Oklahoma DB Justin Broiles Thankful To Be On the Field, Playing After Scary Injury
NORMAN — In the second quarter of Oklahoma’s Week 11 loss to West Virginia in Morgantown, the Sooners suffered a blow on the back end of their defense that stopped the team in its tracks.
Fifth year senior defensive back Justin Broiles, a team captain throughout the year and one of the veteran leaders on a team with many new faces in 2022, went down with an apparent lower body injury that looked serious from the outset.
For a moment, everyone thought Broiles’ season — and collegiate career — was over.
That includes Broiles, who admitted the realization that his playing days in a Sooners uniform felt like they had come to an abrupt end.
“I did. I definitely jumped off the deep end a little bit just because you see so many knee injuries and things of that nature,” Broiles said this week. “I just knew I couldn't even move it at that point in time. As I was trying to stay poised, my mind wanted to keep racing off the deep end. The more I thought about it I was like, 'Dang.' But it's all good because it's all God, so I'm back out there and I'm playing.”
With his mind racing in the aftermath of the injury, Broiles did everything in his power to stay locked in at the task at hand, believing he would have the chance to be back.
“Understanding it's all good because it's all God,” Broiles said. “That's what brought me that confidence when I was standing around. I broke (my) fibula before. I done had bruises. I'm out here at this point, so that means I done overcame all that. It is what it is.”
But, after a brief period of frustration and fear for the worst, the captain did what he always does: went back to trying to help his teammates, who were visibly shaken up seeing their fallen comrade.
“Once I got up and I said everything was good, ain't nothing I could do about it now,” Broiles said. “I done been here before. I took myself back to my fibula injury. When I was a young cat, I had a bruised heel. All the injuries that I had and things of that nature, all the hardships, I done overcame it before. I'm gonna overcome this.
"That's just how I got myself out of that space. I gave myself like two minutes to cry and then I heard 'Punt team up.' I said, 'We gotta stop. Alright cool, let me out this tent. I'm good.' Like, 'I don't care no more.'' Like, 'I'm good. We can worry about this later.' Doctors were mad at me and things of that nature. But I'm like, 'Y'all be mad at me later. We got a game to go win. I can't help being in here.”
Broiles’ teammates admitted after the fact that his injury put a cloud over the remainder of the game that became hard to escape knowing what the team meant to him and what he meant to the team.
“He’s kind of the heartbeat of this team,” linebacker DaShaun White said following the 23-20 loss to the Mountaineers. “To see him go down, it took me a while to snap out of it. He’s the heartbeat of this team. Everybody loves him. Seeing him down was kind of rough. Hoping for the best.”
In a fortunate turn of the events, the best that everyone hoped for actually came to fruition. The severity of the injury that everyone had feared didn’t end up being the case, as Broiles was diagnosed with a simple hyperextension of his knee with no structural damage.
Broiles was able to return to the lineup the following Saturday for Bedlam against Oklahoma State — the final home game of his career, which the Sooners won 28-13.
Justin Broiles
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
“Oh, man. I didn't get emotional 'til later,” Broiles said. “And that wasn't even really emotion, just more like, 'Thank you God.' It was more gratitude than anything because I'm pretty sure it'll probably hit me at the end of the season. But as soon as that game was over, it was more like 'Alright, what's the next game?' ”
Broiles' return to the field certainly provided an emotional lift for Oklahoma heading into the rivalry matchup in what has unquestionably been a challenging season in Norman.
With Broiles helping lead the charge, the Sooners offered up arguably their best defensive output of the season in stifling the Cowboys and forcing four turnovers.
“He's (Broiles) a leader that we need,” defensive back Billy Bowman said. “He's a great guy and he's a fighter. There was no question if he had a chance to come back, he would come back and play. He's a fighter and it's great to have that kind of leader with us.”
But, while Saturday’s Bedlam win in his final collegiate home game was something he’ll remember forever, that is now in the rearview mirror.
As he has always done, Broiles now looks forward to what lies ahead as Oklahoma prepares for a road battle at Texas Tech to close out the regular season.
“That's how we build this program from a what's-next mentality,” Broiles said. “Being grateful for the present moment but always striving to get better. Everybody digging and can't wait to get back into that film and watch what they could have done better, to watch how we could have made that game that much more better on all sides of the ball. I'm pretty sure it'll probably hit me after the season, but right now my mindset is Texas Tech.”
The Sooners will battle the Red Raiders on Saturday night at 6:30 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, TX.
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