College Football | Artrell Woods happy to get back to work for Oklahoma St.

STILLWATER, Okla. — Artrell Woods was in the Oklahoma State weight room when his life came crashing down.

With one misstep, the fleet-footed receiver's back had been broken by the force of the 185-pound weight he'd been carrying on his shoulders. In that instant, football became an afterthought.

Forget scoring touchdowns. Just taking a few steps would be a major breakthrough for Woods.

Now, just 13 ½ months later, Woods is talking touchdowns again. When the Cowboys open the season against Washington State on Saturday, he'll be among Oklahoma State's top receivers.

"It's a miracle," said Woods, a sophomore from Bryan, Texas.

Woods' weight-room mishap, caused when he rolled his ankle, landed him in the hospital with what doctors called a fracture dislocation of vertebrae and an incomplete spinal cord injury. All his teammates knew was that it wasn't good.

"When he was just laying there and he said he couldn't move, everybody was kind of shocked," teammate Andre Sexton said. "You don't even think about football."

But soon, Woods did start thinking about it. The first day after his surgery, Woods was able to wiggle his toes. Within weeks, he was up and walking again with a brace supporting his back. Then he gave practice a try.

Woods isn't just going to walk onto the field and wave to the crowd. He fully expects to be a playmaker, like the Cowboys had envisioned him after he had 111 yards receiving in the 2007 spring game — three months before his injury.

All that's left now is for Woods to make that first catch, score that first touchdown and complete the journey that he could have easily given up on.

"I don't know who's going to cry first: me or his mom or his dad or him," receivers coach Trooper Taylor said.

Notes

• WR Percy Harvin (foot surgery) and MLB Brandon Spikes (foot) will likely miss Florida's season opener against Hawaii on Saturday. "At this point, I don't think he's going to play," coach Urban Meyer said Wednesday of Harvin, then gave the same answer about Spikes.

• Florida State DT Emmanuel Dunbar was taken by ambulance to a hospital after suffering a back injury in practice. The redshirt junior has a history of back problems, including a 2006 surgery to repair two herniated disks.

• As of midweek, new Nebraska coach Bo Pelini had not handed out the coveted "Blackshirts" jerseys to the Cornhuskers' defensive starters, and he says it's possible there will be no Blackshirts for Saturday's opener against Western Michigan. Or for the next game, or the next. The Huskers' defenders apparently haven't proved themselves worthy yet.

"What's a Blackshirt mean if it's just a symbol you haven't earned?" Pelini said.

• Indiana DE Greg Middleton, who led the nation with 16 sacks in 2007, and reserves TE Troy Wagner, S Brandon Mosely and DS Kyle Kozak have been suspended for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.

The suspensions, announced Tuesday by coach Bill Lynch, will be for the Hoosiers' season-opening game Saturday against Western Kentucky.

• QB Ben Mauk has lost his latest appeal to the NCAA for another year of eligibility to play for Cincinnati. Mauk led the Bearcats to 10 wins last season, when he came back from serious shoulder and arm injuries. He appealed for another season on grounds that injuries had sidelined him while he was at Wake Forest. He has been turned down four times.

• Vince Young, who quarterbacked Texas to the 2005 national championship, will have his No. 10 retired in a ceremony before the Longhorns' season opener Saturday against Florida Atlantic.