Arland Bruce No Longer Involved in Team Activities after Gambling Investigation Charge

STILLWATER — Arland Bruce IV is no longer involved in Oklahoma State’s team activities, OSU coach Mike Gundy announced Saturday.

Bruce was named in a sports gambling investigation earlier this week, reportedly placing bets on Iowa games while he was with the Hawkeyes. Bruce transferred to Stillwater this offseason after reportedly making bets on 11 games he was involved in with Iowa.

Gundy said Saturday that he knows about as much as the public does about Bruce’s situation to this point.

“He’s no longer involved with our team activities at this time,” Gundy said. “He’s got some things he has to work out way outside of football. That’s really all I know.”

Although he isn’t involved with the team right now, Bruce is still on scholarship, Gundy said.

“I have to make a decision on what I think’s right,” Gundy said. “It’s not good for him to be involved in team activities now, but also we have to support him a little bit as he goes through this.”

Bruce was a four-star recruit in the 2021 recruiting class before heading to Iowa City. In two seasons with the Hawkeyes, Bruce played in 25 games where he had 512 yards of total offense and six total touchdowns.

Listed at 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, Bruce was supposed to slot in alongside Brennan Presley as an inside receiver this season. In Bruce’s absence, Gundy said guys like Rashod Owens or Blaine Green — both bigger-bodied receivers — could play on the inside more as the position group adjusts.

“He was practicing really well and was gonna be a factor in our team, I’ll put it that way,” Gundy said. “So now we have to bounce some guys around a little bit.”

Sports betting has become an issue in college athletics — it isn’t just Bruce who has been caught up in this. Bruce was one of four current or former Iowa players named in this week’s report. Earlier in the month, Iowa State starting quarterback Hunter Dekkers was also charged in a gambling investigation.

“We’ve addressed gambling for years,” Gundy said. “The addressing part of it now is different because of the ability to do it with [phones]. We all know that, right? So we just need to call it like it is. Years ago we addressed it with our players, but it was different because somebody would have to come find you or you’d have to go to a bookie, I guess, for lack of a better term. It was much more difficult to do it if you wanted to do it. The access of phones is what created issues, so we’ve gone further with it over the last 12 months.

“What’s come out with what’s going on across the country has kind of been a shock to everybody. We’ve addressed it multiple times just within the last three weeks because of it to try to coach them up on the dangers of it — much less how the NCAA sees it or whoever else. It’s different now than it ever has been.”