According to an Oklahoma State statement, Bryant, a junior, did not tell the N.C.A.A. the full details of his interaction with a former N.F.L. player not affiliated with the university. Sanders said in a telephone interview that he was the player.
Oklahoma State said it had begun the process to apply for Bryant’s reinstatement. The No. 15 Cowboys open Big 12 play Saturday at Texas A&M.
Bryant was ruled ineligible for violating N.C.A.A. bylaw 10.1 (d), which prohibits “knowingly furnishing the N.C.A.A. or the individual’s institution false or misleading information concerning the individual’s involvement in or knowledge of matters relevant to a possible violation of an N.C.A.A. regulation.”
Sanders said the suspension stemmed from a day he and Bryant spent together last summer. They met at an athletics center in Frisco, Tex., and later had dinner at Sanders’s home in Prosper, Tex. Sanders said the N.C.A.A. asked Bryant if he had ever been in Sanders’s home and Bryant said no.
“The kid panicked, man,” Sanders said. “He panicked. He thought it was a violation to come over to my house and it isn’t. He said no, that he hadn’t been over here, and I said, yeah, he had been over here. I don’t lie, and he panicked.”
Sanders said he was asked two years ago to mentor Bryant because of his difficult past; his mother served time in prison on a drug-sale conviction. Sanders said that before he started mentoring Bryant, he called an Oklahoma State assistant for approval.
Last season, Bryant had 87 receptions for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns and scored twice on punt returns. This season, he has a team-high 17 catches for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns despite missing one game and part of another because of injuries.
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