Suspended Sooners remain in NCAA limbo

NORMAN — Lincoln Riley offered no update on the status of suspended players Trejan Bridges, Rhamondre Stevenson and Ronnie Perkins when asked on the Big 12 teleconference if Riley expected the trio back for Saturday's game at TCU.

“That process is still ongoing ,” the OU football coach said .“It' s yet to be determined.”

That's virtually the same answer Riley has given any time he's been asked about the players since they were suspended before last season's Peach Bowl after failing an NCAA drug test. Sources have said all three tested positive for marijuana.

The NCAA man dates a half- season suspension for a first-time offense. That would keep them out through Saturday's game, returning for the Oct. 31 game at Texas Tech.

There was some hope that the NCAA would reduce the suspensions due to the

s h o r t e n e d s c h e d u l e t h i s s e a s o n , b u t t h a t s e e ms unlikely.

Perkins' situation is more unclear than the other two.

Perkins was granted an appeal earlier this month but steps needed to be completed before he could regain eligibility and were not.

The defensive end traveled with the Sooners to face Iowa State on Oct. 3 but did not play i n the i mmediate wake of the ruling and then did not travel for the game against Texas.

Riley worried about message transfer rule sends

Count Ril ey among t he group of coaches who aren't exactly sold on a rule that would allow all players a onetime transfer without sitting out a season.

“Do I support i t ? I t ' s a tough question,” Riley said d u r i n g Monda y ' s B i g 1 2 teleconference.

“I think there's circumstances where a player should be allowed to and should be allowed to play right away. There's certainly extenuating circumstances. I do get that those are difficult to define or make a decision on who gets it or who doesn't. I think the obvious concern is do you have just a mass of players just leaving places the second that something doesn't work out for them.”

Ri l e y poi nt e d t o I s a i a h Thomas, a redshirt junior, who had a limited role the last two seasons before blossoming this season.

“That ' s a n e x a mple o f a y o u n g g u y t h a t maybe could've got di s couraged when it wasn't the fairy tale st art t o a career and t his guy's kind of hung in there, kept working and kind of turned himself into a heck of a player,” Riley said. “You wonder if you'll have that many examples of that if and when this rule goes through.

“I support kids being able to play — I certainly do — but I'm a little bit worried about, are we teaching them that in life, the second something doesn't go your way that you can just run from it and jump onto the next thing?”

T h e N C A A D i v i s i o n I C o u n c i l i s e x p e c t e d t o introduce a one-time transfer rule proposal this week, with a vote expected to come in January, Sports Illustrated reported late last week. The rule would come into effect Aug. 1, 2021.

OU-Texas Tech set for night kickoff

The Sooners game at Texas Tech will kick off at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 and be televised on Fox, the Big 12 announced Monday.

It'll be the third night game f o r t h e S o o n e r s , j o i n i n g the Sept. 12 opener against Missouri State and Oct. 3 game at Iowa State.

The game is the final of four consecutive games away from Norman. The Sooners return home Nov. 7 to face Kansas.