Oklahoma State football: The Sharp-er Image

With numbers like that, he could probably color his hair in rainbow stripes and no one at OSU would mind.

“If he's like Samson, then I want to tell him to never cut his hair, so he doesn't lose the leg,” said Cowboys defensive end Cooper Bassett. “If his long locks have given him the ability to kick the way it has, by all means, keep growing it out.”

Sharp will continue growing it, at least until it comes time to cut it for charity.

Besides, he's a little finicky about who he allows to trim it.

“I have a hairdresser back home I use through my mom's lady,” Sharp said. “I guess I don't trust anybody else to cut it. I mostly go to her every time.”

Hairdresser — now there's a term you don't hear football players reference every day.

“I would say I have someone who cuts my hair,” Bassett said with a wince. “I would never say I have a hairdresser or stylist or anything like that. I'll never forget, in high school, my mom called in and scheduled me a hair appointment. Her boss teased me and he said, ‘Cooper, boys don't get hair appointments, they get haircuts.'

“So that was my masculine lesson in hair. I would never call anyone my stylist or hairdresser.”

Like Sharp said, the ribbing is all in fun.

A senior who will make his final appearance at Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday, Sharp is arguably OSU's most valuable player. Losing him is like losing three starters, with all his roles and his dominance in each one.

Mike Gundy will miss him for sure. And the long locks, too.

Seems Sharp's hair has overtaken Gundy's gelled-up look as the team's most talked-about coiffure.

“I hope so,” Gundy said. “I watched the replay of (Saturday's) game and there were I don't know how many shots of him when he's walking off, flipping his hair. I'm thinking, ‘Gollee.'

“And then he had the punt that got blocked — which wasn't his fault — and he's mad and upset about that and throwing his hair back.”

And, as Bassett said, that's OK.

“If it helps the guy kick …” Bassett said. “His hair has kind of taken a life of its own, a persona. People identify the long hair with Quinn.”