Adrian Peterson Throws Shade at Longhorns During Texas Sports Hall of Fame Induction

The star running back explained how brutal honesty led to his choosing Oklahoma over Texas nearly two decades ago.

The NFL’s fifth-leading rusher of all time, Adrian Peterson, threw some salt in the wounds of Texas fans, during his induction speech into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame last weekend.

Peterson was a coveted recruit out of Palestine, Texas, in the class of 2004 who chose to cross the Red River and play his college ball at Oklahoma.

“For the people finding themselves mad at me going to Oklahoma, this is what I would say,” Peterson said. “If you’re going to be mad at anybody, be mad at coach Mack Brown.”

Peterson went on to elaborate on the history behind his ultimate decision to leave his home state and play for the Sooners.

“I sat in Coach Brown’s office,” Peterson said. “I asked him the same thing I asked everyone else. ‘[Coach Brown], if I come here, will I have the opportunity to come in and compete for the starting job?’ ‘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 ‘O.K., appreciate it’ and that was it. I never told him that I wasn’t coming. But that was the decision I made based [off Brown’s words].”

This may have been the one time Texas fans would have preferred their head coach had abstained from brutal honesty.

#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

Peterson rushed for 4,041 yards and 41 touchdowns in three seasons for the Sooners. He was then selected No. 7 in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft by Minnesota.