Stephen A. Smith demands Texas cop who shoved college football players be suspended and banned from games

Stephen A. Smith has called for the police officer who shoved two South Carolina players during their game against Texas A&M to be suspended and banned from working football games ever again.

The officer was sent home from the thrilling game on Saturday after angrily bumping Gamecocks star Nyck Harbor just moments after he scored a touchdown.

In the bizarre moment shown live on ESPN, the cop walked straight into Harbor and running back Oscar Adaway III, knocking them both off their stride.

The two players turned around to find the angry officer pointing towards the field. He appeared to shout: 'Get out of here!'

ESPN star Smith took to social media on Saturday night to give his take on the viral incident, calling for the officer to be banned from working at games.

He said: 'This is a no brainer to me. You can see the officer walking in between two players and literally bumps into both of them and flexes his arms out before turning around and telling them to get on out of here and all of this other stuff. 

'We saw it. It's clear as day. It's an automatic suspension. The man shouldn't be allowed to work the game again. What you doing messing with a player like that?

'It wasn't somebody in street clothes that you didn't know was a player. You knew exactly who it was. You knew it was a player for South Carolina. You knew that and you did it anyway.

'There's nothing to think about here. There's no argument. There's no excuse on the part of the behavior of the officer. He shouldn't even be allowed to cover the games anymore and definitely should be suspended.'

LeBron James agreed with Smith, posting on X: 'That A&M cop needs to suspended! 

'That was premeditated and corny AF!! He went out his way to start some s***. Do better man'.

A statement from Texas A&M police on Saturday afternoon read: 'We are aware of the incident in the NE tunnel involving a DPS trooper. He has been relieved of his game day assignment.' 

The Texas Department of Public Safety said they are 'aware of the incident that occurred today during the Texas A&M football game. The DPS Trooper involved was sent home from the game. Our Office of Inspector General is also aware of the incident and will be further looking into the matter.'

Both Harbor and Adaway seemed confused by the confrontation. The running back even held out his hand - as if to apologize - before grabbing Harbor and leading him away.

The visiting Gamecocks made a remarkable start, scoring three first-half touchdowns and racing into a 30-3 lead heading into the third quarter.

But Texas A&M would go on to record the biggest comeback in school history to win an epic game 31-30. 

Marcel Reed threw for a career-high 439 yards and three touchdowns as they overturned a 27-point halftime deficit to remain undefeated.

'I´m not lost for words very much, but I was lost for words with the team in the locker room after the game,' coach Mike Elko said.

'A lot of that emotion was just pride in who they were, how they conducted themselves. There´s not a lot of teams that have a culture and a core that will just keep going.'

The comeback was the biggest in school history, eclipsing a 21-point rally by a Johnny Manziel-led team in a 52-48 win in the 2013 Chick-Fil-A Bowl over Duke. 

Entering Saturday, teams were 0-286 in SEC play since 2004 when trailing by 27 points or more.