Camp’s biggest fight yet happened one play after a sideline official flagged wide receiver Tory Horton for offensive pass interference pushing into cornerback Nathaniel Pritchett with a two-arm shiver. That was with Horton coming out of his break on a deep out route in an 11-on-11 scrimmage. The pass fell to the grass incomplete.
The defensive players yelled at Horton for the penalty. On his way back to his offense’s huddle, Horton went into the defensive huddle and talked smack at all 11 players there.
Horton lined up flanked outside left again for the next snap. He caught a quick pass outside, in front of arriving safety Ty Okada. Okada hit Horton hard in his back from behind after the play was over. Then he hit him again. Then Okada hit Horton a third time in the back, along the sideline where all the defensive players were massed.
Horton, the team’s fifth-round pick last year from Colorado State in his first weeks back from a cracked shin that ended his rookie season in November, went at Okada following the third late hit. Okada threw Horton to the ground, and into the mass of about three-dozen defensive players.
With the players’ and coaches’ significant others and kids watching from across the way, a giant pile of defensive players went at the fallen Horton. He was almost the lone offensive player on the sideline opposite his offensive teammates. When an offensive lineman ran over from the middle of the field to try to assist Horton, linebacker Derick Hall stood in front of him and stopped him.