Great article on OSU football player

[Cope]

The last time he took the field, he compiled 111 yards and had fans talking about him being the next big thing at wide receiver.

The player in question is Artrell Woods. The last time Orange Country saw him play football was in the Spring Game of 2007.

In a few days, he's expected to break the huddle for the first time since then. For the first time since a horrific back injury had everyone at Oklahoma State questioning whether he'd be able to walk again or lead a normal life.
   
Football? This was a moment where no one even bothered to think about that.

The freak accident in the weight room scared us all. It was one of those moments where you step back and it really hits you just how violent and dangerous playing football can be – even if this injury wasn't sustained on the field. It just makes you think.

And now? You think about how him being able to play in the 2008 opener at Washington State is even possible. It's a moment that makes you amazed about just how great medical technology has become, while looking up and feeling that there has to be someone above with a plan.

And the plan is for Woods to play in Seattle.

"He's going to get on the field," said head coach Mike Gundy. "I suspect he'll play around 30-35 plays at his position. He's on special teams – he's going to play on two special teams – then obviously he's going to play receiver."

So, the comeback is all but complete at this point. Simply amazing. I remember the first time I saw Woods in person after the accident. It was at the school's media day last summer. He came out wearing his road uniform from the Independence Bowl and a giant white back brace with stickers on it. Walking gingerly to the media, he had a hopeful vibe and shared positive words. Talked about getting back out there to play again. Pollyanna-ish? I don't know, but he believed it.

And while there might have been doubters in the crowd at the time, he was exactly right. Now, he stands just four days away from making that goal a reality.

"We've talked about it a lot, not to keep repeating ourselves, but it's a really incredible story," Gundy said. "For him to have the willpower to do it and the medical staff to put him back together and the people here at OSU who rehabilitated him ... it's a pretty amazing story."

It's a story that isn't forgotten by his teammates.

"He's inspired everyone," Zac Robinson said. "His work ethic and attitude has inspired everyone. I couldn't be more happy for a guy to come back from that. He's a great kid and a great player, but he's even a better person. So I'm looking at seeing him improve and becoming a big part of this offense."

With the need for other wideouts to step up to counter Dez Bryant, Woods has a chance to make an impact on the field after sitting out all of last season.

"He gets better every day," Gundy said. "I've noticed in the last couple of weeks that he'll get hit more and bounces back up. I worried about him from day one. I cringed every time somebody got around him and hit him, even though he's structurally stronger than he was to start with. That's what we've been told. And every day I see him getting hit more, falling down, people piling on him and he just gets up and goes back to the huddle. I'm sure maybe in the back of his mind, but I think for the most part he's gotten over it."

If there was a bright spot to his injury, it's that it wasn't of the on-field variety. The thinking there is that he won't be haunted by his mishap every time he takes the field.

"I would think it probably is an advantage getting hurt off the field versus it happening on the field. I know as a player that would be more in my mind than what happened," Gundy said. "That might help him some."

There are a lot of great things about the first week of the new season. Getting to see actual football again is one of them. But this weekend, win or lose, the greatest thing associated with OSU football will be this young man taking the field again. Its stories like these that really move and inspire people. It also reminds us that, while no one is invincible, any one of us can make a comeback from anything if we put our minds to it.

Maybe he'll get 112 yards against WSU? It'd be appropriate.

[Lew]

The best part about this story is as you reach the bottom, your eyes naturally drift down to "Death Happens".

[Dj]

A month ago, I heard the question put to Trooper Taylor whether Woods would play again. Taylor, inspirational as always, told the amazing story of Artrell's recovery. Talyor even commented that he didn't want to play him for fear of re-injury, but the coach stated he talked to the medical staff and was convinced by both them and Woods' attitude.

Now, granted - Taylor spins a good story, but even removing the emotion, the facts themselves were remarkable.

[Cope]

See Trooper's quotes in this article from the Associated Press. I bet we hear this story a ton on Saturday.....

Okla. State's Woods returns from near paralysis

By Jeff Latzke
AP Sports Writer
STILLWATER (AP) - Artrell Woods was in the Oklahoma State weight room when his life came crashing down.


With one misstep, the fleet-footed receiver's back had been broken by the force of the 185-pound weight he'd been carrying on his shoulders. In that instant football became an afterthought.

Forget scoring touchdowns. Just taking a few steps would be a major breakthrough for Woods.

Now, a mere 13½ months later, Woods is talking touchdowns again. When the Cowboys open the season against Washington State on Saturday in Seattle, he'll be among Oklahoma State's top receivers.

"It's a miracle," said Woods, a sophomore from Bryan, Texas, who teammates know simply as Artie. "I thank God every single day."

Woods' weight room mishap, caused when he rolled his ankle, landed him in the hospital with what doctors called a fracture dislocation of vertebrae and an incomplete spinal cord injury. All his teammates knew was that it wasn't good.

"We really didn't know what happened at first. The way he fell, it looked so bad. And then when he was just laying there and he said he couldn't move, everybody was kind of shocked," teammate Andre Sexton said. "You just hope that he's all right. You don't even think about football."

But soon, Woods did start thinking about it. The first day after his surgery, Woods was able to wiggle his toes. Within weeks, he was up and walking again with a brace supporting his back. Then he gave practice a try.

Woods isn't just going to walk onto the field and wave to the crowd. He fully expects to be a playmaker, like the Cowboys had envisioned him after he had 111 yards receiving in the 2007 spring game — about three months before his injury.

Coach Mike Gundy figures to put Woods on the field for about 30 plays, some as a receiver and some on special teams duty. There'll be no taking it easy on him, even if that was the first instinct for everyone involved after his paralyzing back injury.

New receivers coach Trooper Taylor had Woods wear a green jersey restricting him from contact throughout spring practice, cut down on his repetitions and spared him from routes that would take him across the middle of the field and into harm's way.

Five practices into camp this month, Woods came up to Taylor and told him: "Coach, you can't baby me. You've got to turn me loose."

"As a parent, you worry about that because I saw the pictures of what happened to him and what they did to his back and how they fixed it," Taylor said. "It would just be hard for me to pick that phone up and call Mom and say 'This is what happened' or call Dad and say, 'This is what happened.'"

Reluctantly, Taylor backed off. He started giving Woods slant patterns that could result in crushing blows from linebackers and safeties, and even warned the defense what was coming. After Woods made that first catch and popped up from the tackle, he looked right at Taylor before going back into the huddle.

"My heart stopped beating a 1,000 miles an hour when he got back in there," Taylor said.

Woods has been an inspiration to the teammates who saw him crumpled on the weight room floor and then watched him go from the hospital to rehabbing in a pool to learning to run again.

"It's been real tough but I'm hanging in there," Woods said.

All that's left now is for Woods to make that first catch, score that first touchdown and complete the journey that he could have easily given up on.

"I don't know who's going to cry first: me or his mom or his dad or him. I really don't want him crying, not as a football player," Taylor said. "But it will be emotional because I know where he's come from."

For a guy who's faced one of the scariest, life-changing moments imaginable, Woods isn't dwelling on what could have been. He's sounds like any other football player.

"I expect to be a big playmaker like I expected before," he said. "I don't really feel like nothing's changed. I feel like I can make a real big difference.