Ateman’s Return Built On Devastation, Fed By Determination

Marcell Ateman was not at practice Wednesday, and he wasn’t there last week either. He didn’t break another foot, at least nobody thinks so. He isn’t skipping. In fact, he is attending.

Class, that is. Instead of running routes and learning concepts on Wednesday afternoons, he has class until 4 p.m. But that is nothing compared to what he has gone through to play in 2017.

Ateman broke his foot during the summer last year before what would have been his senior season. He didn’t play in a game, and coach Mike Gundy put his unused redshirt on him to give Ateman another year of eligibility. Gundy, quarterback Mason Rudolph and receivers coach Kasey Dunn said he hasn’t been wasting it.

Ateman suffered the injury this past summer during a workout with Rudolph and former Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden. The 6-foot-4 receiver took one bad cut, and he went down, Rudolph said; it was similar to how he broke his foot two seasons ago.

Rudolph said he and Ateman are good friends. They were one recruiting class away (Ateman class of ’13, Rudolph class of ’14) from spending every year of college together. Watching from the sideline in sweatpants and a jersey with no pads underneath was “rough,” for Ateman, Rudolph said.

“It’s a freak deal, but he handled it well,” Rudolph said. “He worked his butt off. He’s back in great shape, running well and catching the ball.”

But he hasn’t only been working his butt off in the gym or on the field. Dunn said Ateman took advantage of not playing or being at practice by working on his education.

“Most of the times, guys will go out and screw things up,” Dunn said. “Their academics will slide. For him, it was quite the opposite. He ended up getting over a 3.0 GPA.”

Before the injury, Ateman was getting ready to break out for one of the best seasons by an OSU receiver in recent years, Dunn said. He said he expected Ateman to be Rudolph’s go-to guy in a group of receivers that included James Washington, Jalen McCleskey, Jhajuan Seales and Chris Lacy.

“The kid busted his ass, and he was ready for 2016,” Dunn said. “For him, it was just a devastating blow, and for us, too, because I told several people I thought he might have the biggest year in our receiving core. James is a talented guy, but Marcell was killing it.”

Ateman was trying not to waste one of his four years at OSU, which is something Gundy said he habitually preaches. Many try to find the easiest and fastest way out, but Gundy said his players’ opportunity is not one to be squandered even if a season-ending injury is suffered.

“You’re essentially setting yourself up for the rest of your life, and (Ateman) bought into that, so he’s doing very well in the classroom,” Gundy said.

Gundy said it took Ateman about a year to understand and accept the culture. He is one of 13 redshirt seniors on the Cowboys’ roster. Gundy said he has matured and become a positive influence on some of the younger guys.

Dunn said that was clear by how he worked to get back. He said it would have been easy to let himself go, forget about football and move on while the horde of touted receivers behind him picked up the slack.

That’s not Ateman, though, Dunn said. Not anymore.

Dunn said he was surprised by that. Ateman was geared up for the 2016 season, Dunn said. He saw the work Ateman was putting in to improve on a breakout year in 2015, in which he had 766 yards and five touchdown grabs.

“I’m telling you, a lot of guys could shut it down,” Dunn said. “For as hard as he worked, a lot of guys would have shut it down in that situation, and he didn’t do it. He completely flipped the switch.”

Rudolph said all of this has worked out to the team’s benefit. A lot of OSU fans probably got chills when Gundy announced Ateman’s redshirt, knowing he would be part of a group that looked like this:

• James Washington
• Tyron Johnson
• Jalen McCleskey
• Chris Lacy
• Tylan Wallace
• Dillon Stoner
• Tyrell Alexander
• Obi Obialo
• + Marcell Ateman

“We’re all seniors together, him, myself, James, Lacy,” Rudolph said. “So God had a plan for that, I think.”

That said, it’s not as easy as many have made it seem to be, Rudolph said. The Cowboys won’t start any games this coming year with points already on the board because of how talented the offense is. There won’t be any handicap for their opponents.

Rudolph still has to throw passes on target; receivers still have to catch those passes, and somebody has to get into the end zone, he said. And on top of that, everyone is making sure to let Rudolph know when they’re open, even when they’re not, he said.

“I’m blessed to have a great group of receivers, a great group of weapons to throw the ball to and just trying to spread it around right now,” he said. “They are a competitive group of guys. They want the ball in their hands.”

Last year, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich said they might start using two or three balls to make sure all the receivers are getting their touches. This year, they would probably have to use four or five, but Dunn said all the guys are fine with the usual one ball.

“We’re not just gonna force feed it to 28,” he said. “We’re not just gonna force feed it to 15 or 1 or whatever. It’s just gonna be whatever’s available, and I don’t think the guys have any issue with that. It’s a really good group of kids.”

That said, throwing it Ateman’s way will be easiest though. Rudolph said when a play breaks down and he knows his 6-4 receiver is matched against a 5-10 corner, he knows where he is going with the ball.

And No. 3 will be ready, Dunn said. He will have had about 14 months to prepare.

“You ask our DBs and they’ll tell you that he’s probably the quickest and hardest off the line vs. press coverage,” Dunn said. “You very rarely see him get jammed, so then you couple that with being 6-4, 6-5, 225 pounds and strong as hell, and it’s hard to cover him.”