Oklahoma suspends top freshman running back for entire season

[August 19, 2014]  (Reuters) - Oklahoma Sooner freshman running back Joe Mixon, one of the school's top recruits in 2014, was suspended on Monday for the entire college football season after being accused of assaulting a woman, local media said.

Mixon was charged on Friday with misdemeanor acts resulting in gross injury in Cleveland County Circuit Court, online court documents show.

Mixon will be excluded from all University of Oklahoma team activities. He is allowed to continue as a student and is eligible for financial aid, the school said in a statement released to News 9, the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City.

The 18-year-old is accused of punching a woman, knocking her unconscious and breaking four bones in her face in July at a restaurant in Norman, court records show.

Mixon pleaded not guilty on Monday in court and was released on his own recognizance, according to the station.

School officials and Mixon's attorney were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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