Zac Collier enjoys performing the Star Spangled Banner earlier than sporting occasions.
He’s been the ceremonial singer for the nationwide anthem at Texas Rangers video games, Dallas Wings video games, TCU video games, Frisco Tough Riders video games, Texas A&M video games and extra. In 2020, he turned in a digital efficiency for the Houston Astros (it wasn’t used).
Collier’s most up-to-date look singing the anthem, nonetheless, knocked him out of consideration for his subsequent one.
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Collier — a 27-year-old Texas A&M alumnus and faculty trainer dwelling in Dallas and a religious Aggies fan — sang earlier than an Oklahoma State-Texas softball sport in Oklahoma Metropolis final week, and when he completed, he turned to OSU followers, held up the “Go Pokes” signal after which flashed the “Horns Down” signal.
Zac Collier
Screenshot through YouTube
Collier was scheduled to sing the anthem on the School World Collection in Omaha this week, however the NCAA modified course and uninvited him.
Collier posted about it on his Fb web page this week, together with a screenshot of an e-mail from the NCAA.
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“Because of the unsportsmanlike conduct proven after your efficiency on the Girls’s School World Collection, we have to go a unique route,” the NCAA wrote. “You might be not scheduled to carry out at Recreation 9 of the Males’s School World Collection.”
In his put up dated June 9, Collier wrote, “I’ll not be singing on the MCWS in Omaha as a result of my “Offensive Gestures” on the WCWS. I remorse nothing. #HornsDown”
Collier’s Aggies play Oklahoma at 1 p.m. Friday within the opening sport of the 2022 CWS. On the opposite aspect of the OU-A&M bracket are the Longhorns, who play Notre Dame at 6 p.m. Friday.
Jocelyn Alo, with a nationwide championship trophy and the horns down
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK
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An e-mail inquiry into the character of Collier’s unsportsmanlike conduct produced this response: “Now we have documented proof that he made offensive gestures and mockery of a collaborating crew within the Girls’s School World Collection and we don’t really feel snug permitting him to carry out.”
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Collier informed USA Right this moment’s For the Win his gesture was customary and generic and never directed at anybody particularly.
“I didn’t say something to the coaches,” he mentioned. “I didn’t flip anyone off. I used to be very respectful. And I imply, I’m up there to do a job and to sing the nationwide anthem and to sing it properly, and to get the gamers and the coaches and the folks within the stands pumped up. And I felt like I did that.”
For the Win reached out to the NCAA and acquired the next clarification:
“The efficiency of the nationwide anthem throughout NCAA championship occasions is a solemn second for reflection and mutual respect for all championship individuals and followers in attendance,” the NCAA wrote in a press release. “Following his nationwide anthem efficiency throughout the Girls’s School World Collection – throughout which the performer inappropriately supported one collaborating crew, taunted the opposite crew, and disrupted collaborating student-athletes and coaches by making an attempt to work together with them – he was requested to not carry out throughout the Males’s School World Collection.”
The controversy continues an ongoing narrative — began by former Texas soccer coach Mack Brown, perpetuated by former Horns coach Tom Herman and supported (typically reluctantly, it appeared), by the Massive 12 Convention — that Texas followers are offended by the gesture.
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In a 2019 one-on-one interview in his workplace on the UT campus, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte was largely ambivalent concerning the Horns Down controversy.
“I feel anytime that somebody has to make use of the Longhorns sign down speaks extra about them and never us,” Del Conte mentioned. “Proper? It’s the College of Texas, proper? So when you’ve gotten that horns up, I get it. After I was working at TCU, I used to be like, ‘OK it is horns down; why is that? Why are we nervous about what the College of Texas does?’ Proper? It’s that. I do consider that with the 2 rivals, Oklahoma and Texas, I absolutely get it. However when another person begins doing it, actually? It has nothing germane to you. It’s germane to those two colleges, and it ought to be. However once you acquired West Virginia or this different man, they’re doing it — I perceive. I perceive and I embrace it. What I do not embrace is that when it is come and simply shoved in your face.”
Del Conte or anybody delicate to the gesture ought to brace themselves because the Longhorns head off to the Southeastern Convention, the place fan bases usually are not identified for restraint or decorum.
“Each single crew that performs Texas goes to be throwing the horns down,” Collier informed FTW. “Each single crew within the SEC goes to do this … identical to everyone else across the nation does it.
NORMAN, Okla. — — Raegan Beers matched a career high with 28 points, and No. 10 Oklahoma rolled past Omaha 111-65 on Sunday.
Beers, a 6-foot-4 center, made 11 of 13 field goals and grabbed nine rebounds to help Oklahoma win its fifth straight since an overtime loss to Duke.
Skylar Vann had 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Kiersten Johnson added 12 points for the Sooners (11-1). Oklahoma scored at least 100 points for the third time this season after entering the day ranked fourth nationally with 90.7 points per game.
Ja Harvey scored 21 points and Cora Olsen added 15 for Omaha. The Mavericks (8-5) had won seven straight since a 79-77 loss to Wisconsin, but gave up a season-high point total against the Sooners.
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Oklahoma led 52-34 at halftime, with Beers producing 15 points and six rebounds.
The Sooners exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 35-25 to take an 87-59 lead. It matched the most points Oklahoma has scored in a quarter this season. The Sooners made 14 field goals and five 3-pointers in the period.
Takeaways
Omaha: Aside from Harvey, none of the Mavericks could get going. Harvey made 8 of 14 field goals while the rest of the team made 15 of 52.
Oklahoma: The Sooners continued to bully opponents in the paint and beat them with pace. They outrebounded the Mavericks 57-33 and forced 20 turnovers.
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Key moment
Oklahoma set the tone from the beginning by scoring the game’s first eight points. The Sooners led 26-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Key stat
Omaha made just 2 of 21 3-pointers while Oklahoma made 13 of 35.
Up next
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Omaha hosts North Dakota on Jan. 2. Oklahoma hosts New Mexico State on Dec. 29.
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The Oklahoma Sooners made a splash via the transfer portal when they added former Washington State quarterback and the top player in this year’s portal class, John Mateer. But the Sooners weren’t done at quarterback, adding Western Carolina signal caller Cole Gonzales.
Gonzales started 22 games in three seasons with the Catamounts, completing 63.5% of his passes for 6,445 yards, 49 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions. On non-sack rushing attempts, Gonzales averaged 5.4 yards per carry and ran for 701 yards and three touchdowns.
In 2023, he was the 2023 Southern Conference Player of the Year and was a two-time first-team All-Conference selection. Last year, he completed 66.1% of his throws for 2,547 yards, 26 touchdowns and threw just six interceptions in 11 games. That year, Gonzales threw for five touchdown passes three times and six games with more than 250 yards passing.
In 2024, he completed 61.7% of his passes for 2,545 yards and 12 touchdowns and threw seven interceptions this season. Gonzales was really efficient in the deep passing game, with a 45.5% completion percentage on throws greater than 20 yards down the field. That was good for sixth in the FCS among quarterbacks with at least 44 pass attempts on deep throws.
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In the 2024 season opener against N.C. State, Gonzales threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns, completing 62.9% of his passes. He also carried the ball six times for 78 yards, according to Pro Football Focus, who removes sacks from rushing totals.
Against Furman, in week eight of the 2024 season, Gonzales threw for 620 yards and five touchdowns.
In Gonzales, the Sooners add more quarterback depth to the roster to go along with Mateer, Michael Hawkins Jr., and 2025 signee Jett Niu. He’ll have one year of eligibility remaining in 2024.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
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