ATLANTA — In the waning moments of LSU’s 63-28 drumming of Oklahoma in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, respect was handed out.
The Sooners sideline was somber. Some with towels over their head. Others with their heads down, staring blankly into the ground.
Then, in front of the benches, Oklahoma cornerbacks coach Roy Manning and senior corner Parnell Motley embraced. They hugged for nearly five minutes.
Manning was speaking into Motley’s ear. Motley nodded at times in agreement with what he was saying. Not a tear was streaming from either.
It was a moment between a rising, unexperienced coach that some questioned with a lack of credentials and a senior who bought-in to the culture and coaching on his way to his best year of his Oklahoma career.
“He was saying thank you, man,” Motley said after the loss. “He was saying when he got here, that nobody believed in me and he said thanks for sacrificing and shaping me into the player that I always wanted to be. And he said keep doing your thing and keep fighting and always do good at the next level cause he had been through it from experience and keep your head up and keep going and never stop going.”
Motley will admit that he had some mental lapses in the game.
None bigger than the Thaddeus Moss 62-yard touchdown pass, where he was supposed to be in cover three, but played man-to-man instead and vacated the LSU third of the secondary for Moss to catch and take it to the house.
In his final game in an Oklahoma uniform, Motley played from the first snap to the last. The score never changed his attitude or the effort he played with.
He was seen making run fits in the second half. He was still trying to get his licks in on Biletnikoff Award winner Ja’Marr Chase—who trash talked Motley earlier in the week, begging him to try and be physical with him, and only recorded two catches, with neither coming when Motley defended him. Still trying to fly around and make plays.
There’s something to be said about a guy who never lets up when it would have been easy to go ahead and move on.
“That’s Mot—he’s an ultimate competitor,” Manning said after the game. “You’ve seen all season, he doesn’t sub much. That’s just him. He wants to be out there. When it’s a one-point game or really, when we are leading the game by 20, he wants to be out there. He is a really, really competitive guy and I think that’s his edge. I think that’s what makes him him.
“Even tonight, when the game is a little bit out of hand, he’s still out there making tackles, fitting a run and covering guys. Those are the things that you hope that as a coach you get to coach a guy that is that way that truly, truly loves this game. And I think Mot does, so again, I am proud of him.”
Motley’s Oklahoma career wasn’t the smoothest.
He was benched against Oklahoma State in 2017. He was a part of a defense in 2018 that forced Oklahoma’s offense to have to score on almost every drive. He was ejected for kicking a player against Kansas State in 2019.
But he fought back. Was a role model for his teammates on-and-off the field. Had his teammates back at all times.
In his final year when he could’ve done his own thing and then moved on with his life, he was a part of the heartbeat of the Oklahoma defense that rebounded. Motley bought-in, had his best year of his career and likely set himself up to be drafted come April for the NFL Draft.
And when he could’ve finally given up down 42 against LSU, Motley didn’t.
He gave Oklahoma everything he had.
“I don’t even care if they’re up 50 or we’re up 50, I’m going to play my heart out and I most certainly say that I did today,” Motley said after the game. “I played my heart out, man. We were saying, ‘if tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you give today,’ and I can most certainly say I gave it all today to the potential that I wanted to be.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]