RB Joe Mixon rejoins Oklahoma football team
Joe Mixon is returning to the Oklahoma football team.
Almost exactly a year after Mixon signed with the Sooners as a five-star recruit in the class of 2014, Oklahoma offensive coordinator and running backs coach Cale Gundy said Mixon had been reinstated to the team.
“He’s been like a caged tiger, I can tell you that,” running backs coach Cale Gundy said Wednesday via the Tulsa World. “I know this, whenever we cut that lock off that cage, my man came out running.”
While we understand Gundy's excitement in getting back a top player who has (hopefully) learned his lesson, we do wonder if the comparison to a dangerous feline predator is necessary.
Mixon was suspended from Oklahoma after an incident at an Oklahoma mall in July. According to police affadavits, Mixon punched a female in the face and she was knocked unconscious and suffered a “fractured jaw, fractured cheek bone, fractured sinus, and fractured orbit which caused a hematoma on the left eye.”
The alleged incident was captured on surveillance tape and shown to Oklahoma media early in the fall.
In October, Mixon entered a plea deal titled an "Alford Plea" and received a one-year deferred sentence and required to perform community service.
“He made a split-second and wrong decision, and he knows that,” Gundy said. “He is a super, super kid. And I use the term ‘kid’ because he still is like a kid. He’s still very young.
“I’m proud of him for what he did. Obviously he was punished and rightfully so for whatever President Boren and the University of Oklahoma decided to do. There were things he had to do that kept him away from our football team and our locker room and our weight room, and it was hard on him.”
Before the incident and ensuing suspension, the No. 1 running back and No. 8 prospect overall in the class of 2014 was set to make immediate contributions in Oklahoma's backfield. Now, with the emergence of freshman Samaje Perine, who set the single-game rushing record in 2014, it's a bit more crowded. The Sooners return Perine, Alex Ross and Keith Ford, the three leading rushers from a year ago.
For more Oklahoma news, visit SoonerScoop.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
