Oklahoma State’s Collin Clay tears ACL, will miss 2020 season

Collin Clay received immediate eligibility to play this season for Oklahoma State after transferring from Arkansas, but will be unable to play since the defensive lineman torn his ACL.

“Man, this year has been a battle for me,” Clay wrote in a note he shared on social media Thursday night. “Today, I was granted eligibility to play this season but I have recently suffered an ACL tear. I know God has his plan written for me and I know he wouldn’t throw anything at me that I couldn’t handle. I will be coming back stronger than ever!”

Clay will have three seasons of eligibility left and take a medical redshirt.

The 6-foot-3 defensive lineman was highly recruited by OSU coming out of Putnam City (OK) High School, before he signed with Arkansas. Clay racked up 15 tackles for the Razorbacks last season before deciding to transfer in December. The Razorbacks failed to make a bowl game and fired head coach Chad Morris mid-season.

Prior to the injury, Clay was expected to be in the rotation at defensive tackle.

“He’s on a defensive line where we have quite a bit of depth, so he rotates in and he stays fresh, which is an advantage for all those big guys,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said two weeks ago. “I like his attitude, and I like his work ethic at this time. Hopefully his waiver will get approved at some point and he can be a part of our team on game day.”

Clay was not included on OSU’s depth chart Monday. Israel Antwine and Cameron Murray are the Cowboys’ starting defensive tackles, with Sione Asi and Brendon Evers as the backups.