Spurred by Justin Broiles, Oklahoma Seniors Go Out With One Final Practice

The Sooners aren't chasing a championship this year, but after what they described as a good finish on Tuesday, OU seniors are eager to show their pride.

ORLANDO — Think Oklahoma players might be ho-hum about finishing the college football season in the Cheez-It Bowl?

Wrong.

Some Sooners are actually very passionate about beating Florida State on Thursday night.

Justin Broiles, a sixth-year senior defensive back from Oklahoma City, opened practice Tuesday at Boone High School with an impassioned plea to his teammates to stop saying they wanted to play for the OU seniors.

“Focus for me! Have discipline for me! Be detailed for me!” Broiles shouted to the group as they lined up to stretch. “Don’t play for (me)! … I promise you! Because playing’s gonna take care of itself!”

The Sooners practiced for about an hour before busing back to the team hotel behind a police escort.

Several Sooners who stopped for interviews afterward said Tuesday — which would equate to a normal Thursday practice — was a good one. Frankly, it needed to be for the outgoing OU seniors.

“It's been really good,” said tight end Brayden Willis. “I thought about this the other day, bowl-games wise, I started my college career in Florida (at the 2018 Orange Bowl) and I'm ending it in Florida. Hopefully we can go out with a dub.”

“Our team's focused,” said senior punter Michael Turk. “I’m focused. We are just getting after it. It's my last go-around here. I'm making the most of it.”

“It was a great day today,” said senior cornerback C.J. Coldon. “I think we just came out here and (were) very detailed (in) technique, and we knew where we were supposed to be today. It was a very good practice.”

This is an opportunity for the Sooners to continue a 24-year streak of finishing with a winning record. When you’re 6-6 under a first-year coach, there aren’t a lot of goals to reach for in the postseason. Players at Media Day on Monday said the postseason goals were bigger than just winning — such as being at one’s best.

“Guys are coming into this bowl game thankful and hungry,” Willis said. “We haven't had the season that we thought we were going to have. That just gives us one more opportunity to close it out the right way and close it out how we want to close it. Guys came out here thankful to be on the trip. There are a lot of hungry guys on the practice field and we've seen it all week.”

Coldon described finishing 6-6 and the opportunity to end 2022 — his only season in Norman after transferring from Wyoming — with a 7-6 record if the Sooners defeat FSU.

“Extra focus and motivation, I feel like,” Coldon said. “But it’s very good because 5-7, obviously nobody wants to be 5-7, but 6-6, it’s a blessing just to be here and get in a bowl game and get the work in. Blessed to play a good team, also.”

“I think our team has always been committed, regardless, because we've believed in what our coaches have been telling us,” Turk said Tuesday. “It's definitely a bonus that we get to play in a bowl game, get better and have more practices. Hopefully, we can finish on a strong note and make the most of this bowl game.”