Commentary: It's way past time for Bookie Radley-Hiles to cut out the unnecessary antics

Brendan Radley-Hiles’ enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of him.

But Saturday night, it was his team that paid the price for Radley-Hiles’ overexuberance.

Oklahoma was in the midst of laying down a 41-13 trip to the woodshed on Oklahoma State when Radley-Hiles essentially gave the struggling Cowboys their only touchdown of the night.

Up 21-0 early in the second quarter, OU got another stop when Shane Illingworth threw incomplete on third-and-4. Radley-Hiles was in coverage as the Sooners' nickel back when the football sailed harmlessly over Dillon Stoner’s head and fell incomplete, and OU’s offense started preparing to come onto the field.

Instead of running to the sideline or celebrating the stop with his teammates, Radley-Hiles chose to stand in front of Stoner and point his finger directly in Stoner’s face. And instead of doing it quickly and walking away, Radley-Hiles lingered, his arm extended, his finger pointed, for 3, 4, 5 seconds, taunting Stoner relentlessly.

The official watching the action finally decided he had no choice: Dead ball, unsportsmanlike conduct on No. 44, first down OSU.

The Cowboys scored on the next play when Illingworth threw to a wide-open Logan Carter in the end zone. That made it 21-7 — ultimately no threat in what became a 41-13 game, but nobody knew it at the time. It looked like the moment that OSU needed to spark back to life.

This is an OU team, remember, that has blown three double-digit leads this season.

“There’s a line that can’t be crossed,” Lincoln Riley said Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. “We love the energy and the intensity and all that that he brings to the game. He certainly brings a lot of that to our team, to our defense, no question about it. But it’s never OK to cross that line with something like that and have a penalty. So it’ll be corrected, it’ll be dealt with and we’ll have to do better going forward.”

Radley-Hiles is a 5-foot-9, 180-pound junior from Inglewood, CA, via IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. He was a 5-star recruit and has started 32 of his 35 career games.

And yet, his reputation precedes him.

Just this season, Radley-Hiles committed a personal foul in the loss at Iowa State (the Cyclones didn’t score) to go with two pass interference penalties. He committed a personal foul covering a punt early in the game against Texas (the Longhorns didn’t score) to go with a pass interference penalty.

Each of his three pass interference penalties this season preceded an opponent’s touchdown.

But this isn’t about being too short to cover big receivers or using bad technique or trying to save a big play by holding his man, or even hustling himself into a late-hit penalty.

This was an act that was not only uncalled for (the defense had just gotten the stop), it was selfish and it was classless and it ultimately gave the opponent seven points.

Not exactly what defensive coordinator Alex Grinch talks about when he describes the desperation his defense sometimes feels to get a stop and get off the field.

Radley-Hiles is always patient, insightful, engaging and highly respectful in media interviews. Teammates describe how much he cares about everything. Fans’ interactions have been all positive.

So to stand with his finger in an opponents’ face, taunting, seems out of character.

Only, he does things like this — such as his early ejection for a targeting hit on Clyde Edwards-Helaire while trying to tackle Heisman winner Joe Burrow in last year’s Peach Bowl loss to LSU. His absence decimated an already thin and certainly shaky OU secondary, and the result was a 63-28 embarrassment.

Riley said Radley-Hiles hasn’t resisted or complained about any corrections or discipline from Saturday night.

“No, Bookie, he gets coached hard here and he’s always responded in a positive way,” Riley said. “So no, I’ve got no concerns about how he would take it. He’s a mature kid, he’s a team-first guy, and there’s not a player out there more excited when one of his teammates makes plays, or that helps more guys behind the scenes, spends time with guys. So he’s a very team-first guy and we’ll expect him to grow from it.”

On Tuesday, during his weekly press conference and without being asked, Riley expounded on what Radley-Hiles means to the program.

“Our deal here is," Riley said, “ ... everybody wants to own the things they do well, you’re going to own the things you don’t do well, too. There’s nobody that’s exempt from that. Real quick, too, I will say this — I know lots been made of it, and I think I said this the other day, and I don’t think it got written about. I know Bookie’s taken some grief. No question there’s things he’s got to do better.

“I would say, too — hopefully you guys will choose to write this as well — I don’t know that we’ve got a bigger team player on this team than that guy. That guy is the most, for his teammates, staying late with young guys, most energetic, helping coach up young guys. He brings more to this than what the people on the outside realize. While there’s absolute things he’s got to correct and do better, I love having that kid here. He makes us better all the time, and we will be a worse program the day he’s not here.”

If Radley-Hiles does learn from this one and finally resolves to throttle back his enthusiasm, he can become a reliable player for the Sooners as a senior in 2021. He can overcome most of his physical shortcomings and fortify his moderate football talent with an uplifting attitude and infectious personality. He can engender leadership through strength of character.

If he doesn't, Riley and Grinch have plenty of young, talented defensive backs waiting in the wings next year who might actually have the kind of self control to avoid giving away touchdowns and 15-yard penalties.

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