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Father of Ty'Ron Hopper explains situation leading to son's ejection vs. UCF

Wade-Peeryby: Wade Peery12/24/21
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(Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

On Thursday night in the Gasparilla Bowl, Florida linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper was ejected from the game in the third quarter. It was difficult to figure out what exactly led Hopper to shove Brett Bell. After the game, Hopper’s father explained what happened to On3’s Corey Bender.

Bender wrote on Twitter: “I spoke with the father of Ty’Ron Hopper tonight. According to Ty’Ron, the UCF player spit in his face as he was about to walk away, which resulted in him shoving the player and then getting ejected.”

Some people on Twitter called it a punch. Others called it a mush. Hopper’s father calling it a shove is fair.

Either way, Hopper still needs to manage his emotions properly because it was a huge loss to the Florida defense when he got ejected. Would it have mattered in the end? Probably not.

UCF’s Brett Bell could have been ejected too, but the refs didn’t see him spitting in Hopper’s face.

For the 2021 regular season, Hopper racked up 61 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, two pass breakups and a forced fumble. He is a redshirt sophomore for the Gators. He’s going to be one of the best defenders returning for Florida for the 2022 campaign.

The talented linebacker will need to manage his emotions a bit better in the future. It’s a learning experience. Florida fans will want to move on from this game film, much like most of this season, and throw it in the trash.

Games like the Gasparilla Bowl are exactly why new head coach Billy Napier was brought to Gainesville. It’s time for one of the hottest hires of the 2021 coaching carousel to get to work and roll up his sleeves.