Football Full Speed Ahead and Kolby Harvell-Peel the Same

Oklahoma State football is almost working at full speed and Kolby Harvell-Peel has started rehab

STILLWATER -- It had been about a week and I still needed to go and pick up my big bag from the bowl trip that I sent back on the truck. A case of arthritis in the back had slowed my getting back to Stillwater to pick it up. There was plenty of work to do with wrapping up the season and of course, the Kasey Dunn story with his return to the staff. That is something that obviously went on through the bowl week and then was secured after the return home.

Tylan Wallace made it official he was staying. Mike Gundy and the staff saw the fruits of their efforts with two players adding to the roster from the NCAA transfer portal. Finally, the departure of offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson to Rutgers.

I knew that head coach Mike Gundy had followed through with his post-game locker room promise to the players that he would be back in his office working the day after getting back from the Texas Bowl. It turns out nobody waited very long to get back into the swing of things.

Normally, the time between arriving back home from a post Christmas bowl game and the AFCA Coaches Convention is the time that coaches and the football staff as a whole take holiday vacation. It is a dead period for recruiting, the student-athletes are still off campus and don't report back for the spring semester until Jan. 13. 

Not the case for the Oklahoma State program as Monday when I stopped by, every coach was in the building, some in their offices. Most told me that they took the first week off, but it was time to get back, review the season, plan for the spring semester and plan for the last month of recruiting before the Feb. 5 signing date. 

I spoke with head coach Mike Gundy and he seemed to be in good spirits. He did not pass on anything regarding a new offensive coordinator, but Gundy is typically not going to comment on personnel situations until they are no longer situations and they are on staff.  

The only coach that I did not see in the building was Jason McEndoo and he may have been on his way back from San Antonio as I believe he was down there with his son, Luke, who participated in the All-American Combine for underclassmen as part of the U.S. Army All-American Game weekend. 

I can tell you to see the office in gear to that extent this time of year is impressive. It shows that Gundy's message in the locker room after the Texas Bowl loss to Texas A&M about how special this next team and season could be with all the players that returns was taken very serious by the staff. 

Kolby Harvell-Peel Starts Rehab

There was one player I ran into as All-Big 12 safety Kolby Harvell-Peel, who was injured on the last play of the Bedlam game and missed the Texas Bowl with a torn ACL, was just a couple of days removed from surgery to repair his knee.

Harvell-Peel was with the team at the Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl in Houston, but since the injury, had been working to strengthen his knee. Dr. Mark Pascale, the Cowboys' orthopedic surgeon from McBride Orthopedics, will sometimes choose to delay surgery and have the patient strengthen the knee to build it up for the trauma of surgery. It has often played a major factor in allowing a head start to the rehab and helping the knee be stronger faster. 

In past conversations, Pascale has explained to me that a knee with less damage can be strengthened and that helps build it up against the trauma of reconstructive knee surgery. 

Harvell-Peel smiled at me and told me he had started his rehab that day. He vowed to get himself all the way back and the determined sophomore is someone you can believe in.

He told me the surgery went well and he was feeling pretty good. 

This past season he proved that his efforts in 2018 were just the tip of how good he can be. Against Tulsa this season, he blitzed on a fourth down play late to seal the win over the Golden Hurricane. That was one of his 10 tackles in that game. On the road at Iowa State, Harvell-Peel had six passes defended in one game, a school record. In the win over TCU, he had six tackles and two interceptions. Overall, he had 71 tackles, 49 unassisted, three tackles for loss, one sack, five interceptions, 13 passes defended, two fumbles caused, and two fumbles recovered.