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Nebraska's Mike Riley: Brenda Tracy's story of rape, effects 'powerful'

College Football, Nebraska Cornhuskers

Brenda Tracy "left an indelible imprint" Wednesday on the Nebraska football team, coach Mike Riley said, by telling the Cornhuskers how she was gang-raped by Oregon State football players in 1998.

"Brenda has suffered immeasurable pain and has shown the strength and willingness to share her story. Her story today was powerful," Riley said in a statement.

For her part, Tracy said her hourlong talk with the team and a separate meeting with Riley were rewarding and left her feeling "like a ton of bricks have been lifted off my back."

"Literally I feel like I might be five sizes smaller in my skin," she told a small group of reporters, according to USA TODAY Sports.

Riley was the coach at Oregon State when Tracy allegedly was sexually assaulted by four men, including two OSU players, while on a visit to campus. The players were arrested, but she did not press charges.

Riley, who is entering his second season at Nebraska, suspended the two players for one game.

Tracy, 42, said earlier this week of Riley that "I did hate him for many years."

"But since coming forward, my biggest wish for myself is that I don't want to be angry anymore," she said. "I want to have peace, and I want to be happy. I feel like today I am ready to forgive, and I want to find a place of forgiveness with him."

Riley said in the statement that he met with Tracy "at length" before she spoke to the team.

"I expressed my sincere gratitude for her willingness to come and I offered my support in her efforts to impact others around the country," he said. "Out of respect to Brenda, I will not share details of our conversation but I hope to have the opportunity to continue our dialogue."

Tracy told reporters Wednesday that she had been nervous about the meeting and that it was emotional. She said she had lots of questions for Riley, including about what he knew when he suspended the players for just one game. Riley told her that he had not read the police report and knew only what the players were arrested for and that charges had been dropped, according to USA TODAY.

"If he had known, he hoped he would have done something differently," Tracy said, according to USA TODAY. "He thinks about it. What happened to me has had an impact on him. ... It's not a feeling of relief but a little bit of closure."

Tracy broke her silence in November 2014, and Oregon State issued an apology for how the university handled the incident. Riley invited her then to speak to his team about the experience and its effect on her life, and -- even after Riley left for Nebraska that December -- the invitation remained open.

"Sexual assault and harassment are serious issues on campuses across America," Riley said Wednesday. "We try to recruit young men of character with core values, and once they are here, we educate them on making good decisions and treating all people with the utmost of respect.

"This has been an important day for me and for our football program and we must keep the focus on the victims, and on preventing inexcusable acts in the future."

Tracy said earlier this week that she was struggling with the thought of speaking to Riley's team, but the registered nurse -- inspired by the nurse who treated her after the 1998 incident -- planned to be "brutally honest" with the men in the room.

"I plan to tell them exactly what I remember about that night and tell them exactly how much I struggled," she said, "because I am not the exception; I am the rule. This is what happens to survivors of this horrible crime. We struggle. We have PTSD. We have depression. We want to die. We want to kill ourselves.

"I really want them to understand what this is. It's a big deal. It ruins people's lives."

ESPN's Mitch Sherman contributed to this report.

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