'It's unethical as hell': Kirk Herbstreit accuses Oklahoma of faking injury to slow Tennessee
Kirk Herbstreit was no fan of Oklahoma defensive tackle Da’Jon Terry appearing to fake an injury early in Saturday night’s game between the 15th-ranked Sooners and No. 6 Tennessee. Terry went down grabbing his leg after Bru McCoy caught a 40-yard from Nico Iamaleava.
Terry jogged down the field before going down, with Herbstreit saying on the ABC broadcast that he looked to the Oklahoma sideline before hitting the turf.
“They look over after a big play,” Herbstreit said, “he looks over and just goes down. It’s not necessarily against the rules but it is unethical as hell. You see it all over against these tempo offense where guys go down with these quote-unquote injuries.”
“It’s pathetic,” Herbstreit added.
Tennessee led 10-3 after 66-yard touchdown late in first quarter
Oklahoma’s defense recovered after the injury and forced a 27-yard Tennessee field goal from Max Gilbert. The Sooners answered with a field goal of their own on the following drive, then Iamaleava hit Dont’e Thornton on a 66-yard catch-and-run touchdown to give the Vols a 10-3 lead late in the first quarter.
Terry should be a familiar name to Tennessee fans. He spent the 2021 and 2022 season with the Vols, after transferring from Kansas, before reentering the NCAA Transfer Portal and landing at Oklahoma.
Terry, the 6-foot-3, 330-pound defensive tackle, recorded 18 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack in 13 games last season. Through three games this season he has seven tackles and one fumble recovery.Tennessee led 10-3 after 66-yard touchdown late in first quarter
“It’s amazing to see some of my teammates and brothers on the defensive line that I played with there,” Terry told reporters in Norman this week. “So it’s going to be an amazing time to see them.”
Terry had four tackles — three solo and one assisted — in Oklahoma’s 34-19 win over Tulane last week.
Da’Jon Terry: ‘It was amazing to have Coach Heupel as a coach there at Tennessee’
He described playing for Josh Heupel at Tennessee as “an amazing” experience.
“Josh Heupel, he’s a players’ coach,” Terry said. “It was amazing to have Coach Heupel as a coach there at Tennessee.”
Saturday isn’t Terry’s first reunion with one of his former teams.
Oklahoma lost 38-33 at Kansas last season, with Terry finishing with one tackle. He had 16 tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks in two seasons at Kansas, where he was a redshirt in 2019, before appearing in eight games in 2020.
In his two seasons with the Vols, Terry combined for 35 tackles, seven tackles for loss and three sacks in 25 games.
“I know a lot of people still on both teams,” Terry said of the Vols and Jayhawks. “I’m just ready to go out and compete on Saturday.”
