Over the weekend, it was reported by SportsByBrooks.com and later confirmed by the Arizona Republic that linebacker Vontaze Burfict was involved in a locker-room altercation with one of his teammates.
Specifically, Brooks writes, Burfict “initiated a blindside attack on [wide receiver Kevin] Ozier from inside the team’s locker room, sucker-punching the diminutive wide receiver in the face.” The incident allegedly occurred last Wednesday, but neither player missed any practice time due to either any injuries or suspensions arising from the incident.
Head coach Dennis Erickson addressed the situation for the first time Monday, telling the Arizona Republic that the scuffle “wasn’t all that big of thing.” Erickson also said that Burfict’s reputation -- some would say he has some on-field anger issues that need to be dealt with -- was the primary cause of this becoming a story as fights of this nature are par for the course based on the coach’s extensive experience in the game.
“I’ve been in 38-40 camps in my coaching career,” Erickson said. “Things like that happen on the field, tempers, and sometimes unfortunately they carry off the field, not very often but that happens. That’s not anything unusual. Because it was Vontaze obviously it was reported the way it was reported.”
Heading into his junior season, Burfict will likely be a near-consensus first-team pick on most of the major preseason All-American teams.