Man on the run
Cowboys’ wide receiver James Washington has been staying busy in the classroom and traveling to postseason award ceremonies.
STILLWATER — Here’s a fact that should make Oklahoma State football fans and NFL scouts a little nervous.
James Washington is taking an online chemistry course this semester that includes lab work without professor supervision.
So the next natural question for the Cowboys’ star receiver is: has he blown up anything yet?
“No, we’ve tried though,” Washington said, before reversing course to point out that he and classmate/fellow receiver Marcell Ateman are cautious with their lab experiments.
Now that Washington’s safety is covered, let’s move on to his bulky class schedule.
“I’m taking 17 hours right now,” he said. “It’s a load.”
And it’s particularly taxing this week — the week before finals — when you consider Washington’s travel schedule for the Home Depot College Football Awards Show, set to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.
Washington is the favorite to win the Biletnikoff Award, given to the college football’s top receiver. He was in Atlanta on Wednesday, taking part in pre-show events.
Other OSU players, like Mason Rudolph and Brad Lundblade, are traveling to awards banquets this week as well, which leaves them on their own to make sure they’re getting all their class work in line while on the road.
Lundblade was in New York on Tuesday for the Campbell Trophy presentation, which went to Virginia's Micah Kiser, and Rudolph is up for the Davey O'Brien Award, which will be presented Thursday in Atlanta as well.
“It’s extremely difficult in that the pre-finals week is where we make sure that all the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted, that all the kids are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” said Marilyn Middlebrook, OSU’s associate athletic director of academic affairs.
“If they’re gone, we have no way of being assured that they’re completing everything they need and are getting the study time they need.”
That’s when the character of the athlete comes into the crosshairs. And when it’s players like Washington, Rudolph and Lundblade, it makes Middlebrook feel at ease.
“These students who are going to awards banquets are very good students,” she said. “They take care of business themselves. As soon as they find out about the awards, they go right to the professors to check with them if they can take exams early or make accommodations where they can take it when they get back.
“Over the years, we have had students who couldn’t attend awards ceremonies because they couldn’t get out of a particular class for whatever the reason.”
Washington is a farm and ranch management major, which includes some challenging business and science classes, but because of his commitment to his academics, he’ll have a light workload next spring when he’s preparing for the NFL Draft.
By taking 17 hours this fall, he’ll have only three courses remaining, and two of them will be online.
“I’d rather take a bunch now,” he said. I’ll be taking nine hours in the spring so I can have time to train.”
With all the responsibilities that come with football season, from training to practicing to watching tape, Washington never let his academics slip, even with a hefty workload this fall.
“He just takes care of business, and the faculty members love him,” Middlebrook said. “He’s one of those students that people love having in class.”