Oklahoma football: Tre Brown declaring for NFL Draft, out for Cotton Bowl
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football defensive back Tre Brown played his final game in a Sooner uniform on Saturday.
He announced on Monday that he was declaring for the 2021 NFL Draft and is forgoing Oklahoma’s Cotton Bowl appearance against the 7th-ranked Florida Gators.
Brown made the critical play that secured the Sooners’ 27-21 victory over Iowa State on Saturday, giving OU its sixth consecutive Big 12 championship.
The senior cornerback also had two long kickoff returns in the game, one of which came in the closing two minutes of the first half and set up an Oklahoma touchdown that put the Sooners up 24-7 right before halftime and immediately after Iowa State had scored to cut the OU margin to 17-7.
Brown has a history of making big plays in the Big 12 Championship. Two years ago, he sacked Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the end zone for a safety that came at a critical fourth-quarter junction in the game.
And last season, Brown tracked down Baylor speedster Chris Platt, who was on his way to a 95-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run that would have been the go-ahead score. Instead Baylor had to settle for a game-tying field goal. The Sooners went on to win by seven in overtime.
Brown’s four-year career at Oklahoma ends with 141 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, 35 passes defended and four interceptions. He is OU’s best defender in pass coverage, and his presence will definitely be missed.
Asked what the Sooners will do about replacing Brown, who has started 32 consecutive games, in the defensive secondary, head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters, including Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman,
"“Next man up. That’s in any year you’ve got to do that. If we haven’t learned that by this point this year, then we’re in trouble.“We’ve played a lot of guys defensively, and we don’t expect to miss a beat.”"
Brown grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a life-long Sooner fan who dreamed as a youth of playing football for the Sooners. Now, he hopes to continue that dream with an opportunity to play in the NFL.