Finally, on Sunday night, Oklahoma players got to speak out.
After OU coach Lincoln Riley walked away from the Sooners and took the head coaching job at USC, two players in particular — H-backs Jeremiah Hall and Brayden Willis — expressed themselves on their weekly podcast.
On the latest episode of “The Podcast on the Prairie,” Hall and Willis discussed Riley’s departure and described the scene in which Riley told his players he was leaving.
“It’s been a hell of a day,” Hall said. “Didn’t see this one coming, I’ll be honest with you.”
Said Willis, ”It definitely wasn’t how I expected my Sunday to go. That’s for sure.”
Hall, now a senior who was a freshman when Bob Stoops retired in 2017, said the scene in the team meeting room was “like deja vu.”
“It’s quiet, it’s kind of eerie, because you know he’s about to say something we’re not expecting,” Hall said. “And he breaks the news to us. Of course he’s emotional.”
Both Willis and Hall said they were not holding a grudge against Riley.
“It’s a personal decision,” Willis said, “and we are gonna respect that it is a personal decision. Life happens. Things change. Maybe he just needed a change of scenery or whatever the case may be. But we’re gonna respect that and like I said, it’s a little bit of adversity, and I’ve come to realize adversity can be good sometimes. It is what it is. There’s no point in being mad over it or sad about it.”
“I don’t remember him telling us the reasoning,” Hall said. “Obviously it was a personal decision for his family and stuff like that. But there were no specific reasons said to us as to why he left. However, I respect him regardless. This is the world of college football that we live in, and just because he made this decision to make a change doesn’t mean he didn’t give his all for the past 5-6-7 years he was here.”
Hall said Stoops, OU president Joe Harroz and athletic director Joe Castiglione were on the scene after Riley spoke to the team.
“They wanted to emphasize that his program is one individual person,” Hall said.
Hall tried to describe the emotional roller coaster he’s been on since losing at Oklahoma State on Saturday night. Sunday, he revealed, actually did come with a little good news as well.
“The past 24 hours have been a world of emotions for me,” Hall said, “just because of Bedlam, taking the L, coach Riley leaving … me receiving my Reese’s Senior Bowl invite. That put me on a high.”
Hall also expressed being stretched in opposite directions with the news that Stoops would be the interim coach for OU’s bowl game, but also looking ahead to when the Sooners eventually transition to the Southeastern Conference.
“I thought Lincoln would lead OU to the SEC and come in strong,” Hall said. “ … I will say, I am looking forward to playing this game with coach Stoops as the head man. I was recruited by him.”
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