said the now-unranked Gators (1-1) have yet to decide whether Bett would be suspended for the game at No. 3 LSU (2-0).

“The kid is remorseful,” Napier said. “He feels as if he let the team down. In general, it was out of character for him. He made a mistake, and he compromised the team. He made a selfish decision. He misrepresented our fans, our alumni, the university.

“When a young man comes into your office and his immediate concern is how he didn’t represent this place the right way, I think that’s a good indication of his attitude towards it.”

Napier said Bett would face “internal discipline,” which typically means daily runs early every morning during the week.

Napier added that Bett was scheduled to speak to the team before practice and was set to “apologize publicly.”

“We’re even having him reach out to the young man on the other team,” the coach added. “So no stone unturned here in terms of maximizing this for him to learn and also for our other players to see how to take ownership of a mistake and go about this the right way.”

Bett was ejected during the final drive against USF, a 15-yard penalty that helped propel the Bulls to a stunning victory that landed Napier back on the proverbial hot seat.

Bett, who transferred to Florida this year after two seasons at Baylor, was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, kicked out of the game and escorted to the locker room after spitting in the facemask of Bulls offensive lineman Cole Skinner. It was one of two penalties assessed against the Gators during an 87-yard drive that set up Nico Gramatica’s 20-yard field goal on the final play.

Bett’s spitting foul came two days after Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter was ejected for spitting on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott in the NFL opener.

A few days before that, in the Leagues Cup soccer final in Seattle, Inter Miami star Luis Suárez spit toward a Sounders staff member and grabbed a Seattle player by the neck after a loss.

Bett wasn’t the first player under Napier to be ejected for spitting during a game. Defensive lineman Jamari Lyons was tossed for spitting at a Florida State player late in the first half of Florida’s 24-15 home loss to the Seminoles in 2023.

“Brendan, he’s a heck of a player,” quarterback DJ Lagway said after the game. “He made a mistake there. That doesn’t identify his character at all. He’s such a nice guy, nice kid, nice person to have in the locker room. He was in there crying and stuff like that, feeling bad, talking to the coaches, talking to the players, and apologizing for it.

“We don’t ever hold that against anybody. He’s going to come prepared this week.”