Broken Arrow’s Kyle Hale now a scholarship Cowboy
Published: 8/26/2011 5:12 PM
Last Modified: 8/26/2011 5:12 PM
Three Oklahoma State players – safety Kyle Hale, wide receiver Colton Chelf and backup center Casey LaBrue – no longer are classified as walk-ons.
During preseason camp, they were placed on scholarship by coach Mike Gundy.
Hale is a 5-foot-11, 195-pound sophomore from Broken Arrow. Chelf and LaBrue are seniors from Enid. Chelf is the older brother of Cowboy backup Clint Chelf.
After being informed by special-teams coordinator Joe DeForest that he had become a scholarship player, Hale telephoned his mother.
“She started crying and saying that I have worked so hard and I deserve it,” Hale told a member of the OSU media-relations staff. “She said my granddad would be so proud of me if he was here.
“That really made me feel good to know that they were probably even more excited about it than I was. It was a great feeling to know that I can make them that proud.”
Hale impressed Gundy and DeForest with his performance on the kickoff-coverage unit, along with his work on the scout-team defense.
“(DeForest) said I’ve worked hard and produced, and the coaches think I deserve to be put on scholarship,” said Hale, who was a football, basketball and track athlete at Broken Arrow High School. “I was tired and sore that morning, but that really changed everything for me and made practice a lot easier for me.”
Said DeForest: “Kyle Hale does everything right and I wish we had 100 guys just like him. There isn’t a more deserving guy out there.”
-- Bill Haisten
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
