Summer is just more fun when you’re football team is buzzworthy, but OSU’s coaches know it’s the boring stuff that counts.

There is a lot for Cowboy fans to be excited about coming up this fall. Following the seismic dismissal of a Mike Gundy after two decades, they get about the best rebuild scenario you could ask for (on paper). Instead of a complete reset from scratch, OSU nabbed a rising head coach in Eric Morris who’s brought along his exciting brand of offense with most of his North Texas playmakers on both sides of the ball.

You’ve got the nation’s returning leader in passing in Drew Mestemaker, its leading touchdown scorer in Caleb Hawkins and the No. 3 receiver last year in Wyatt Young, among many other #freaks. Illinois transfer Justin Bowick might be the second coming of Marcell Ateman if you listen to what’s coming out of fall camp.

That’s all good and well, but bingeable North Texas highlights and training camp buzz don’t guarantee on-field success. That comes down to the more boring stuff.

This week, offensive coordinator Sean Brophy was asked about the plethora of speed and playmakers he has at his disposal, but he deflected a bit. Instead of feeding the hype machine with a grabby comment about Hawkins’ turbo button abilities, he pointed to the more mundane.

“It’s great, obviously [to have that speed],” said Brophy. “I think the skillset’s there. I think at this point now it comes down to execution, right? I think that going out there and doing our job, with everybody doing one of 11 and executing these plays.”

Defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity had a similar exchange after mentioning some of the defensive playmakers he’s excited about.

“Don’t get things twisted,” said Cassity. “It all goes back to the fundamentals of football, right? They got to communicate, they got to get in a good stance, they got to get aligned correctly. When they play as one is when we really start to show that we can fly around and make a lot plays.”

And don’t get me twisted. There’s plenty of reason for the buzz. Morris is a venerable offensive wunderkind and proven QB whisperer. What he did at North Texas, and in short order, is impressive and there’s no reason to think it can’t be scalable at a place like Oklahoma State.

But the leaders of his staff are emitting a more cool, confident vibe that’s indicative of a program-wide view culture and attitude. There’s a lot to be excited about, but with that comes a lot of expectations, especially in a place and with a fanbase that’s eager to get back to having fun with football again. To meet those expectations is going to take consistency and attention to detail.

“At the end of the day, like we talk about upstairs all the time, we talk about it in unit meetings, there’s a lot of guys that run similar plays in college football, right?” said Brophy. “It comes down to execution and your how and your why, and those guys buying in. We’ve got great skillset, we’ve got great speed, you know, obviously a quarterback that can sling it around the yard, but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to us executing these plays.”

STILLWATER — After winning a national championship in a tough bracket as a true freshman, Landon Robideau hasn’t necessarily slowed down.

Robideau is set to compete at the U20 World Championships next week in Slovakia, with his 70 kg weight class wrestling next Saturday (Aug. 22) and Sunday (Aug. 23).

To get there, Robideau won the U20 U.S. Open bracket in April, the month after getting his hand raised at the NCAA Championships. He then beat top Class of 2027 prospect Melvin Miller two matches to none in May at the U20 World Team Trials.

“I think he’s definitely making jumps,” said OSU coach David Taylor of Robideau’s offseason. “He’s done a good job. Like, he was very driven this year when the season was over. Like, he was ready for what was coming next. That’s a great sign. Not a surprise. Landon’s a pretty unique kid.”

Robideau was dominant in his U20 worlds qualification. At the U.S. Open, he outscored his opponents a combined 70-8. Then at the trials, Robideau’s two matches against Miller ended a combined 17-0.

For good measure, Robideau also entered the Senior World Team earlier in May. There, Robideau beat former Cowboy and U23 World Team Trials champ Jordan Williams twice (combined score of 14-0) and four-time NCAA qualifier Ian Parker.

Robideau’s lone loss at that event came to 2023 World Champion, three-time NCAA champion and 2024 Olympian Zain Retherford by a score of 3-2. Retherford would go on to win at Final X and will again represent the United States at the Senior World Championships.

“He wrestled really well at the senior level,” Taylor said. “I mean, I think Zain’s a really tough opponent, and I think Landon was right there. It’s one of those situations I think it was just an experience deal, where Zain got put on the clock and scored or scored right before he got put on the clock — right around that time that kind of made that match, it went from it being tied on criteria to being down 3-0.

