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SOONERS COMMIT TO ‘BE A VOICE’
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The Sooners celebrate after redshirt junior defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas gets a sack during the game against Kansas on Nov. 7.
Head coach Lincoln Riley and former Sooner J.C. Watts praise team’s commitment to civic engagement without losing focus on football CHANDLER ENGELBRECHT @ctengelbrecht
Three hours before No. 19 Oklahoma took the field Saturday for its eventual 62-9 victory over Kansas, the Sooners sat together for their traditional pregame feast. While the team dined, the results of the 2020 presidential election became public. As parts of the country erupted into praise and others fell into disbelief, the team remained quiet. In fact, Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley said he wasn’t sure he would have been able to tell if the election was over if he didn’t have the news in front of him. “At that point, our guys were pretty locked into getting ready for the game,” said Riley, who has championed the idea that the young men on his team are more than athletes. “Like the whole nation, everybody’s going to have their opinions on it. To me, who won (the presidency) for our guys was not the story. … Maybe it was someone they did vote for, maybe it was somebody they didn’t, (but) just how our team has handled it and become educated on it (is) what stands out still to me right now.” Another prominent Sooner, former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, was
proud of how his alma mater held itself this week. “At the end of the day it’s really about exercising (and) participating in the process to be a voice,” said Watts, who grew up in Eufaula and played quarterback for Oklahoma from 1976-80. “It’s easy to think (an individual vote) doesn’t count. That’s like saying a cashier at a grocery store cheated (you) out of a dime. Well, a dime’s not a lot of money, but what if the cashier does that a thousand times a day? That would amount to quite a bit of money. “When you vote, you’re casting your dime and you’re saying that my vote matters. And it surely matters when millions of other people join with (you) to exercise that right.” Riley praised his team’s passion for embracing their civic duties and doing just that on Election Day, when OU players — like all OU students — had the day off to vote. Many on Oklahoma’s roster viewed casting their ballots as the Sooners’ first challenge of the week, and the second being ensuring the Jayhawks didn’t derail Oklahoma’s hopes at a shot for a six-straight Big 12 title. “It was pretty much all about football once we were inside the facilities,” defensive lineman Ronnie Perkins said. “On the
field, it was all football. We really weren’t focused about the election or nothing (else).” Center Creed Humphrey, who announced in August the entire team had registered to vote, and defensive back Chanse Sylvie, who in June built a coalition for criminal justice reform, both took to Twitter on Tuesday to encourage others to exercise their constitutional right. “This week was about (the election and our game), really,” linebacker Nik Bonitto said. “(Our coaches) did a really good job of letting us get our time away on Election Day and making an emphasis that we go out and vote. When we had to do football, we had to lock in (and) know our opponent. “I feel like we were prepared for Election Day. (But) when it was time to play football, we got down to business.” It could have been easy for the Sooners to have become distracted by the state of the country and trip up to a winless opponent during their first home game in over a month. Yet, they kept things in perspective and didn’t stumble. “Whether we’re an 18- or 19-year-old college freshman, a 21-year-old college senior or we’re a 62-year-old businessman
(like) the way I am, politics impact us all,” Watts said. “And I think there were many things that happened over the last nine months that registered with student-athletes (and) raised their conscience level about the importance of sounding their voice. “And that voice was their vote.” Watts relates to stress current student-athletes might be dealing with. In his final year with the Sooners, Watts captained his team during the 1980 presidential election, which saw Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeat incumbent President Jimmy Carter. “I’m not going to say that I was the most conscientious student-athlete, but I was a pretty conscientious student athlete,” Watts said. “One thing that really encouraged me to cast my vote and participate was that I was conscious of the sacrifice that my parents, my uncle (and) Black people had made during the Jim Crow era and beyond. … They gave me the right to go in there and cast my ballot as I see fit. I never took that for granted. “When I talk to players and coaches (and) they ask me ‘What can we do to be involved?’ I (tell them), ‘I can suggest a lot of things — but first of all, you need to make sure you’re registered to vote.’”
Watts’ sentiment echoed what Riley told his team before Election Day. “And it’s never, for us, been a deal of wanting one person to win over the others — there’s never been one bit of talk of that within this team,” Riley said. “It has simply been let’s understand it’s your right (to vote). Let’s educate ourselves so that we can be a good, productive member of society and be able to voice our opinions. “That’s all we’ve ever wanted to be and that, as a team, is all we’ve ever talked about.” In a presidential election that broke numerous voter turn-out records all over the United States, Watts hopes the country’s youngest voters will continue to show up in future elections. “In this election cycle, we saw a picture of how it should work,” Watts said. “For those of us who believe you should be registered to vote and participate in the process, (that proved) you don’t solve problems through militias (or) by looting and rioting (and) trying to intimidate people. “You solve problems by going and getting people registered to vote.” Chandler Engelbrecht
chandler.engelbrecht@ou.edu
Days-long election sees Biden victory
GRAPHIC BY JORDAN MILLER/THE DAILY