GAINESVILLE — At 5:30 a.m., Brendan Bett begins his day with a phone call and prayer.
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Catina Thompson is always there to answer back home in Killeen, Texas, before her son heads to Gators’ practice.
Up before dawn, Bett’s mother runs a child-care center. But Florida’s 6-foot-4, 319-pound defensive tackle will always be her baby.
The two have endured many travails together. They leaned on their faith and each other every step of the way.
“We are very, very, very close,” Thompson told the Orlando Sentinel. “He is a mama’s boy.”
Born when his mother was just 16 years old, Bett was a toddler when she was named Alabama’s 6A girls basketball player of the year for Gadsden City High School.
Mother and son arrived at the University of Kentucky in 2007, near the end of Bett’s terrible twos. Bett was just 7 years old when Thompson completed her playing career in 2012 at Mississippi State.
Four years later, an 11-year-old son of a single mother stood by her side when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The experience — including his mother’s recovery — prepared Bett for the challenges ahead, even when some felt insurmountable.
“It was tough on him, because it was just us at the time,” Thompson recalled of her battle with cancer. “I think it strengthened him a lot mentally, because he saw me keep going. I was going through chemo and working, taking care of him, showing up at games, just praying, asking God to keep me around so I can see his dreams fulfilled.
“We’re here now.”
A winding road to Florida
Bett’s path to a starting role on Florida’s defense — where he’ll line up Saturday night in the Swamp against Campbell — has featured twists and turns and potential dead-ends.
After moving from Gadsden to Lexington and Starkville, he and his mother settled in Killeen. Success at Ellison High School earned Bett a scholarship at Baylor, just an hour away from home.
But he was unprepared for life as a student-athlete.
In the classroom, he struggled to stay eligible. Poor academic performance forced Bett to sit out the 2024 season after he was nation’s fourth-highest rated interior freshman defensive lineman in 2023, according to Pro Football Focus.
On the field, fellow defender DJ Coleman, now in his first season as Florida defensive back, recalled Bett “had moments where he would lash out and go distant.”
Given a fresh start when he transferred to Florida in the spring of 2025, Bett’s emotions got the best of him again.
During a shocking 18-16 loss to USF in Week 2, officials flagged him for 15 yards and ejected him for spitting in the facemask of opposing offensive lineman Cole Skinner.
The infraction ignited the Bulls’ game-winning drive, put coach Billy Napier’s job in further jeopardy and left Bett inconsolable — and in the crosshairs of fans.
Thompson, 38, has never missed one of her son’s games since his days in youth football. When he exited the locker room, she was waiting for him.
“He was scared to come out,” she recalled. “He was just shaking and crying, and he was just like, ‘Mama, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t mean to hurt you or the team.’
“I was like, ‘We’re going to make it right and move on.’ That’s exactly what he’s done.”
A turning point
Rather than become distant, Bett owned up to his lapse in judgment. He issued an apology two days after the incident, writing on social media that he’d “made a terrible mistake.”
Bett then set out to earn forgiveness from his teammates, coaches and Gator Nation amid an onslaught of online vitriol.
“That moment changed Brendan’s life,” Thompson said. “The world can be so cruel. As a parent, you can’t say anything. You can’t react to the fans on the internet.
“After that happened, Brendan went into a really, really dark place.”
Once Bett emerged from that period, he openly discussed what he had done. He even welcomed the chance to share his experience.
“It took its toll,” he said on March 31. “But I just wanted to get redemption — show people that that’s not who I am, even though I made a huge mistake. That’s not my character.
“That’s not the man my mother raised me to be.”
Seizing his second chance
First-year coach Jon Sumrall inherited the best version of Bett.
Once a struggling student, he carries a grade-point average above 3.0.
“Whatever Florida’s doing, their system is working,” Thompson said. “I’m forever grateful.”
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During the spring, Sumrall singled out Bett as the tone-setter on defense.
Prior to last week’s season-opening win against Florida Atlantic, Sumrall discussed the man the 21-year-old has become.
