Protests, adversity build OU's team chemistry

— -- FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The last time Oklahoma stepped off a plane in Florida, its team chemistry, as the players describe it, was in total disarray. The disheartened Sooners had four losses going into the Russell Athletic Bowl, where they got thoroughly destroyed by Clemson last December.

"Everyone was just ready for the season to be over," said defensive end Charles Tapper.

This week, the Sooners are back in the Sunshine State preparing for a rematch against the Tigers in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. But this time, they're a different team with a different mindset on a ride they wish would never end, fashioned through a national controversy, a makeshift locker room and an eight-hour travel delay.

"There are so many things that have built this team up," said fullback Dimitri Flowers. "Turned us into a brotherhood."

It's not easy to quantify what exactly has turned the Sooners from Russell Athletic Bowl embarrassment into national championship contender. These Sooners don't have a single consensus All-American. They don't boast a surefire first-round NFL pick. They probably won't even have an underclassman declare early for the draft.

Oklahoma, however, has more than made up for that with gritty play and a hard-nosed mentality that has shined in the fourth quarter. And the forging of that makeup began with a firestorm that descended on Norman in the spring.

"You need adverse situations," said linebacker Eric Striker, "to bring the greatness out of people."

In March, a video surfaced showing members of Oklahoma's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity singing racist chants with references to lynching African-Americans in a bus on the way to a party. In part because of social media, the video rapidly became a national story.

Just a few hours after the video surfaced, Striker posted a profanity-filled Snapchat video calling the students at Oklahoma "phony." He later apologized for his language in the rant, but his anger in the video reflected that of many of his teammates.

Others had a different initial reaction. Flowers had heard about the video the night it went viral, but it wasn't until the next morning when he showed up for football workouts with running back Samaje Perine that he understood the significance of it and the impact it would have, both on the team and on campus.

"There were a bunch of black [players] that didn't show up," said Flowers, whose mother is white and father is black. "I remember being in shock, like, wow, something crazy is happening."

The football team wound up becoming the symbol of protest. That Monday, dressed in black and linked arm-to-arm, the Sooners skipped their spring practice and held a silent protest together inside the indoor practice field. They held another silent protest later in the week and canceled all practices until after spring break.

What the public didn't see, however, was the impromptu meeting the players put together that Sunday to discuss what to do.

"We said, 'We gotta do something,'" Striker said. "'We can't just let this fly by. We've got a stage. People listen to us, let's make a statement and bring positive change.'"

The meeting lasted through the night. And that, ultimately, was the first step in Oklahoma building a team that became so difficult to break this season.

"We talk about it all the time," said cornerback Zack Sanchez. "That was probably the biggest leap in bringing us together as a team that I've ever seen in anything. It was movie-like. It was the kind of stuff you see in movies."