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OU football: Lincoln Riley tells ESPN

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 12:07:41 +0000

Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley told ESPN’s Mike Golic Jr. and Trey Wingo on Thursday that “one or two” OU players have either been exposed or tested positive for COVID-19.

An OU spokesperson confirmed that one member of the football team has tested positive.

“While our facilities have been closed to workouts since last spring and our student-athletes will not return for several more days, we are aware that a member of our football team has tested positive for COVID-19,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Positive cases among players have been common as teams return across the nation for workouts. Texas announced earlier in the day that 13 football players have tested positive.

“Listen, nobody’s been immune to this,” Riley said. “We’ve had a player or two that has either been exposed or tested positive to this thing, like everyone else has. The difference is our players aren’t here together, so they haven’t exposed or potentially infected players here.”

Eventually, as Riley acknowledged, his team must reconvene. OU’s return to voluntary activities on campus begins July 1, with a plan in place for quarantining infected players.

Each player will be required to take an initial COVID-19 test. It’s uncertain how frequently tests will occur after that.

OU chose a later date to return than others as a means of gathering more information about the pandemic.

Riley touted that decision, not to chide other schools’ choices, but because it’s allowed time for more conversations with medical professionals and experts.

“I do feel like we’re more educated (now, than) had we brought our guys in even as little as a week ago; there’s less that we would have known,” Riley said. “So I do feel like we’ve been more educated. Does that mean it’s going be 100 percent? No. But I feel like we’re more prepared on two fronts.”

One of those fronts is general preparation related to the virus. The other, which Riley didn’t expound on, has to do with the civil rights movement taking place in the United States.

“I don’t want to go into a ton of details, but to prepare, with what’s gone on with the racial injustice issue across our country, to prepare and make sure we have the best environment as possible when our guys get back to town as well,” he said.

• Finch charged with felony: Former OU running back Roy Finch was charged with one felony count of assault and battery “resulting in great bodily harm,” according to court documents filed in Cleveland County on Wednesday. OU Daily first reported the news.

According to the Norman Police Department report, the assault occurred Tuesday when Finch allegedly struck the victim in the face, resulting in jaw fractures. Finch is also charged with attempting to interfere with an emergency call. A protective order was filed against him Tuesday.

Finch is awaiting a jury trial in October stemming from assault and battery charges on a police officer in Oklahoma County in April 2018.

From 2010-13 he compiled 1,412 rushing yards and six touchdowns with the Sooners. As a kick returner he tied OU’s longest return with a 100-yard TD against Kansas in 2012.

• Six weeks: Riley has “zero concern” about his team returning July 1 for voluntary workouts, with an extended preseason set to begin weeks later.

The extra two weeks, granted by the NCAA, will allow teams to hold walk-throughs before preseason camps begin.

“I think it’s a good plan,” he told ESPN. “It gives us a little more access to players two weeks before practice. These guys are going to be in good shape. The last two weeks will help us make up for basically missing our entire spring practice period. Barring a bunch of major outbreaks, I think it’s without a doubt enough time to play.”

• QB chatter: Redshirt freshman and former five-star prospect Spencer Rattler has kept pace in the Heisman Trophy odds, despite the fact that OU hasn’t named him its starting quarterback yet.

Asked if he’s already planning a December trip to New York, Riley reminded Golic and Wingo that redshirt sophomore Tanner Mordecai will get his chance at a starting spot.

“This is a different year for us quarterback-wise,” Riley said. “We had Baker Mayfield for three years and had a great run with him. It’s been so many years in a row we’ve had senior quarterbacks (Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts). We’re excited for the potential of having a quarterback for multiple years.”

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Riley to ESPN: Some OU players exposed to or have COVID-19

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 23:04:27 +0000

NORMAN — Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley told ESPN’s Mike Golic Jr. and Trey Wingo on Thursday that several OU players have either been exposed or tested positive for COVID-19.

