Bryant: `I Just Panicked Because I Was Scared'

OSU's Bryant Says He Lied To NCAA After Panicking Over Meeting With Deion Sanders

(AP)  Oklahoma State has asked the NCAA to consider what it calls "unique circumstances" and hand down a lighter punishment to receiver Dez Bryant.

The All-American has been ruled ineligible for lying to the NCAA about a meeting with former NFL player Deion Sanders.

According to a reinstatement request from the university released Tuesday following an open records request by The Associated Press, Bryant sent the NCAA a written apology stating that he "panicked because I was scared and afraid that I was in some kind of trouble."

Bryant writes he lied to the NCAA when he denied he had met with Sanders or visited a Texas athletics center called Fieldhouse USA.

He asks that he be allowed to finish the season with the Cowboys.