Former Oklahoma State running back Tatum Bell (2000-03) woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of his cell phone.
It wasn't a call. It was his Twitter notifications going crazy.
That's how Bell learned he was mentioned in
a Sports Illustrated story about OSU players getting paid under the table for performance and for work they didn't do.
Bell was among the players who allegedly received bonuses. Former teammate Seymore Shaw told SI that Bell "couldn't keep his mouth shut. He'd get [money] and he'd hurry up and come and tell me."
"This is false," Bell said when reached by phone Tuesday morning. " ... I never got money. Everybody that was in the program when I was there, nobody got money.
"I was one of the top players, so if anybody was getting money it probably would have been me or probably one other cat. ... Nobody was getting money. If they were, I would have known about it."
" ... I never bragged about money to (Shaw). I don’t even know where that came from, to be honest with you. ... I don’t think Seymore would say something like that."
Regarding the allegations about boosters being allowed in the locker room under Les Miles, Bell said: "Boosters were never allowed in the locker room. If you saw a booster, it was probably Boone Pickens. He didn’t come on to the scene until my junior year, when he donated the money.
"Of course they were going to let him in the locker room. My senior year, he came back and donated some more. That was the only booster you’d see in the locker room."
Pickens is not implicated in the story, the first of five that publishes over the next week.
Follow OSU Sports Writers Jimmie Tramel and Kelly Hines on Twitter.
PUT ON YOUR GAME FACE: Visit the Tulsa World's OSU Sports Extra for complete coverage of the Cowboys.
