Ollie Gordon Named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year

For the third time since the league’s inception, Oklahoma State has a Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Ollie Gordon, a sophomore running back, picked up the honor Wednesday. He joins Justin Blackmon (2010) and Chuba Hubbard (2019) as the only Cowboys to earn the award that has been given out since 1996. Gordon leads the nation in rushing this season with 1,580 yards while scoring 20 rushing touchdowns. Also a threat in the passing game, Gordon has 272 receiving yards and another touchdown through the air.

Named one of three Doak Walker finalists on Tuesday, Gordon has ran for at least 120 yards in eight games this season. He had back to back games of 282 yards and 271 yards against West Virginia and Cincinnati, respectively. He has ran for multiple touchdowns in five games this season, including a four-touchdown performance against the Mountaineers and a five-touchdown performance against BYU this past Saturday.

His week-in, week-out performances have earned Gordon the right to be in the same breath with Barry Sanders. Gordon and Sanders are the only Cowboy players to run for 250 yards in back-to-back weeks. And Gordon and Sanders are the only OSU players to run for five touchdowns in a game (something Sanders did three times).

All of this comes after Gordon had just 19 carries through OSU’s three nonconference games.

In Big 12 play alone, Gordon has 1,471 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns. That’s 296 more yards than second-place Tahj Brooks and six more touchdowns than RJ Harvey and Garrett Greene, who are tied in second with 12. In Big 12 play, Gordon has rushed for more yards than five Big 12 teams and more touchdowns than seven Big 12 teams.

Entering the Big 12 Championship, Gordon’s 1,580-yard season ranks ninth in program history. In nine games as the Cowboys’ bell-cow back, Gordon has averaged 163.4 yards a game. If he averaged that over OSU’s final two games, he’d finish with about 1,907 yards, which would rank third in program history behind Sanders (2,850 in 1988) and Hubbard (2,094 in 2019) — all while playing sparingly during the first three games.

Gordon came to Stillwater as a four-star prospect out of Euless-Trinity (TX). He chose OSU over offers from Texas, Michigan, Arkansas, Nebraska, TCU and others. As a true freshman in 2022, Gordon carried 62 times for 308 yards and two touchdowns. His best game last season came in OSU’s regular-season finale against West Virginia, where Gordon carried 17 times for 136 yards and a touchdown.

He becomes the program’s eighth conference offensive player of the year overall. Pre-Big 12, Terry Miller won Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year in 1976 and 1977. Thurman Thomas won Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year in 1985 and 1987. Sanders won Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year in 1988.

2023 Big 12 Yearly Awards

Offensive Player of the Year: Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State, RB
Defensive Player of the Year: T’Vondre Sweat, Texas, DL
Offensive Newcomer of the Year: Adonai Mitchell, Texas, WR
Defensive Newcomer of the Year: Austin Booker, Kansas, DL
Offensive Freshman of the Year: Rocco Becht, Iowa State, QB
Defensive Freshman of the Year: Anthony Hill Jr., Texas, LB and Ben Roberts, Texas Tech, LB
Special Teams Player of the Year: Austin McNamara, Texas Tech, P
Offensive Lineman of the Year: Cooper Beebe, Kansas State
Defensive Lineman of the Year: Byron Murphy II, Texas
Chuck Neinas Coach of the Year: Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State

All-Big 12 First Team

QB — Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma
RB — Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State
RB — Tahj Brooks, Texas Tech
FB — Ben Sinnott, Kansas State
WR — Javon Baker, UCF
WR — Drake Stoops, Oklahoma
WR — Xavier Worthy, Texas
TE — Jared Wiley, TCU
TE — Ja’Tavion Sanders, Texas
OL — Dominick Puni, Kansas
OL — Cooper Beebe, Kansas State
OL — Patrick Paul, Houston
OL — Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas
OL — Zach Frazier, West Virginia
PK — Bert Auburn, Texas
KR/PR — Xavier Worthy, Texas
DL — Tre’mon Morris-Brash, UCF
DL — Nelson Ceaser, Houston
DL — Austin Booker, Kansas
DL — Byron Murphy II, Texas
DL — T’Vondre Sweat, Texas
LB — Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma
LB — Nickolas Martin, Oklahoma State
LB — Jaylan Ford, Texas
DB — Jeremiah Cooper, Iowa State
DB — T.J. Tampa, Iowa State
DB — Cobee Bryant, Kansas
DB — Billy Bowman, Oklahoma
DB — Beanie Bishop Jr., West Virginia
P — Austin McNamara, Texas Tech

All-Big 12 Second Team

QB — Will Howard, Kansas State
RB — Devin Neal, Kansas
RB — Jonathan Brooks, Texas
FB — Stevo Klotz, Iowa State
WR — Jaylin Noel, Iowa State
WR — Brennan Presley, Oklahoma State
WR — Adonai Mitchell, Texas
TE — Kole Taylor, West Virginia
OL — Kingsley Suamataia, BYU
OL — Luke Kandra, Cincinnati
OL — Andrew Raym, Oklahoma
OL — Brandon Coleman, TCU
OL — Wyatt Milum, West Virginia
PK — Alex Hale, Oklahoma State
KR/PR — Matthew Golden, Houston
DL — Tyler Batty, BYU
DL — Dontay Corleone, Cincinnati
DL — Jamaree Caldwell, Houston
DL — Khalid Duke, Kansas State
DL — Ethan Downs, Oklahoma
LB — Jason Johnson, UCF
LB — Austin Moore, Kansas State
LB — Collin Oliver, Oklahoma State
DB — Kenny Logan Jr., Kansas
DB — Kobe Savage, Kansas State
DB — Josh Newton, TCU
DB — Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Texas Tech
DB — Jahdae Barron, Texas
P — Ryan Rehkow, BYU