Oklahoma will be playing the Cotton Bowl without one of its starters.
The Sooners got a huge game in the Big 12 Championship from senior corner Tre Brown. He returned two huge kicks near the middle of the field, had a big pass break-up early in the game and then had the game-winning interception to seal Oklahoma’s sixth-straight Big 12 Championship.
Brown has been a three-year starter and has played for much of his four seasons for the Sooners. And his best game of his Oklahoma career will be his last.
Sooners Wire was able to confirm from a source with knowledge of the situation on Monday that the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native has opted-out of playing in the Cotton Bowl against Florida. The Cotton Bowl would have been Brown’s 44th career game in an Oklahoma uniform.
He came to the Sooners as a four-star prospect out of Tulsa Union High School. Brown got going early in his career, entering an extremely competitive and important Bedlam game with Oklahoma State in 2017 as a freshman. In his Oklahoma career, Brown will finish with 141 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, four interceptions and 31 passes defended.
There’s nothing bigger than his performance in the Sooners’ last three Big 12 Championship games. Brown sacked Sam Ehlinger for a safety to help give Oklahoma a win in 2018, raced down a Baylor wide receiver to save a touchdown near the end of the 2019 Big 12 Championship against Baylor and then his interception on Saturday.
Though Brown was a starter, Oklahoma rotates frequently. Jaden Davis and Woodi Washington have experience as starters and true freshman D.J. Graham has emerged over the last half of the season.
The Sooners and Gators are scheduled to play on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. CT.
[vertical-gallery id=22284]