That’s not a surprise to him or others. As teams return across the nation for workouts, positive cases among players have been common. Texas announced earlier in the day that 13 football players have tested positive.

Eventually, as Riley acknowledged, his team must reconvene. OU’s return to voluntary activities on campus begins July 1, with a plan in place for quarantining infected players.

Each player will be required to take an initial COVID-19 test. It’s uncertain how frequently tests will occur after that.

OU chose a later date to return than others as a means of gathering more information about the pandemic.

Riley touted that decision, not to chide other schools’ choices, but because it’s allowed time for more conversations with medical professionals and experts.

One of those fronts is general preparation related to the virus. The other, which Riley didn’t expound on, has to do with the civil rights movement taking place in the United States.

• Finch charged with felony: Former OU running back Roy Finch was charged with one felony count of assault and battery “resulting in great bodily harm,” according to court documents filed in Cleveland County on Wednesday. OU Daily first reported the news.

Finch is awaiting a jury trial in October stemming from assault and battery charges on a police officer in Oklahoma County in April 2018.

From 2010-13 he compiled 1,412 rushing yards and six touchdowns with the Sooners. As a kick returner he tied OU’s longest return with a 100-yard TD against Kansas in 2012.

• Six weeks: Riley has “zero concern” about his team returning July 1 for voluntary workouts, with an extended preseason set to begin weeks later.

The extra two weeks, granted by the NCAA, will allow teams to hold walk-throughs before preseason camps begin.

• QB chatter: Redshirt freshman and former five-star prospect Spencer Rattler has kept pace in the Heisman Trophy odds, despite the fact that OU hasn’t named him its starting quarterback yet.

Asked if he’s already planning a December trip to New York, Riley reminded Golic and Wingo that redshirt sophomore Tanner Mordecai will get his chance at a starting spot.

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We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Jury finds William Riley Gaul guilty of first-degree murder in shooting of Emma Walker

admin — Wed, 09 May 2018 10:42:48 +0000

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William Riley Gaul was convicted of first degree murder Tuesday, May 8, 2018 and taken into custody. Gaul, a former Maryville College football player, was charged in the 2016 shooting death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Emma Jane Walker.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)Buy Photo

No one disputed he fired the shot that killed Emma Jane Walker.

The question for jurors was whether William Riley Gaul pulled the trigger with the intent to kill his 16-year-old cheerleader ex-girlfriend.

After deliberating for four hours Tuesday, a jury said yes, he did, and convicted Gaul, 19, of first-degree murder. He stole his grandfather’s gun and used it to shoot Walker through her bedroom wall as she slept in the Sterchi Hills subdivision of North Knox County on Nov. 21, 2016.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen holds a news conference after a jury convicted William Riley Gaul of first-degree murder in the Nov. 2016 shooting death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Emma Jane Walker.
Travis Dorman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Jurors also found Gaul guilty of stalking, felony murder, tampering with evidence, reckless endangerment, possessing a firearm during a dangerous felony and theft between $500 and $1,000.

Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee imposed a mandatory life sentence for the murder charge. Gaul’s bond was revoked, and he was taken into custody.

Gaul will be eligible for parole after serving 51 years in prison. He would be in his 70s.

William Riley Gaul trial: Suspect complained about ‘cruel’ breakup, doesn’t testify

More: William Riley Gaul fired fatal shots and then slept, testimony showed

More: Defense: William Riley Gaul wanted to be his girlfriend’s hero, not her killer

From texts to gunshots

During closing arguments Tuesday, Gaul’s defense attorney, Wesley Stone, argued his actions were reckless but not murderous.

“This case is about state of mind,” Stone told the jury. “Riley did not mean to hurt her or cause her death. He was trying to get her attention. I’m not saying it’s logical.”

Stone asked the jury to find Gaul, a former Maryville College football player, guilty of reckless homicide — not first-degree murder — for shooting the Central High School cheerleader through her bedroom wall.

