'All I've wanted for the past year': OSU's Brennan Presley finally gets his Christmas wish at Fiesta Bowl
Jacob UnruhOklahoman
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Oklahoma State wide receiver Brennan Presley’s Christmas wish finally came true.
He got his gaming console, a PlayStation 5 provided by the Fiesta Bowl to each player.
And it’s just how he imagined.
“It means everything because it's all I've wanted for the past year,” Presley said.
After the ninth-ranked Cowboys face No. 5 Notre Dame at noon Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl, they will head back to Stillwater where the smack talk can begin on the gaming system in the offseason.
“So, I got it,” Presley said. “Everybody else got it. So there's no excuse to duck any smoke on the game. We all got the same game. We all got ‘Call of Duty.’
“Give me about a month and I will be going crazy.”
Presley said before the Cowboys were even selected to the bowl game that he hoped for a gaming system for Christmas. Making the Fiesta Bowl, which is sponsored by PlayStation, worked out perfectly.
As a result, he received a new game for Christmas from his family — the new NBA 2K game. But Presley is more of a Madden fan.
He is also looking to add “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2” in the near future.
“Something I'm good at,” Presley said. “I don't like to just play just to be playing. I want to be good at it, because I like to talk trash.”
Collin Oliver finalist for freshman award
OSU defensive end Collin Oliver is one of three finalists for the Football Writers Association of American Freshman of the Year Award.Oliver — the lone defensive player among the finalists — is joined by Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. The winner will be announced in January.
Oliver, a true freshman from Edmond Santa Fe, was the unanimous Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year along with freshman All-America honors from ESPN, 247Sports, The Athletic and Pro Football Focus.
Oliver is also a semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award.
He enters his final game of the season leading the Big 12 with 11.5 sacks, which is also seventh in FBS. He broke OSU’s freshman sack record of nine by Rodney Harding in 1981, the first year the program tracked the statistic.
Oliver also leads OSU with 15 tackles for loss, which leads all Power 5 freshmen.
Arizona connections
It’s been a decade since OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn coached in the Fiesta Bowl. Each time, it’s a bit of a homecoming.Dunn was Arizona’s running backs coach from 2004-06 before moving to Baylor. He joined OSU in 2011, the last season the Cowboys played in the Fiesta Bowl.
“This is a great town out here,” Dunn said. “And like I said earlier, it's a great bowl game. This is kind of a bookend for me. My first bowl game here was the Fiesta Bowl, so this is exciting for us to get back here.”
But it’s also a homecoming for multiple Cowboys coaches.
Offensive line coach Charlie Dickey is from Scottsdale and went to high school at Saguaro High, where the Cowboys have practiced throughout the week. He also played and coached at both Scottsdale Community College and Arizona.
Quarterbacks coach Tim Rattay also went to Phoenix Christian High and played at Scottsdale CC before transferring to Louisiana Tech.
And Brent Zdebski, a defensive quality control coach, is from Michigan originally, but his father, Mike, is now the head football and track coach at Hamilton High in Chandler, Arizona.
Michalski continues growth
With center Danny Godlevske out Saturday due to his leg injury, redshirt sophomore Joe Michalski will make his fifth straight start.Each game has had more importance since Godlevske went down with the injury, too. But Michalski has overall held his own.
“He's grown incredibly,” OSU quarterback Spencer Sanders said. “He's taken the steps of not just an easy job. That's center, that's IDs, that's calls, that's all that kind of stuff. It's not an easy job. And as we see, he's done pretty good.
“I'm proud of every snap he's played. He plays his tail off and gives it 110% every time.”
