Sports Illustrated quotes taken out of context, claims Oklahoma State QB

Former Oklahoma State quarterback Aso Pogi was one of the players interviewed for Sports Illustrated’s report on alleged misdeeds involving the OSU football program, and he talked with Jimmie Tramel of the Tulsa World about the process by which he was interviewed by SI’s Thayer Evans.

Pogi, who is a youth pastor in Lawton (Okla.), says he was approached by Evans at his church. The two began having what Pogi thought was a conversation about OSU football, but says he didn’t know exactly what it was about until he started asking for information about people taking money. Interestingly, Pogi was asked if Evans took notes or recorded any of their conversation, and this was his response:

He didn’t even take notes. We were just conversing. It was just a conversation in my office. He didn’t take notes. He didn’t pull out a (recorder). He didn’t define anything. He just wanted to talk to me about it, you know? I said, ‘oh, OK.‘ Again, I’m thinking that this is something else, like OSU quarterbacks from back in the day and wanting to quote me on what I thought about so-and-so or whatever. That’s really what I thought this was about. He did not put a (recorder) up there and say ‘this is an interview for Sports Illustrated. I’m going to be recording this.’ None of that happened. Absolutely not.

If the reason to sit down and talk with Pogi was to get information and quotes, it would be odd if there weren’t any apparent note-taking implements. It also would give some credence to those who claim their quotes were taken out of context, which several players have come out and said already.

Elsewhere in former OSU quarterbacks:

Pogi also notes he thinks that he was approached for information because Evans assumed Pogi had an axe to grind with the program.

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