Oklahoma State star running back Ollie Gordon II won’t miss any playing time after his DUI arrest last month, head coach Mike Gundy said at Big 12 media days on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Gordon, who is on a “shorter leash” now, was with Gundy and the Cowboys delegation in Las Vegas this week too — which was part of his punishment. The way college football operates now, with Gordon and others being “essentially employees,” Gundy felt that was the right move.
“Your punishment is going to be facing the facts,” Gundy told Gordon, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “That’s why we brought him here today … I said, ‘You’re not going into hiding. You’re going to face the music, you’re going to have to stand up and talk to people and answer questions. And, hopefully, more than football, you can learn from the situation you’ve been in.’ Because if not, then we have a real issue.”
Gordon was arrested late last month just south of Oklahoma City and charged with DUI under 21 years of age, transporting an open container of alcohol, failing to maintain a single lane of traffic and speeding. He was pulled over just south of Oklahoma City after he was seen swerving and speeding on Interstate 35, and the officer said he later found two open bottles of liquor in the vehicle. Gordon, after reportedly refusing to take a field sobriety test multiple times, blew a 0.11 BAC and a 0.10 BAC at the Cleveland County jail.
Gordon apologized in a statement on social media on Monday. While he didn’t get into specifics about his arrest in Las Vegas, he said he has a meeting with Gundy about his punishment when they return to Stillwater — which he said he will back “whatever he decides.”
“He’s going to play,” Gundy told ESPN. “I’m going to do what we think is best for Oklahoma State football. And I think it’s best for Ollie to play. If there’s any punishment, it’s making him carry the ball 50 times in the first game.”
Gordon had an FBS-high 1,732 rushing yards and 22 total touchdowns last season in his breakout campaign with the Cowboys. He led the team to a 10-4 record and to the Big 12 championship game while earning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors. He also won the Doak Walker Award, which is given out to the country’s top running back each season, and finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting.
The Cowboys will open their season against South Dakota State on Aug. 31.
“I understand young people, we all make mistakes,” Gundy said, via ESPN. “If we don’t learn from those, then it’s not really good. We’ve had several conversations. We’ll have more over the next month. I think that he understands how serious that situation was. Hopefully he can learn from it and move forward.”
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