“I’m probably as proud of him as anybody,” Sumrall said. “He had a choice a year ago after the South Florida game. It could have gone a couple different ways. And he’s really elevated and responded to a mistake with a mature approach.
“He’s been an elder statesman in that room.”
Reaching another next level
Bett strives to raise his game to the level of former Gators defensive tackle Caleb Banks.
A foot injury limited Banks to just three games in 2025. Surgery prevented him from taking part in the NFL Scouting Combine or Florida’s Pro Day, yet the Minnesota Vikings still selected him with the No. 18 pick in the 2026 draft.
Bett performed admirably in Bank’s absence. He recorded 40 tackles, including three sacks.
Few seemed to notice such production from the defense’s interior. Bett failed to generate any offseason buzz beyond Florida’s Heavener Football Center.
“I feel like that whole situation changed what people say about Bett,” sophomore tackle Joseph Mbatchou told the Orlando Sentinel. “He had 39 tackles last year as a D-tackle, and they don’t really talk about him. But he’s a real football player. He goes out there with the right mindset.
“He’s gonna go out there and do it again, because they weren’t blocking Bett.”
Bett is content to operate off the radar, remaining confident he’ll turn heads in 2026.
“I haven’t let that faze me at all,” he said. “I know what I’m capable of.”
Bett raised his ceiling during the offseason.
He added 11 pounds of lean muscle, increased his squat lift from 505 pounds to 585, his power clean from 315 to 365 and his bench press from 315 to 385 in new strength Rusty Whitt’s program.
“Playing what I play, you have to be strong — like it’s no question,” he said. “Being able to see my numbers in the weight room, and then see it translate on the field was the best thing ever.”
During a recent chat, Bett updated Banks on his progress and the state of Sumrall’s program while discussing the league Bett aims to play in one day.
Though the two defensive tackles don’t keep in touch regularly, their relationship remains close.
“That’s still my big brother,” Bett said. “I hit him up whenever I need advice.”
His anchor through it all
Thompson, though, remains her son’s north star.
Even as a teenage mother, Thompson pushed to become the parent he would need. She couldn’t do it alone.
Keith Blackwell, her high school coach, became her father figure and support system.
“He was the biggest influence in my life that helped me not give up,” Thompson said. “He’s who I call dad today.”
At Mississippi State, coaches allowed Bett to accompany his mother to practice if he wasn’t at school or with a sitter. He always attended her games.
“I was right by her hip 24/7,” Bett said.
Thompson appreciated the school’s approach with a young single parent.
“Mississippi State was good to me,” she said.
Then Bulldogs’ athletic director Scott Stricklin recalled Bett’s mother being “a really good player” and a team captain for coach Shannon Fanning.
Now at Florida, Stricklin didn’t immediately put together the pieces after her son transferred to Florida during the spring of 2025.
“I was surprised when I found out about the connection,” he told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s a small world.”
A ritual with meaning
During Gator Walk prior to Florida home games, Thompson waits for her son as players and coaches make their way to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
“He’s always looking for his mama,” she said.
Standing 6-foot-5 and wearing a No. 90 jersey, mom is hard to miss while she waits with her husband, Quentez Thompson — Bett’s stepfather and the father to his younger sister Cai, 5, and brother Adriel, 4.
When Bett and Thompson finally connect, they perform a ritual, embrace and exchange a kiss.
“We do a handshake we’ve been doing since he was like five years old,” she said. “It’s his good luck handshake.”
Bett then heads to the Swamp to play the game he loves. He makes sure to display gratitude given the opportunity — and role model — he has.
“Growing up, my mother, she always would instill in me, it’s OK to be confident, but at the same time you want to be humble,” Bett said. “Because at the end of the day, any of this can get taken away. No matter how good you are, any of this can get taken away.
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“So it’s always a blessing.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at [email protected]
Up next …
Campbell (2-0) at UF (1-0)
When: 5:30 p.m., Saturday
Where: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville
TV: SEC Network+
Favorite: UF by 49.5 points