“Good experience for him. Obviously this 20-and-under World Championship for him here in two weeks will be another great experience for him. He’s expecting to go there and kick some butt.”

Taylor and Co. will be smart in terms of managing all of Robideau’s mat time, but with someone as driven as Robideau seems to be, he’ll likely be on to the next thing — which is chasing a second NCAA championship — after his trip to Slovakia.

“That’s the name of the game,” Taylor said. “I think one of the things with our program we talk about is like, man, winning one time is not a goal for anybody here. Like, we want to continue to set ourselves up for continued success. I think as soon as these guys, the mentality is as soon as that tournament was over, you’re instantly getting ready for the next thing.

“We don’t really have the luxury of sitting around and waiting and thinking about how cool last year was. We’re on to the next year and how we can keep getting better and onto the next tournament. So, he definitely has that philosophy, and he’s definitely improved this summer.”

Vailea had 10 tackles in North Texas’ overtime win against Army. The last of those was perhaps the most important, but also the most costly.

On a 3rd-and-15 in overtime, Army quarterback Cale Hellums seemingly got to the edge of the Mean Green’s defense, but the 307-pound Vailea ran Helms down and shoved him out of bounds 5 yards short of the line to gain. As Vailea spilled out of the field of play, he went down grabbing his knee. It’d be the final play of his season. An incomplete pass on the next play meant the Mean Green beat Army to start the season 5-0.

“It’s tough,” Vailea said at OSU’s Media Day last week. “It’s something I’ve had to wrap my head around, but I feel like I did all the right things coming into last season, and I played really hard that game. To go out like that was just a setback. Like I said, it was a humbling experience. I’m grateful for it, and I’m just ready for what’s to come this year.”

Vailea, who also goes by June, is part of the group that transferred to Oklahoma State from North Texas with new coach Eric Morris this offseason.

Before arriving in Stillwater, Vailea has almost always been in big cities. He’s from Oakland, California (population of about 440,000) but went to high school at Desert Pines in Las Vegas (about 640,000). Then he spent five years in Denton (about 140,000).

So, Stillwater (about 50,000), is new.

“It’s different,” Vailea said. “Real slow, but it’s a change of pace for me. I love it.”

He was at North Texas before the Morris regime even got to town. After not paying in 2021, Vailea would start 30 games over the next four seasons, playing in 42 total. He has 118 career tackles, which again, is a sizeable number for a defensive tackle. He’s also made six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

“He’s been good,” said defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity of Vailea’s progress this offseason. “Obviously we’re trying to slowly integrate him, understand that it’s gonna be tender for him. It’s first live looks and things like that. So, just making sure and being smart with him and being healthy, trying to make sure he’s healthy as much as possible and giving him racks here and there in live settings and letting him build the confidence really in that knee more than anything. That’s the biggest dynamic.”

Although he’s having to bounce back from an injury while jumping up a level in new surroundings, Vailea said the transition hasn’t been all that coarse.

“It’s been a smooth transition, especially coming with Coach Morris,” Vailea said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity him and his staff have given me to give me one more shot at playing at a high level.”

Three Thoughts

• College football analyst Andy Staples thinks “it’s going to work immediately” at OSU with Eric Morris (PFB) 

• Cowboy Basketball released their nonconference schedule – going to Wisconsin and hosting New Mexico is unique, a home-and-home with each would be awesome (PFB)

• Is playing safety then playing quarterback the new quarterback-turned-wide receiver? OSU’s defensive coordinator thinks it’s super helpful – Drew Mestemaker played safety in high school: 

“With (Mestemaker) playing defense in high school, one of the things that he does such a good job of is processing defensive looks extremely fast,” (Skylar) Cassity said. “He sees tendencies, he sees tips, things like that. He does a really, really good job of that.” [PFB]

Top Quotes

• Hang it in the Louvre. 

Soon. #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/eOGwsElizo

— Wilson F. Ball (@WillyFoosball) August 15, 2026

• Fun to take a peek at what a Bedlam hockey game in Stillwater could (will?) look like:

First look: What Boone Pickens Stadium will look like January 30th, 2027 for the now confirmed Oklahoma State Hockey game against the the sooners for Bedlam.

