Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas Congratulate Ollie Gordon on Doak Walker Award Win

If the Doak Walker Award was created three years earlier, Ollie Gordon could very well have been the third Oklahoma State running back to bring home that hardware, or at least the second.

As it is, he was the first Cowboy to win the award for the nation’s top running back, but a couple of all-time Cowboy rushers chimed in to pay their respects to the sophomore superstar.

Immediately following the announcement, and with Gordon live on ESPN, the broadcast played a prerecorded video from Barry Sanders.

#OKState legend Barry Sanders had a congratulatory message for 2023 Doak Walker Award recipient Ollie Gordon II: pic.twitter.com/0hEL0kpQrE

— Cody Nagel (@CodyNagel247) December 9, 2023

Thurman Thomas, another Hall of Fame RB from OSU, went to X to tweet out his congratulations.

Congrats to @Ollie_Gordon2 on winning the @DoakWalkerAward Proud of you my man.. #GoPokes https://t.co/66LaZglOY8

— Thurman Thomas (@thurmanthomas) December 9, 2023

And Ollie took to the X to share his appreciation and deflect some of the praise onto his teammates.

Blesssed to receive the Doak Walker award couldn’t do it without my guys 🙏🏽🖤 thank y’all 🤠

— Ollie Gordon (@Ollie_Gordon2) December 9, 2023

The Doak Walker Award was first doled out in 1990, two years after Sanders’ all-everything Heisman season and three years after Thomas came in third in the nation in rushing and was also a consensus All-American. The most exciting thing about Gordon’s win is that he’s just a sophomore.

All love for Ollie 🫶 pic.twitter.com/XaHI4AJhVb

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) December 9, 2023