Oklahoma DL Jacob Lacey Describes Blood Clot Emergency, Retirement from Football

The Sooners' sixth-year defensive lineman, who’s been helping as a coach, spoke Friday after being forced to step away from football; 'It definitely hurt’

Oklahoma DL Jacob Lacey (54) / Ricardo B. Brazziell-USA TODAY Sports

Jacob Lacey couldn’t wrap his mind around the whole thing.

Blood clots? Again?

“At first, I didn’t want to believe it, honestly,” Lacey said. “It’s like, no way. I’m 23 now. There’s no possible way something like that can happen twice.” 

Lacey, Oklahoma’s senior defensive tackle who joined the Sooners last year after transferring from Notre Dame, spoke to the media on Friday after practice, his first public comments since head coach Brent Venables revealed in March that Lacey has been forced to retire because of a recurrence of life-threatening blood clots.

• WATCH: Jacob Lacey Interview

“At first the doctor kind of told me and I was like, ‘Nah, you’re lying,’ “ Lacey said. “And then it kind of was a obvious hit. When I got the message, I was mentally kind of like, ‘You’re done.’ I was holding onto it a little bit. Doc said I have to stay on medicine the rest of my life. So if that’s the case, I can’t play. Once he told me that, I kind of knew.” 

Lacey missed parts of the 2023 offseason and preseason, but was able to get his condition under control with medication. He returned early last year and was one of the Sooners’ most consistent playmakers on the defensive interior.

This time, he said, getting back onto the field was not possible.

“Honestly, I just took it for what it was,” Lacey said. “Doctors doing their job, too, being as truthful as he can. So when I heard the news – it definitely hurt.

“Took it on right on the chin and just knew I had to get better from it. I didn’t want it to hold me down. I didn’t want to become something I knew I wasn’t … supposed to be. So just wanted to keep moving forward.”

Lacey, a sixth-year senior and graduate student from Bowling Green, KY, described the scary incident with startling clarity.

“Think it was around Tuesday that week, I was having some blood in my spit, coughing up,” he said. “Kept working out, figured I had some throat problems. Kept going because my pulse and oxygen levels were perfect throughout the whole week, I was just coughing up blood. Then right around that Friday, started getting pain in my shoulder, my left lung area. Saturday woke up, couldn’t stand up, couldn’t breathe. 

“Drove myself to the hospital. Nobody was home so I just had that instinct, like, ‘Just go.’ Thankfully, that new (hospital) opened up there on exit 112 (off Interstate 35), by Tecumseh (Road). Went up there, thankfully nobody was in there. They got me in. Praying it was just shoulder pain. But within 24 hours, went from the weight room to the hospital bed. It’s pretty crazy.”

Retirement, such as it is, isn’t really for Lacey. Not yet. He’s obviously still adjusting to being a “former football player.” That title was always imminent, of course, but it arrived a lot sooner than he planned.

“It’s different, for sure,” Lacey said. “It was definitely a huge blow, mentally, at first.” 

Lacey immediately decided to stay in Norman, remain enrolled as a graduate student in pursuit of his MBA. He’s also taken on a student assistant coaching role with the team and is with his teammates every day.

“What I focused on is the little things,” he said. “We had guys coming in who can be great. I wanted to help them as much as I could. I focused on that. I focused on waking up, knowing I could make those guys better. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can change in my role. So I’m gonna make other people better while I can. It’s been going well. Coaching is different, for sure. But it’s the next best thing besides being out there.

“I know being down and sulky and sad – that doesn’t really help out anybody. I had my moment there in the hospital. But I can make an impact on these young guys. Even the guys around me like DT (Da’Jon Terry), we have a great relationship. I didn’t want to lose that. Coach (Todd) Bates, Coach V (Brent Venables), they’ve been nothing but great. The place around you, you always want to make it better, and that’s what I want to do.”

Armed with a degree from Notre Dame in industrial design (he also minored in business economics) and only a few weeks from attaining his Master of Business Administration, Lacey is glad to help the team and his teammates where he can, but he’s got more than just an eye on  the future.

“Honestly, not sure about the coaching,” he said. “I love what it does for me and I love what it does for the people around me. But I did get an education and want to be able to use that in the business world or otherwise. Right now, I’m kind of interviewing at different aspects of my life while keeping this option open as well.”

Lacey can attest from an up-close perspective: he’s been impressed so far with the Sooners’ young defensive linemen.

“They’re going to surprise a lot of people,” he said. “They are younger. Unfortunately I’m not there to help. But you have a great leader like DT. Davon Sears, he’s been in the game for six years. G-Baby (Gracen Halton) has been around the scheme for a while even though it’s a little different with Coach (Zach) Alley, but the same concepts. So the young guys are catching on quick. I think they’re going to surprise a lot of people.”