JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — The Oklahoma drill is a rite of passage for football players. The iconic drill dates back to 1947 when legendary Oklahoma Sooners Coach Bud Wilkenson invented it. He used the drill to assess the "fighting will" of the hundreds of potential players who wanted to be on his team, according to a 2015 article on espn.com.
While football is 11-on-11, the Oklahoma drill is 1-on-1. The savage hitting exercise features two players colliding after getting a running start.
From Pop Warner to college, and the NFL, the drill was used to gauge toughness. In the age of concussion protocols and attempts to go above and beyond to protect players from head trauma, the NFL banned the drill in 2019. Many children's leagues and colleges have followed suit.
Now that it's banned for grown men wearing protective gear, the Oklahoma drill has found a new arena - the beach. And the only thing its new participants are sporting are bathing suits and some liquid courage.
The violent drill has become popular for spring breakers in South Florida over the last few years and it found its way to Jacksonville Beach on Sunday.
Around 7:30 p.m., police broke up a crowd of nearly 400 people near the pier who were gathered to "play" Oklahoma drills. Soon after officers dispersed the crowd, three shootings happened sending throngs of people running for safety, three people to the hospital, and one person to the morgue.
The Oklahoma drill event was planned by a Jacksonville DJ who goes by the name DJ Showtime. He told First Coast News the event wasn't responsible for the shootings and people were gathered to only have fun on the beach.
"I was just really trying to have a positive event and make it to where people know that people can come by and have a good time, and go home and there'd be no negative things," DJ Showtime explained.
That's not how it turned out.
