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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Drew Brees directly responded to President Trump’s criticism of the NFL star on Friday – a day after the Saints quarterback apologized for saying that players who knelt during the national anthem were disrespecting the flag.

On Instagram, Brees on Friday posted a graphic showing a gray box with the words ‘To President Trump’ written in the middle.

The caption read: ‘Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates, and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag.

‘It has never been. We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities.

‘We did this back in 2017, and regretfully I brought it back with my comments this week.

‘We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial & prison reform.

‘We are at a critical juncture in our nation’s history! If not now, then when?

‘We as a white community need to listen and learn from the pain and suffering of our black communities.

‘We must acknowledge the problems, identify the solutions, and then put this into action.

‘The black community cannot do it alone. This will require all of us.’

Earlier on Friday, Trump called out Brees for backing down from his earlier criticism on Wednesday, when the NFL star was quoted as saying that he didn’t agree with protesters who knelt during the national anthem.

Brees apologized on Thursday for comments he made one day earlier that he described as ‘insensitive and completely missed the mark.’ 

He said on Wednesday that he ‘will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country’ while reiterating his objection to NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.

Brees, who had previously disagreed with the protests started by Colin Kaepernick, repeated his opposition to kneeling during the national anthem in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Wednesday. 

Numerous black athletes, including NBA star LeBron James, expressed outrage at Brees. 

Several of Brees’ New Orleans teammates were among the NFL players who were irate.

The biting backlash that followed prompted the Saints’ star quarterback to issue a several apologies on Thursday, first writing that he ‘missed the mark’ and then promising to ‘do better’ in his self-made video.

In the apology video, Brees also referenced the recent killing of Ahmad Arbery, the black man who was shot to death by a former cop and his son while he was jogging in Georgia.

‘I wish I would have laid out what was on my heart in regards to the George Floyd murder, Ahmaud Arbery, the years and years of social injustice, police brutality and the need for so much reform and change in regards to legislation and so many other things to bring equality to our black communities,’ Brees said.

‘I am sorry and I will do better and I will be part of the solution and I am your ally.’

Trump, though, said on his Twitter account that he doesn’t think Brees needed to issue an apology.

‘I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high. …

‘We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart.

‘There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!’

Several of Brees’ teammates, including Demario Davis, Cameron Jordan, and Michael Thomas, took to social media and praised the quarterback for his apology. 

‘A big part of leadership is admitting when you are wrong, and correcting your mistake,’ Davis tweeted. 

‘A model that All of America can follow, admit the wrong done to the black community, fix the issues and WE ALL move forward together. 

‘Let’s all stand together now and find solutions.’

Jordan responded to Davis, tweeting: ‘Only through open dialogue & open hearts can we expand our comprehension and only in courage can we create positive change!’

Thomas, a wide receiver who catches passes from Brees, tweeted: ‘My QB!’

He added an emoji showing a flexed bicep muscle. 

Trump’s comments came hours before NFL commissioner Roger Goodell apologized and said that the league was wrong for not listening to players and their concerns about social justice and racism.

Social injustice has been a major source of tension in the NFL since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling before games during the 2016 season to bring attention to police brutality. 

Kaepernick hasn’t played in an NFL game since that year.

The NFL’s relationship with black players is under scrutiny in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

A group of players requested the NFL take strong action on Thursday in a video directed at Goodell and other NFL officials.

Floyd, a black man, died on May 25 after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes in an incident caught on cell phones. 

Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Three other officers – Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao – were arrested and charged with aiding and abetting both a second-degree murder and a second-degree manslaughter.   

An international rugby player accused of raping a woman after a night out told police he didn’t “penetrate her at any point”.

Ulster player Stuart Olding, 24, from Ardenlee Street in Belfast, denies one count of rape as the high-profile trial hears audio recordings of police interviews.

Olding was questioned by detectives at Musgrave PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland) station about the alleged incident in June 2016.

Fellow Ireland international Paddy Jackson, 26, from Oakleigh Park also denies raping the same woman and a further charge of sexual assault.

Two other men charged in connection with the alleged incident also deny the charges against them.

During the police interviews on June 30 2016 – two days after the alleged rape – Olding denied having intercourse with the complainant.

He said: “I didn’t penetrate her vagina with my penis at any point.”

He also told detectives from the PSNI’s rape crime unit that he did not see Jackson penetrate the woman.

“I didn’t see that,” he said.

During further questioning, Olding added: “I didn’t see Paddy penetrating her from behind. He was behind her but I didn’t see him penetrating her.”

The court also heard that Olding told police Jackson was “sitting on the bed” watching the woman “give” him oral sex.

Olding rejected allegations that he had forced the complainant to perform oral sex by putting pressure on the back of her head and pulling her on to his penis.

When asked by police what made him believe she was consenting, Olding answered: “She was doing it. I wasn’t forcing her.”

Denying applying pressure to the complainant’s head, Olding further stated her hand had been on his penis during the sex act and that she had been “above” him.

Earlier in the taped police interviews, Olding was asked if there had been any discussion the morning after the alleged attack between himself and Jackson about what went on in the bedroom.

He said: “Yes. We just talked about what happened. We were pretty hungover. We were drunk whenever it was happening.”

At the end of the interviews, Olding’s solicitor Joe Rice said: “You can take it from his attitude that he categorically denies any involvement in these allegations.”

A juror in the rape trial of two Ireland and Ulster rugby players has been discharged because of illness.

Addressing the 11 remaining jurors, Judge Patricia Smyth told Belfast Crown Court: “I have received a medical report in respect of the person in your group who was ill and, as a result of the content, I have spoken with him and discharged him from any further involvement in the trial.”