This will be the first time the sooners return to Boone Pickens Stadium following their football team losing to Oklahoma… pic.twitter.com/ukAq5pm84P

— OKSTProbs (@OKSTProbs) August 14, 2026

One Question

• If you could schedule a series with a basketball opponent, rotating home-and-home each year, who would it be? And why is OSU not playing Arkansas and Wichita State every year?

Non-OSU Bullets

• Silver Dollar City announced their new roller coaster yesterday

Reminder – make sure to get your significant other out of the house for some rest time over the next couple of weeks, this is on the horizon:

Me explaining to my girl why I can’t go to her sisters wedding in October pic.twitter.com/SH5nlRYder

— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) August 13, 2026

GAME 1 | GAME 2 | GAME 3 | GAME 4 | GAME 5 | GAME 6 | GAME 7 | GAME 8 | GAME 9

Game 10 of North Texas’ 2025 season was ugly … for UAB, at least.

North Texas beat the Blazers 53-24 in Birmingham, as the Mean Green moved to 9-1 on the season.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against UAB.

It Was Over Instantly

Here’s how this game started:

Caleb Hawkins touchdown
UAB turnover
Caleb Hawkins touchdown
UAB turnover
Caleb Hawkins touchdown

It was 21-0 with 3:11 to play in the first quarter. UAB wasn’t ever actually in this game.

That start meant the Blazers were already in go-for-it mode, and on their third series, they kept the offense on the field on fourth down deep in UNT territory. But Saadiq Clements (now a Cowboy defensive lineman) got a tackle for loss to end that drive.

Then on North Texas’ first play of its fourth drive, Mestemaker hit Wyatt Young with a beautiful pass for a gain of 61 yards before Hawkins scored his fourth TD of the game on the next play. It was 28-0 with 11:07 left in the first half.

Friday Night Lights reference: Eric Taylor would’ve forfeit at half time.

Good Day for the Trio

Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins and Wyatt Young all shined in this one.

Hawkins earns Player of the Game honors considering he scored five touchdowns and ran for 189 yards. For the most part, he wasn’t having long gashing runs but rather putting drives away inside the 10-yard line. But he ripped off a 51-yard run in the fourth quarter to get that yardage total to look as good as his TD total. He also had a 21-yard catch and run.

Young caught eight passes for 143 yards and a touchdown. The score came on a well-designed play in the third quarter from 7 yards out.

His biggest play was that aforementioned fourth drive. It was officially a 61-yard gain, but I broke down the math on where Mestemaker threw it to where Young caught it, and that ball was in the air for 57 yards and landed right in Young’s breadbasket.

Young has had at least 100 receiving yards in three of UNT’s past four games. And (spoiler alert) he is about to have his best game of the season.

Mestemaker was 18-for-25 for 298 yards and two scores. After throwing for 608 yards two games ago, Mestemaker has almost seemed like he’s in cruise control (not in a bad way) these past two games with other guys making plays around him.

No Mercy

There were a few borderline running up the score moments in this one.

The first came when UNT scored to go up 44-18 with 3:26 left in the third when Morris and Co. elected to go for 2. Not only did they go for 2, but a false start moved the ball back and they still went for it — and got it to make it 46-18.

My best guess here is you go for 2 to go back up four touchdowns, but with about a quarter to play and the fact that UAB hadn’t scored four touchdowns all day to that point, I think the lead was probably safe.

Then with three minutes left in the game, Mestemaker hit Cameron Dorner for a 30-yard TD pass to make it 53-24, capping off a 99-yard touchdown drive. Ouch. Sweep the leg.

Other Notes

• North Texas wore all whites in this game. All of their unis are honestly pretty slick, but these were even moreso.

• Morris isn’t new to massive roster overhauls. According to the broadcast, UNT had 68 newcomers last season.

• It was another solid day for UNT-turned-OSU defenders:

Evan Jackson (S) — 9 tackles
Quinton Hammonds (S) — 7 tackles, 1 TFL
Ethan Wesloski (LB) — 6 tackles, 1 forced fumble
Keviyan Huddleston (DE) — 5 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack
Kollin Lewis (CB) — 4 tackles
Saadiq Clements — 4 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, 0.5 sacks

• Brandon Hawkins Jr. scored UAB’s first touchdown. That means someone with the last name Hawkins scored this game’s first five touchdowns. Gotta be a record.

