Oklahoma Football Walk-Ons Get Another Major Gift

A restaurant has matched Danny Stutsman's NIL donation, and one Sooner was placed on full scholarship.

John E. Hoover | Sep 19, 2024

Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Owen Heinecke (38) tackles Temple Owls running back Terrez Worthy. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

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Oklahoma Sooners

Danny Stutsman’s gift just keeps on giving.

Oklahoma’s football walk-ons got another major gift on Monday after national restaurant chain Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux matched the OU linebacker’s recent $50,000 donation of his own NIL money to the Sooners’ 18 walk-ons.

OU coach Brent Venables announced the news Monday night on his weekly coaches show.

“What a great gesture on his part,” Venables said. “What a great example he is for not only the guys in locker room, but for people (in) society.”

The restaurant chain then took it one step further as Venables revealed that one walk-on in particular will get an extra benefit.

Linebacker Owen Heinecke — a walk-on from Tulsa and nephew of former Sooner defensive lineman Cory Heinecke — will be placed on full scholarship.

“How about that?” Venables told Toby Rowland and Teddy Lehman. “He said Heinecke “found out, literally, probably three minutes ago. So yeah, they might carry him off the field.”

Through NIL — Name, Image and Likeness — college athletes can now earn money by lending their name, their image or their likeness to a variety of business ventures.

Heinecke told Sooners On SI last year that the NIL era has changed the lives of the walk-on football player.

Venables also said on “Sooner Sports Talk With Brent Venables” that junior defensive end R Mason Thomas will be named this week’s Bronko Nagurski Award National Defensive Player of the Week after his performance against Tulane last Saturday, when he closed the fourth quarter with three quarterback sacks, a pass deflection, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

“We know what R Mason's been capable of,” Venables said. “… So, good for him.”

Published Sep 16, 2024|Modified Sep 19, 2024

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.