Cowboy Football Graduates 22 On Saturday

Photo by: Bruce Waterfield

May 05, 2016 | Cowboy Football

STILLWATER – With commencement ceremonies set for this Saturday at Oklahoma State, here's a look at Cowboy football's 22 graduating seniors, which pushes OSU's total to more than 240 football graduates during the Mike Gundy era (2005-present).

Devante Averette - Education
Corey Bennett - Management
Jordan Burton - Education
Trace Clark - Mechanical Engineering
Eric Davis - Education
Josh Elias - Education
David Glidden* - Business Administration
Austin Hays - Marketing
Colby Hegwood - Education
Victor Irokansi - Secondary Education/Social Studies
Seth Jacobs - Strategic Communication
Blake Jarwin - Management
Miketavius Jones - Education
Kevin King - Entrepreneurship
Emmanuel Ogbah - Business Administration
Bryant Reber - Management
Jeremy Seaton - Marketing
Demarcus Sherod - Education
Ryan Simmons* - Sports Management
Jeremiah Tshimanga - Political Science
Zac Veatch - Management
J.W. Walsh* - University Studies – emphasis in Business Administration

*Graduated in 2015, but played this past season

Prior to the Allstate Sugar Bowl, a group of OSU's seniors got together in a casual setting to look back at their time in Stillwater.

More academic notes from Oklahoma State football during Mike Gundy's tenure as Oklahoma State head coach:

Three Cowboy football players have been honored as Outstanding Seniors of Significance by the OSU Alumni Association (top one percent of their graduating class) - Darnell Smith in 2006, B.J. O'Connor in 2007 and Seb Clements in 2008.
Since the National Football Foundation created the Hampshire Honor Society in 2007 to recognize college football players with a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or better for the duration of their collegiate career, nine Cowboys have earned that recognition, with four being honored in 2014 (Clint Chelf, Caleb Lavey, Charlie Moore and Connor Sinko).
A pair of Cowboy football players have earned the Big 12 Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award (minimum of 100 hours of class credit with a cumulative grade point average of 3.80 at the time of the nomination) – Jared Glover in 2011 and Ryan Lester in 2015.
In 2007, Darnell Smith earned a Big 12 postgraduate scholarship. Anthony Hill secured that same scholarship in 2011.
Three times since 2005 has a football player been honored as OSU's Male Student-Athlete of the Year. In 2007, it was Darnell Smith. In 2011, it was Brandon Weeden and in 2013, it was Clint Chelf.
In 2006, Darnell Smith earned CoSIDA Academic All-America recognition. Caleb Lavey secured CoSIDA Academic All-America accolades in 2013.
Since 2005, 129 players have earned Academic All-Big 12 recognition, including a school-record 22 honorees in 2015.
In 2006, Donovan Woods was chosen to represent Oklahoma State at the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference. In 2011, Richetti Jones participated at the NCAA Regional Leadership Conference.
Since 2005, the OSU football team has produced 33 Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars, an award which honors student-athletes of color with a grade point average of 3.2 or higher, including six Arthur Ashe scholars in 2016 – Chris Hardeman, Dylan Harding, Chris Lacy, Matthew Newsome, Bryant Reber and Kirk Tucker.
OSU has had three winners of the Chick-Fil-A Community of Champions Award – Darnell Smith in 2006, Andrew Lewis in 2009 and Brandon Weeden in 2011. The award honors student-athletes with a minimum 3.0 grade point average who are also active in helping their community and in leadership/sportsmanship.
Four Gundy-era players earned national recognition for significantly improving their grade point average, as Demarcus Conner (2007), Jeremy Smith (2012), Desmond Roland (2015) and Marcell Ateman (2016) were all presented with the National Academic Momentum award.