PROFILE ON RIDER ROOKIE ERIC STRIKER
By: Grant McGalliard
Oklahoma Diehards
www.diehards.com
Eric Striker, one of the most beloved and hard-nosed defensive players of the Bob Stoops Era at Oklahoma, is reportedly ready for a new chapter in his career north of the border.
Striker is a part of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and made it through the final cuts of their minicamp in the spring. He spoke to Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World about his journey in the CFL and his desire to succeed at any level of football.
“I’ve just been so grateful, excited and so hungry to get back on the field,” Striker said. “Going through this process, it reminded me how much I’ve missed it. It wasn’t until I put the cleats back on, doing some pass rush, doing some one-on-one and starting to get back in the rhythm of the game that I played, that I really realized it’s still in me.”
While at Oklahoma, Striker terrorized Big 12 offenses. As a junior in 2014 he posted career highs in tackles (68) and sacks (9.0), and finished his career with 191 total tackles and 23.0 total sacks. He was even named a First Team All-American in 2015 by the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. But he went undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft and didn’t make it through camp with the Buffalo Bills. He spent 2017 with the OU support staff before joining Saskatchewan.
Now Striker will attempt to rejuvenate his career with a team that made the semifinals of the CFL in 2017. As anyone who watched him with the Sooners knows, the Roughriders are inheriting one heck of a talent on the defensive side of the ball.
