This mascot absolutely clobbered a young football player during the halftime show

A young football player’s dream of playing on the big screen ended in a way he probably didn’t expect - a 6-foot-tall gopher walloping him to the ground.

It was part of a halftime show during Saturday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A collection of local mascots faced off against some youth football players.

It seemed like a square-enough match - that is, until Goldy Gopher of the Minnesota Golden Gophers got ahold of the ball.

After a handoff, Goldy took a wide arc toward right field. The end zone was in sight, but a young defender raced to intercept him.

Goldy had none of it, and barreled right over the kid for the touchdown while the crowd let out a collective “Whoa!”

Former NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson berated Goldy on “NFL GameDay Prime.”

“This is a little kid right there, man! You can’t do that,” he said. “Pick on somebody your own size. I want you to do me like that.”

As for Goldy, he doesn’t seem too concerned about flattening the child.

“Put me in Coach Fleck!,” he tweeted to the Minnesota coach along with a video of the play. “I think I still have some eligibility left!”

Scott Berson: 706-571-8578, @ScottBersonLE

This story was originally published September 25, 2017 at 6:31 PM with the headline "This mascot absolutely clobbered a young football player during the halftime show."