Trash talk ensues as Dallas Cowboys players, Jerry Jones talk Texas, OU move to SEC

The decision by Texas and Oklahoma to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference was met with grand approval by members of the Dallas Cowboys, many of whom have ties to the incoming or existing SEC schools.

Team owner Jerry Jones harkened back to the time that Arkansas made the move from the now-defunct Southwest Conference to the SEC in 1991, while pointing out the possibility of the formation of a new super conference and new opportunities for more SEC games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

“Oh, I hope so. I hope so,” said Jones, who played at Arkansas. “I remember when my mentor, [former Arkansas football coach and athletic director] Frank Broyles at Arkansas said, ‘We’ve got to make the move out of the Southwest [Conference] and into the SEC. We just have to.’ So, handwriting is on the wall here.”

“Any way in the world that we can have those caliber of teams [in the SEC] — that’s going to be real interesting,” Jones said. “I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. But I do know this: things just by the rules now and some of the things they can do to help their recruiting then that super conference has a real possibility.

Right guard Connor Williams, who played at Texas from 2015-17, is excited to see the Longhorns play and compete in the SEC.

But he’s most excited about the renewal of the rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M. The two teams stopped playing when Texas A&M moved from the Big 12 to the SEC. Their last meeting was in 2011.

“Yeah, that would be nice. I always wanted to play against them,” Williams said.

Receiver CeeDee Lamb, who played at Oklahoma from 2017-19, said he wished the Sooners would have made the jump to the SEC when he was there.

And the trash talk has already started with his teammates from the SEC, namely cornerback Trevon Diggs, who played at Alabama from 2016-19.

“He has his words and I have mine,” Lamb said. “He has his side of the story and I have my side of the story. There’s three sides to it; his, mine and the truth. There’s only one way to find out. I’m excited for my guys.

“It’s going to be a change,” Lamb said. “You kept hearing about the SEC. It’s finally good to see it’s going to happen.”

Diggs can’t wait for OU to move to the SEC. He said OU should have been there as they have rolled through the Big 12 for years and “they can come play some big boy ball now.”

But he warned OU will only be fighting for second place.

“They’ll be up there though, for sure,” Diggs said. “They’ll definitely be up there. They’ll be one of those teams after ’Bama, but they’ll be one of those teams.”