NORMAN — Come December, the words walk-on will no longer precede Oklahoma running back Dominique Whaley's name.

Sooners coach Bob Stoops said Monday he had been planning to give the team's leading rusher a scholarship in December. That was his plan even before Whaley's season-ending ankle injury on the first play Saturday at Kansas State.

“This won't change that,” Stoops said, adding he told Whaley after the game that he intended to award him a scholarship. “I didn't want him to be worried about it.”

Whaley said on Twitter that he had surgery Sunday morning to repair the fractured left ankle, injured when a K-State defender fell into his leg. Whaley was released Monday from the hospital, Stoops said.