Texas defensive end Breckyn Hager apologized for slamming rival Oklahoma following a postgame interview with reporters.
Hager took aim at the Sooners after a reporter informed him that they had surrendered 40 points to Kansas.
“Hey, OU has no defense,” Hager said. He then pointed to a nearby clock and added, “Wait, wait — it’s 11:12 and what? OU still sucks.”
The Big 12 didn’t take too kindly to Hager’s comments, with commissioner Bob Bowlsby declaring that he violated the league’s sportsmanship and ethical conduct policies.
“Breckyn Hager violated the conference rule that prohibits coaches, student-athletes, athletic department staff and university personnel from making negative comments about other member institutions for his remarks about the University of Oklahoma,” Bowlsby said in a statement. “This is Mr. Hager’s second violation of the conference sportsmanship rules and, therefore, he is receiving a public reprimand and will be expected to issue a public apology for his inappropriate comments.”
Hager did precisely that on Monday night.
“I consider sportsmanship to be an essential part of the game I so truly love,” Hager said in a statement. “I spoke with our athletics director Chris Del Conte and Coach Herman about what I said after Saturday’s game and understand why it reflected poorly on me and my team. I had no ill intentions when I made my comments about Oklahoma, which included a phrase that’s used by fans, but I have to realize that it’s different coming from me. My thought process was that it would put a fun and light-hearted charge into the greatest rivalry in college football that my family has been involved in playing in for many years, but I can see now that was not the way to do it.
“I have the utmost respect for the University of Oklahoma and their football program and know a number of players on their team, and I want to apologize to them. I want to represent myself, my family, my football program, my university and the Big 12 Conference in the best possible way. I’m truly sorry for the comments I made, will learn from this and will keep working to improve my ability to think about the ramifications of what I say before I say it.”
Texas defeated Oklahoma 48-45 in October.
Should the Longhorns defeat Kansas and Sooners topple West Virginia this weekend, they will meet in the Big 12 championship game.
