Baylor's Grobe clarifies Oakman comments from earlier in week

Baylor coach Jim Grobe spoke to the media Wednesday, attempting to offer some clarification on his comments earlier in the week that drew the ire of some.

After being asked why former Bears defensive standout Shawn Oakman, who was arrested for sexual assault in April, was in the team locker room during last week's game against Rice, Grobe responded by saying, "I don't know who Shawn Oakman is."

"When I left the press conference Monday I didn't think there would be any confusion," Grobe told Jake Trotter of ESPN. "I thought the basic assumption was that I didn't know Shawn Oakman. I would not recognize him, I'd never met him before. And to say I don't know who Shawn Oakman is, does not mean I don't know the situation, but I don't know him personally. And so I wouldn't be able to recognize him if he was in our locker room. I thought that was clear, but apparently it wasn't. My point was, I don't know Shawn personally."

Oakman came to Baylor after being dismissed from Penn State for a violation of team rules. He went unclaimed in the 2016 NFL Draft, an event which happened just weeks after his arrest for sexual assault.

Grobe claims if he had recognized the 6-foot-8, 290-pound Oakman, he would have handled things differently, but blamed the media in part for taking the quote the way they did.

"Had I recognized him, the situation would have been handled differently," the first-year Baylor coach said. "Regardless of that, my comment of 'I don't know him' was taken out of context, and the way it was portrayed by some in the media, in my opinion, was unprofessional."