Florida's Brendan Bett breaks his silence on the costly spitting incident, vowing to redeem himself and redefine his reputation.
Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett made a costly error in a loss against South Florida last season.
Bett spit on a USF offensive lineman. He was ejected from the contest and a penalty would allow the Bulls' drive to extend.
USF took advantage of the penalty, driving into field goal range and allowing Nico Gramatica to nail a kick that would give the bulls an 18-16 upset win inside "The Swamp."
When speaking to reporters during spring football this week, Bett addressed the costly spitting mistake. He said he wanted to show people that the spitting incident is not who he is.
“It was a toll, but I just kind of wanted to get redemption, kind of show people that that’s not who I am,” Bett said, via Andrew Abadie of the Gainesville Sun.
“Even though I’ve made a huge mistake, terrible mistake, I didn’t want to show that that’s who I am. That’s not my character. That’s not the man my mother raised me to be. So I just, throughout the season, I just wanted to show that.”
Bett wants to use that mistake as motivation to become a better player and person so that moment doesn't define his time at Florida.
“I definitely use it as motivation--just to show people that I am better than that and I want to be better than that,” Bett said. “And also, I kind of use it to help the young guys.
"Use me as a demonstration when you feel like you’re in a moment of heat like that. Take what I did and learn from that. So I try to take what I did as a learning lesson for other people as well.”
Bett made 40 total tackles and three sacks last season. The six-foot-five, 308-pound athlete is looking to have a better season under new head coach Jon Sumrall.
Bett said that many people still remember him as the guy who spit on a player during the USF game. While that hurts, he knows he has the power to change the narrative and show that he has good character.