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Family members of Emma Walker including her brother, Evan Walker, and mother, Jill Walker, on the right, hug after a jury convicted William Riley Gaul of first-degree murder Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Gaul, a former Maryville College football player, was charged in the 2016 shooting death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Emma Jane Walker. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Jurors made their decision without hearing from Gaul in person. He chose not to testify.

Prosecutors said Gaul became obsessed with Walker and wouldn’t take no for an answer when she tried to end their relationship. He and Walker had been texting and calling up until the morning of her death, when two gunshots penetrated her bedroom. One of the bullets struck Walker just behind the ear, killing her. Crime scene evidence suggested she died instantly.

“He was possessive, manipulative, controlling,” said Kevin Allen, a Knox County assistant district attorney general. “He was toxic to her. This was no accident. This is about criminal intent to kill.”

Emma Jane Walker, a Central High School cheerleader, was fatally shot in her bedroom while she slept, according to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Her former boyfriend, William Riley Gaul, 19, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 16-year-old. (Photo: Submitted)

Gaul and his lawyer admitted he fired the gunshots — not to kill Walker but to scare her and send her running back into his arms. He’d already made other outlandish bids for attention that weekend, including sending Walker anonymous, threatening texts and staging suicide attempts and his own kidnapping.

“My client was her hero,” Stone told the jury. “As crazy and bizarre as it sounds, he was hoping to come to her rescue.”

The bullets came from a 9mm Glock stolen by Gaul from his grandfather’s vehicle. Testimony showed Gaul recruited friends to help him ditch the gun after the shooting, but they had already gone to authorities.

Gaul’s friends secretly recorded him at the behest of Knox County Sheriff’s Office investigators, and he was arrested just as he prepared to toss a trash bag of evidence, including the gun, into the Tennessee River.

Prosecutors pointed out Gaul told one lie after another from the morning of Walker’s death. He denied he took the gun, lied to detectives, asked his friends to lie for him and claimed he’d been in Maryville even though data recovered from his cellphone showed he’d been near Walker’s home when the fatal shot was fired around 3:45 a.m.

“He can’t even kept his alibi straight,” Allen said.

Gaul’s lawyer said he didn’t think the gunshots would penetrate the walls of the bedroom and put Walker in real danger. But Gaul had been in the bedroom, knew where Walker slept and had even shot photos and video there. Investigators concluded the gunshots had been fired from as close as 4 or 5 feet from the bedroom window.

Undercover video of William Riley Gaul talking to friends about disposing of his grandfather’s gun
Michael Patrick/News Sentinel, Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

“You wouldn’t have to spend 10 seconds in that room to know where Emma slept at night and where her head would be,” Allen said.

“His story doesn’t make sense because it isn’t true.”

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Friends secretly recorded William Riley Gaul telling them to lie, ditch gun

admin — Fri, 04 May 2018 08:34:22 +0000

Reporter Jamie Satterfield gives an update on day 4 of the Riley Gaul trial. Gaul is on trial for the murder of Emma Walker
Jamie Satterfield, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Former Maryville College football player William Riley Gaul wanted “to be upset” that his girlfriend was dead, but he had more pressing concerns – convincing his buddies to lie and help him ditch the gun used to kill her, testimony Thursday showed.

“I’m trusting you guys with my life because this is 70 years in jail if I’m convicted of something I didn’t do,” Gaul said on a secret recording his friends made – at the behest of law enforcement – the day after news broke that 16-year-old Emma Walker had been found dead in her bed.

“I want to be upset but I can’t,” Gaul said, explaining he was too “worried” about being arrested to ponder the November 2016 death of Walker, an honor student and cheerleader at Central High School.

Undercover video of William Riley Gaul talking to friends about disposing of his grandfather’s gun
Saul Young, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Gaul, 19, is standing trial this week in Knox County Criminal Court on charges including first-degree murder and especially aggravated stalking.

