Texas Tech player CJ Baskerville has broken his silence after an Arkansas opponent stomped on his ankle, leading to calls for his rival to be banned from football for life.
Fans were left furious after footage emerged of Arkansas left tackle Fernando Carmona crushing Baskerville’s ankle seemingly on purpose in the Razorbacks’ 39-26 win over the Red Raiders 39-26 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
Footage of the incident shows the moment players are trying to get back to their feet after a six-yard rush by Braylen Russell with Carmona, a team captain, stood up above the pile.
Baskerville can be seen laying on the floor, seemingly still down after making a tackle.
It’s at that moment that Carmona can be seen purposefully stomping on Baskerville’s ankle, pushing all of his weight down on his opponent’s leg.
A furious Baskerville posted two videos of the incident on X and captioned them: ‘There’s no denying that Arkansas played a great game last night, I am not taking that away from them.
Texas Tech player CJ Baskerville has spoken out after an opponent stomped on his ankle
Fans want Fernando Carmona to be banned from football life after the shocking incident
‘But #55 Fernando Carmona blatantly stepping on my ankle and pressing down on it on purpose is straight up dirty.
‘Proceeds to say “got your b**** a***.” Do better @RazorbackFB.’
In the footage, Baskerville can be seen writhing around on the floor in pain afterwards, although the referees appeared to miss it.
Angry fans took to social media immediately after the incident to call for Carmona Jr. to be banned for life.
One wrote: ‘This should be his last game ever. What a loser.’
Another commented: ‘This was absolutely on purpose. You can tell he held his right leg up until he was on top of the other guy’s ankle, and then he press down.
‘A normal step wouldn’t have had that hesitation. He should be kicked off the team and the team should be fined.’
A third posted: ‘I hope every NFL scout and coach sees this. What a terrible thing to do.’
‘He should be banned from playing football forever!’ another commented.
One comment read: ‘I mean, to have that even come into our mind to do, let alone actually do it… Wow. Absolutely cut him immediately.’
Baskerville took to social media to condemn Carmona’s actions as ‘straight up dirty’
Offensive lineman Carmona helped quarterback Taylen Green throw for 341 yards and two touchdowns as Arkansas pulled away in the second half to earn a 39-26 win.
Green completed 11 of 21 passes, two for touchdowns, and added 81 yards and a score on 15 rushes. He led a big-play attack that saw the Razorbacks pile up 559 total yards.
Will Hammond connected on 20 of 34 passes for 280 yards, a touchdown and two second-half interceptions for the Red Raiders, filling in for injured starter Behren Morton.
However, Texas Tech’s offense, which trimmed a 21-3 first-quarter deficit to 21-19 in the second quarter, couldn’t respond in the second half.
