“I want to be better than that” Bett Reflects on Spitting Incident 

Brendan Bett has come a long way from an incident that occurred in the final minutes of Florida’s grueling loss to USF last season. 

In an emotional ending, the redshirt sophomore defensive lineman confronted USF offensive lineman Cole Skinner before ultimately spitting on him.

The infraction handed the Bulls 13 yards and a historic, first-ever win over Florida. 

Following the incident, then-head coach Billy Napier spoke on Bett’s actions. 

“He made a selfish decision, he misrepresented our fans, our alumni, the university.” 

Napier added that there would be “some internal discipline,” but the “discipline” seemed minimal. Bett sat out for the first half of the game against LSU that following week, with no further suspension.

Coming into the offseason, Bett had plenty of suitors. He played in all 12 games last season, recording 39 tackles. In the game against No. 6 Ole Miss, he recorded a season high of 50 snaps on defense with six snaps on special teams. 

That momentum was built off of his freshman season at Baylor, where he was graded by Pro Football Focus as the fourth-highest rated interior freshman defensive lineman in college football. 

As a series of transfer rumors arose, Bett ultimately decided to stay at Florida because of Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach Gerald Chatman. 

Chatman is the only position coach retained under Sumrall, and according to Bett, the only coach that has been loyal to him and his family. 

That loyalty is clearly mutual. 

“I wouldn’t wanna be coached by nobody else,” Bett said. “I’m not going nowhere else.”

Now, under the guidance of Chatman and Sumrall, Bett is ready to start his junior season on a new foot.

The spitting incident, he says, is a reminder that he is better than one moment. That moment is also a key demonstration for younger teammates to learn from his mistake. 

“Use me as a demonstration when you feel like you’re in a moment of heat like that,” Bett said. “Take what I did and learn from that.” 

Bett is expected to be one of the Gators’ most important contributors on defense and use his new level of maturity to help lead Florida to a better season than last. 

“I definitely use it as motivation,” Bett said. “To show people that I am better than that, and I want to be better than that.” 

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