NORMAN — Former running back Seth McGowan has apologized to the University of Oklahoma in a letter to his judge in his felony case.

He also acknowledged in the letter he was on a “deplorable path” when he helped steal marijuana, jewelry, high-dollar shoes, cash and other personal property from a Norman apartment in 2021.

“Ever since my offense, I have done everything I can to comply and right my wrongs,” McGowan, 22, told Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman in a letter written from jail.

The judge on Wednesday put him on probation for a year for the felony, larceny from a person at nighttime.

“I’ve given you an opportunity to illustrate you’ve learned your lesson,” Balkman said.

McGowan originally had been charged with robbery, conspiracy and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He pleaded guilty Dec. 13 after the robbery count was reduced to larceny.

The other counts were dismissed.

The judge Wednesday also ordered McGowan to complete 60 hours of community service and attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings at least three times a week. The judge fined him $250 and told him to pay another $250 to a victims compensation fund.

McGowan already has completed inpatient drug treatment, his attorney, Todd Kernal, told the judge in court.

In his letter, he apologized to the judge, the university, Cleveland County and the state. He also wrote words cannot portray his true disappointment in himself “as well as the immense remorse and shame I have felt the past three years.”

“I am ready to pursue life and fulfill my duties as a Child of God,” he wrote.

He was the last of three former Sooners to be sentenced for the theft on April 15, 2021. Wide receiver Trejan Bridges and running back Mikey Henderson were put on probation for a year in January.

Balkman also chose their punishment, after they attended a prison boot camp.

The judge in December had ordered McGowan to go to the boot camp, too. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections, though, wouldn’t accept him.

He was denied admission because of a state law that says participants must get at least 180 days to try to complete the program. He has been held in the Cleveland County jail since his guilty plea.

What happened in the offense involving former OU football players?

The theft victim in 2021 identified McGowan as one of three men who came to his Norman apartment.

The victim said he had refused earlier in the evening over Snapchat to sell McGowan marijuana, according to court affidavits. He said McGowan showed up anyway.

The victim told police one intruder, Bridges, struck him in the head with a handgun. He also said Bridges threatened to “come back and kill him if he got up before 10 minutes passed,” according to the affidavits. Police reported the victim was bleeding.

Bridges, 23, and Henderson, 21, pleaded guilty in September to larceny of a person at nighttime. They also had originally been charged with robbery, conspiracy and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

McGowan is from Mesquite, Texas, near Dallas. He spent his 2023 season as a running back at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas.

He had been listed as a prosecution witness against the other two former players before they agreed to plead guilty.

Prosecutors revealed in a filing that he would have testified “to participating in the robbery” with the others, to taking the stolen items to a girlfriend’s place and to then dumping them off a dock at Lake Thunderbird.

A dive team with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol did recover items from the lake, prosecutors said.

In all three cases, the judge imposed a type of probation that is known as a deferred sentence. That means the former players will not have criminal convictions if they complete probation successfully. Also, the judge could even dismiss their cases.

The prosecutor Wednesday asked the judge to give McGowan a type of probation known as a suspended sentence. McGowan would have had a criminal conviction if the judge had followed that recommendation.

The prosecutor also asked for more jail time because McGowan had been written up by jailers last week for his involvement in an altercation. McGowan told the judge he had interceded in a fight to keep another inmate from being beaten worse.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Former University of Oklahoma running back Seth McGowan gets probation