A backup running back angrily fired the ball at a freshman safety, triggering a practice melee Friday that involved about 20 players -- including Collin Klein -- at the Kansas State practice field.
It started with freshman safety Dante Barnett and running back Demarcus Robinson, and it quickly escalated into a brawl that caused reporters to scatter and came dangerously close to fans.
Afterward, quarterback Collin Klein strongly denounced the behavior.
"There's no excuse for it," said Klein, noting that he watched from an "advantageous" position. "There's no throwing the ball at a teammate and there's no shoving a guy out of bounds into the signs. One, it doesn't look good. Two, it sends the wrong message to our team. We want to take care of our guys ... I don't like to see it."
Robinson ran a sweep to the right sideline and received a hard push from Barnett. Robinson, a few yards out of bounds, fired the ball at Barnett and came toward him, throwing a punch. Cornerbacks Joseph Bonugli and Kip Daily, trailing the play, joined Barnett and went after Robinson and slammed him to the ground.
They fell to the ground about 25 feet from the sideline and within seconds, there was a huge pileup a few feet from the fence that separates fans from the field. To get there, the players trampled advertising placards that lined the periphery of the field.
Klein was one of the first players on the scene, trying to play the role of peacemaker. An angry head coach LHC Bill Snyder, perhaps concerned that it was so close to the fans, barged into the melee and started pulling away players.
It took only about a minute to restore order. There were no apparent injuries. Some players, off to the side, made light of the situation by taking fake swings at each other.
Later Snyder said it wasn't even close to the nastiest fight he's ever seen. He said they had "way better ones" in 1989, his first year as coach.
But he admitted that "I don't think I've ever seen a sign get knocked over in a fight because it happened on the sideline. But it wasn't a melee. Youngsters weren't throwing helmets. Sometimes when you're competing, things like that happen. I think we've had enough fights for camp, so I don't expect too many more after this one." Snyder said he agreed with Klein, citing the importance of protecting teammates.
In the heat of the moment, however, Robinson was not overly concerned about his teammates.
"Just competing ... got a little frustrated, and it just went from there," Robinson said.
Asked if he was trying to hurt Barnett, Robinson shrugged and said: "If you're fighting, what are you going to do, just love-tap him? It's a fight. It's football. Ain't nothing out of line."
Snyder spoke to both players after practice, and he also addressed the team.
"He tried to let everybody know, 'This is us, we're all we've got,' " said center B.J. Finney, paraphrasing the coach. "Ultimately, this is our team, so it's important we protect one another."
Dante Barnett, said, "Lost my temper for a second." Next thing he knew, he was on the bottom of a massive pile.
"I could hardly breathe because everybody was on top of me," said Barnett, adding that he'd never been involved in a fight.
Robinson seemed bemused by the entire incident.
"I like being on the bottom of the pile; you get cheap shots in," he said with a laugh, adding that he wouldn't take a cheap shot at a teammate.
Robinson said Snyder told him to "keep playing hard."
"It was something that just happened, spur of the moment," he said. "I'm over it now. We're teammates. I love him. We're moving on."
Later in practice, Robinson took a hard hit and walked slowly to the sideline. He called it a "stinger," proclaiming he was fine.
Tempers flared briefly near the end of practice, when cornerback Nigel Malone and tight end Travis Tannahill exchanged heated words.
After eight days of practice, the Wildcats are tired of hitting each other and want to play another team. That comes September 1st, when they open the season against the Missouri State Bears.
"I think we're looking to hit someone from a different team for once," Dante Barnett said.
