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When Oklahoma State kicked off its football season in 2009, it had one of the best wide receivers in the country in the form of Dez Bryant, who seemed to have a legitimate chance of being the first person at that position to win the Heisman Trophy since Desmond Howard secured the award in 1991. Unfortunately, his final year in college was cut short thanks in no small part to Deion Sanders.
The Cowboys drafted Bryant with the 24th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and he quickly emerged as one of the most formidable wideouts in the league. The franchise was the perfect fit for the Texas native, who’d initially made a name for himself at Lufkin High School before heading up to Stillwater to join the Cowboys under the guidance of Mike Gundy.
Bryant continued to live up to the hype at Oklahoma State, and while it was essentially a forgone conclusion he’d declare for the draft once he wrapped up his junior year, he still had the chance to prove his worth over the course of what did turn out to be his final campaign.
Unfortunately, he only ended up having a few games to do exactly that before he was sidelined courtesy of an investigation stemming from his relationship with the man known as “Prime Time.”
Dez Bryant was forced to miss the bulk of his final season at Oklahoma State thanks to a meeting with Deion Sanders
The NCAA has spent the bulk of its existence ruling over the world of college athletics with an iron fist, and while its grip has loosened since it was essentially forced to allow players to profit from their name, image, and likeness, student-athletes still have to tread carefully to avoid attracting the wrath of a governing body with a reputation for handing out major punishments over seemingly minor infractions.
In 2009, Bryant got off to a scorching hot start at Oklahoma State, as he recorded 323 receiving yards on 17 catches and scored four touchdowns (five if you count the one he ran back on a punt return) over the course of his first three games.
However, the wide receiver was mysteriously sidelined when the Cowboys faced off against Grambling State on September 26th, and less than two weeks later, we got an explanation for his absence when Oklahoma State announced he’d been declared ineligible for the remainder of the season after failing to be transparent about his relationship with a ” former NFL player.”
While the school didn’t initially name the player in question, it didn’t take long for Deion Sanders to claim responsibility. He said Bryant had come to help him during a camp held at an athletic facility in Frisco, Texas called Fieldhouse USA before he invited the wide receiver back to his house for dinner to cap off the day.
While it seemed like a pretty innocuous interaction, it eventually caught the attention of the NCAA, which tasked some officials to take a closer look at the matter to ensure nothing improper had transpired while Bryant and Sanders were hanging out.
Unfortunately, Bryant made the fatal error of lying to those investigators when they asked if he’d had dinner at Sander’s house, which he incorrectly believed was a violation of NCAA rules. He was subsequently ruled ineligible when they discovered he’d attempted to cover his tracks, and while Oklahoma State appealed the decision, the request was denied at the end of October to effectively bring Bryant’s college career to an end.
It’s doubtful Bryant would’ve been able to do much to help the Cowboys avoid ending up on the receiving end of the two blowout losses they suffered to Texas and Oklahoma in the wake of his absence, and things worked out pretty well for a man who earned close to $60 million while playing in the NFL.
With that said, this story is just one of many examples that highlight how seriously the NCAA tends to take things that probably don’t need to be taken that seriously.