OKLAHOMA STATE’S GORDON II WINS 2023 DOAK WALKER AWARD
True sophomore, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year is Oklahoma State’s first winner of the national running back award
DALLAS (SMU) – The PwC SMU Athletic Forum is proud to announce Oklahoma State sophomore running back Ollie Gordon II as the winner of the 2023 Doak Walker Award. The announcement was made during The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN. The formal presentation of the award for the nation’s best collegiate running back will take place here in Dallas at the annual banquet scheduled for Feb. 16, 2024. The PwC Doak Walker Legends Award will also be presented at the event.
The Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year is the first winner from Oklahoma State and just the fourth sophomore to win the award. Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin, 2018), LaMichael James (Oregon, 2010), and Darren McFadden (Arkansas, 2006) won the award in their second collegiate season. Taylor and McFadden went on to become two-time winners. Gordon, a 6-1, 211-pound true sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas, joined Chuba Hubbard (2019) and Kendall Hunter (2010) as Oklahoma State’s third finalist for the award. He beat out fellow finalists North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton and Missouri’s Cody Schrader for the award.
Photo Cred: LinkedIn (J. Scott Moore)
Gordon II showed some flashes of greatness in the final regular-season game as a true freshman last season, when he ran for 136 yards vs. West Virginia. It wasn’t till this season’s fourth game when he found his stride after carrying the ball just 19 times over the season’s first three weeks. He then ripped off six straight 100-yard games, including 282 yards and four touchdowns vs. West Virginia and 271 yards and two touchdowns vs. Cincinnati. For those two games, he earned the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week honor. Leading up to those two huge games, he ran for 168 yards vs. Kansas. In all, he was the national running back of the week an unprecedented three straight weeks this season.
He leads the country with 1,614 rushing yards and is second with 20 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 37 passes for 326 yards and a touchdown and his 1,940 total yards from scrimmage also lead the country. The Cowboys will close out the season in the TaxAct Texas Bowl against Texas A&M on Dec. 27 in Houston.
Photo Cred: Pistols Firing
The Doak Walker Award presented by the PwC SMU Athletic Forum has been awarded to the nation’s top running back since 1990. For the second straight season, the award also recognized a national running back of the week. A select 20-person committee from the award’s full voting body of media and past winners has chosen the weekly national running back of the week recipient.
The Doak Walker Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. This season, 12 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit the redesigned NCFAA.org or follow on X at @NCFAA.
Photo Cred: X.com
