We Hardly Knew Ye: High school coach confirms Dez Bryant already in draft prep

Barring an injury, this was always going to be Dez Bryant's last season at Oklahoma State -- All-American receivers who hang out with future Hall-of-Famers tend to have a rather low retention rate for their senior year -- and his suspension for lying to the NCAA last month about his relationship with Deion Sanders only made the leap that much more inevitable. With Bryant's final appeal officially denied today, his high school coach confirmed for the Oklahoman that Dez is officially done in Stillwater: "He was here this weekend," Lufkin High coach John Outlaw said. "We talked for a long time. He's going to Tampa to get himself ready for the (NFL) combine." [...] Last week, Bryant was ruled ineligible until September 2010 and OSU appealed to the NCAA's Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee. That appeal was denied on Thursday. That decision, coupled with Bryant's likely departure to the NFL, represents the end to a superb collegiate career. He ...