Lies, lies and more lies

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Photo of Emma Jane Walker shown during the trial of William Riley Gaul Tuesday, May 1, 2018. Gaul, a former Maryville College football player, is charged in the 2016 shooting death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Walker. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

He now admits via defense attorney Wesley Stone he stole his grandfather’s gun and used it to fire two shots through the bedroom wall of Walker’s North Knox County home. Stone contends Gaul didn’t know a bullet could travel through the wall and only meant to scare Walker so he could show up as her hero.

But prosecutors Kevin Allen and Molly Martin on Thursday sent three of Gaul’s friends to the witness stand to attack that defense as yet another lie in a series Gaul told in the days before and after Walker’s death.

The first lie came two days before her death when Gaul claimed to have been kidnapped in a ruse to get Walker – who was trying to break off a two-year relationship with Gaul fraught with fights and parental upset – to talk to him.

Friends Isaac Ewers, Noah Walton and Alex McCarty weren’t buying the kidnapping tale.

“It was a bald-faced lie – over and over again,” Ewers testified Thursday.

A day after the kidnapping claim, Gaul confessed to McCarty that he had stolen his grandfather’s gun.

“He told me he was so concerned about his safety he had stolen his grandfather’s gun,” McCarty said.

More: Witnesses detail bizarre staged kidnapping two days before Central High cheerleader slain

More: Defense: William Riley Gaul wanted to be his girlfriend’s hero, not her killer

McCarty told Ewers and Walton about Gaul’s confession, but they didn’t call authorities or alert anyone.

“I didn’t want to get my friend in trouble,” Ewers said.

‘Why did you tell them about the gun?’

The next night – a few hours before Walker was believed to have been shot – Gaul phoned Walton with a strange question.

“He asked me – for his roommate – if I knew how to remove fingerprints from a gun,” Walton said.

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Noah Walton on the stand with Assistant District Attorney Kevin Allen, left, during the trial of William Riley Gaul Thursday, May 3, 2018. Gaul, a former Maryville College football player, is charged in the 2016 shooting death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend Emma Jane Walker. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Gaul didn’t know then that McCarty had told Walton that he had stolen his grandfather’s gun.

“I obviously had no idea (how to remove fingerprints), and I told him never ask me something like that.”

When Walton learned the following day about Walker’s death, “a lot of things kind of clicked on what had happened.”

“The first thing I asked him was if he still had the gun,” McCarty testified of his reaction to Walker’s death. “He told me he gave it back to his grandpa.”

When McCarty learned that, too, was a lie, he, Walton and Ewers told Knox County Sheriff’s Office detectives what they knew about Gaul and the gun. Gaul, testimony showed, was livid.

“Why did you tell him about the gun?” Gaul said in a text. “They think I shot her because of it. Just, God, please promise me if any cop asks you any more questions, just tell them you’re not willing to answer.”

Gaul didn’t know KCSO had provided McCarty and Walton a recording device when he met with the pair to try to convince them to help him ditch the gun and lie to authorities.

‘They will never find it’

Jurors watched Thursday as a calm-looking Gaul sat on a couch at Walton’s home and plotted how to avoid arrest.

“I had the gun because I was scared,” Gaul insisted as he tried to convince his friends he didn’t shoot Walker “One thousand and one percent, I never would. I would hurt myself before I hurt Emma.”

Gaul told his friends to recant their statements about the stolen gun.

“You just tell them you were on acid, high and drunk, and you didn’t understand me,” Gaul said. “Yeah, just do that, because they don’t know anything or I would be in jail right now … You’re in an altered state of mind, so you didn’t know what you were saying.”

Gaul asked his friends to accompany him to “the Bluffs” overlooking the Tennessee River near the University of Tennessee campus.

“If I throw it with enough force, if it’s in the Tennessee River, they will never find it,” Gaul said.

More: Maryville College football player indicted in Central cheerleader’s slaying

Gaul didn’t know law enforcement was surveilling him as he, McCarty and Walton headed to “the Bluffs.” As soon as they parked, and Gaul showed his friends the gun, Gaul was arrested. The trial continues Friday.

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