This week, legendary running back Adrian Peterson was inducted into the Texas Football Hall of Fame prompting him to address why he chose to leave the state to play his college football. And in a shocking turn of events, he blamed Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown.
During his speech, Adrian Peterson addressed his decision not to sign with Texas despite growing up a Texas Longhorns fan, telling Texas fans “If you’re gonna be mad at anybody, be mad at Coach Mack Brown.”
Peterson went on to explain that he ultimately chose to sign elsewhere when Brown refused to allow him to compete for the starting role as a true freshman.
#Sooners legend Adrian Peterson was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame this weekend. During his speech, he had a funny story about how he ended up at OU instead of Texas.
"If you're gonna be mad at anybody, be mad at Coach Mack Brown." pic.twitter.com/I0Dnl02CMD
— Holden Krusemark (@HoldenKrusemark) April 17, 2023
“I sat in Coach Brown’s office,” Peterson said. “And I asked him the same thing I asked everyone else. ‘Coach Stoops, will I have the opportunity to come in and compete?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ Pete Carroll. ‘Will I have the opportunity to come in and compete for a starting job if I come?’ “Yeah.’ Nick Saban.
“Mack Brown? ‘If I come here, will I have the opportunity to come in and compete for the starting job?’ He was like ‘Well, Adrian, I’m not going to lie to you. Cedric Benson, he decided to come back for his senior year. So, we’re going to be loyal to him and we’re going to let him ride it out. But after that, you can compete for it.’ I said ‘Okay, appreciate it’ and that was it. I never told him that I wasn’t coming. But that was the decision I made based off that.”
It’s a pretty wild story, and the football world had plenty to say about it.
Mad?
Cedric ended up winning the Doak Walker and grabbed a Rose Bowl win. We then proceeded to win a Natty the very next year with one of the best RBs of all time contributing as a true freshman… What is there to be mad about? 🤔 https://t.co/ufx9CesJTH
— Booman The Barbarian (@YoungFlight15) April 17, 2023
Thank you Mack Brown I can speak for all sooner fans we appreciate you https://t.co/KBvzJ0yHdi
— TRAV (@_TRAV23) April 17, 2023
When they faced each other during @AdrianPeterson’s freshman year, Cedric Benson had 23 rushes for 92 yards.
AD had 32 for 225 yards. https://t.co/HFT67Cldhc
— Alex Haynes, Esq. (@AlexHaynesLaw) April 17, 2023
All he wanted was a blanket statement of support for an open competition… https://t.co/HPpToPhOJa
— Bob Stoops Statue (@BobStoopsStatue) April 18, 2023
https://twitter.com/BirdAppOkie/status/1647872456453939201?s=20
OU didn’t have a Cedric Benson but USC HAD Reggie Bush and Pete Carroll still said yes.
— Zac Kamm (@broguydev) April 17, 2023
It was certainly a bold decision by Brown.
