TEXAS — Ollie Gordon II has been an old-school, workhorse running back since his days at Euless Trinity High School.

“I’ll run through you. Make you get out of the way instead of me moving,” Gordon said. 

His physical style of play continued in college, and now he’s selling his talents to NFL teams during this year’s draft process—along with the other attributes he can bring to a locker room.

“That I’m a nice, friendly person,” Gordon said. “I’m really sweet to everybody, but when I’m in that football mode, it’s time to be in that mode.”

You could see that mentality during his breakout 2023 season at Oklahoma State. But his encore in 2024 was a disappointment — less production on the field and a DUI arrest off the field.

“You can’t harp on it. Just got to take it one day at a time,” said Gordon’s mother, Taronna Smith. “Everything’s not going to always be a win. You got to take the good with the bad, the win with the losses.”

Smith said Gordon has made her proud by bouncing back from last year’s adversity.

“Because most of the time, when things don’t go your way, you tend to give up and not want to do it. And he’s persevered through all of that,” Smith said.

A trait that he got from Smith and her challenges from being a single mother.

“Some days she had to skip work to take me to school, or even walk me to school,” Gordon said. “As a kid, she put it all on the line for me. And for her to be able to watch her hard work pay off, I feel like that’s huge.”

Now Gordon is on the cusp of paying his mom back for her sacrifices. A journey together that will continue when that old-school running back gets the call on draft day.

“I know she’s gonna hug me and start crying,” said Gordon about his potential draft moment. “She might be crying for no reason before I hear my name called.”

“There’s so much we talked about, what’s going to happen,” Smith said. “Once he gets that call, it’s, oh, I’m tearing up. It’s just, we did it.”