Former Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson was a generational recruit back in 2004, so obviously college football coaches around the country were willing to go to great lengths to get his talents in their uniform, but maybe no one tried harder than Ed Orgeron, who was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the USC Trojans at the time.
Coach O was recently on the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast with former NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, and shared a wild story about how he tried to out-recruit Bob Stoops at OU to lure Peterson to California.
"I'm going to tell you the one I didn't get: Adrian Peterson," Coach O said while sharing recruiting stories.
Ed Orgeron admitted all the lengths he went through to try to steal Adrian Peterson from OU
At the time, Peterson's father was incarcerated, and according to Coach O, a big reason why Peterson admitted to Coach O that he wanted to play for the Sooners was because their games were shown in the Texarkana prison where Peterson's father was at. Peterson wanted to make sure his dad could watch him play.
Obviously the Trojans weren't on TV in Texas because of regional coverage then, and Coach O said that was stopping Peterson from being a Trojan after what Coach O claimed was a "great visit" to USC.
After the visit, Peterson told Coach O the next step was to visit his father because Stoops already had. If Coach O convinced the dad, then Peterson would go to USC. However, Coach O couldn't get into the prison as other recruiters had also started trying to, so Coach O had to ask Peterson what he could do next.
"I said, 'Adrian, if your daddy, if they showed them USC games over there, would you come?' He said, 'Coach, I'd come tomorrow if you promise me my daddy could see every one of my games,'" Coach O said. "I went back to Los Angeles. I went to speak to the mayor, went to speak to every influential person that I could talk to, and I tried to get Adrian's daddy transferred from Texarkana to Los Angeles Jail, man.
"I tried. Man, I busted my butt. I couldn't do it, man. Just too many red tapes."
Coach O went to every length trying to recruit Adrian Peterson, even attempted to get his dad transferred from Texarkana to LA County jail just to watch him play pic.twitter.com/2WmKTsGxvd
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) December 9, 2025