• Mestemaker took a big hit on a scramble. He got up. The defender did not. I’m glad the guy was alright, but it was sort of funny as he tried celebrating from a knee while Mestemaker walked away.

• It was another big turnover day for the Mean Green. UNT picked off three passes, forced a fumble and got two stops on fourth down.

STILLWATER — One of the bigger surprises of my rewatch of North Texas’ 2025 season was that All-American receiver Wyatt Young blocked a punt in the first game of the season.

It’s not every day you see a guy who finished in the Top 3 nationally in receiving yards chasing after a punter, but according to Oklahoma State special teams coordinator Drew Svoboda (who had the same role at UNT last season), everyone can help on special teams.

“Oh yeah, if you’ve got a knack to go block punts, we’re gonna get you in there,” Svoboda said. “We’ve blocked a ton of punts in the last few years and gotten our hands on them and really exploded some games wide open because of it. And there’s a knack for that. It’s not just being a fast guy. There’s a knack for being able to block punts, understanding the timing and the body position and where to put your hands, recognizing what kind of punt we’re talking about.

“Yeah, we’ll put whoever we gotta put out there to get the job done.”

Young played 45 total special teams snaps last season, according to PFF — 23 on kick return, 23 on punt return and 15 on punt coverage. Along with his block, he finished with a special teams tackle.

And it wasn’t just Young being a star playing special teams. Linebacker Ethan Wesloski played 169 special teams snaps last season, which ranked third among North Texas Players.

But just because a guy is a good player at his position, doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the best guy for a special teams job.

“We’re gonna put the best guys that are the best at we need them to do,” Svoboda said. “Sometimes it’s a starter on offense, sometimes it’s a starter on defense, sometimes it’s the backup. Sometimes it might be a third-string guy, he’s just really good at this job.

“Just because you’re a starter on offense or defense doesn’t mean you’re actually better than this other guy on this special teams. So, ideally is it great to have a whole second platoon that can focus on special teams kind of like they do in the NFL? That’s ideal, but there’s still a mix and a match here.”

Svoboda used the word “aggressive” quite a bit when explaining how new OSU coach Eric Morris views special teams.

North Texas blocked two punts last season, which tied for ninth in the country. The Mean Green also blocked a pair of kicks, which tied for 25th nationally.

That aggression extends to the return game, as well, where Svoboda dropped this quote that might hit the average OSU fan straight in the heart.

“We’re not a just a ‘just get us the ball back’ mentality team,” Svoboda said. “If that’s the case, don’t even practice punt return. Just let the ball hit the ground, and where it stops rolling, offense takes over. We’ve had some good returners in the past. If you can gain a first down every single time, you don’t wanna give that punt team 40, 45-yard net every time they go back to punt the football.”

It certainly seems as if the Cowboys have the ponies to be players in the return game. The two instant standouts in that aspect are Wake Forest transfer receiver Chris Barnes and North Texas transfer receiver Miles Coleman.

Barnes housed a kick return at Wake Forrest last season and finished the year with seven returns for 263 yards. Among players with at least five returns, Barnes’ 37.7-yard averaged ranked fourth nationally.

CHRIS BARNES TAKES THE OPENING KICKOFF 98 YARDS TO THE HOUSE!!! WHAT A START FOR WAKE FOREST! pic.twitter.com/7RmzK8FS56

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) September 11, 2025

Coleman returned 10 punts in 2025, gaining 42 yards on those efforts.

Svoboda also noted that running back Caleb Hawkins could get some work in the return game. Hawkins, based on my UNT rewatch, is a menace in the checkdown passing game because it gives him the ball in space with usually a bunch of defensive backs around him — a similar position he would find himself in while returning.

As for the Cowboy kicking game, last week Morris noted that SMU transfer Sam Keltner is in the catbird seat to be OSU’s kicker, while Stephen F. Austin transfer Lachie Pozzobon is in the lead to do the punting.

Standing at 6-foot-4, Pozzobon is an Australian, joining Tom Hutton and Hudson Kaak as Aussie punters in Stillwater. Pozzobon was an FCS Football Central Freshman All-American last season as a Lumberjack after punting 53 times for 2,217 yards and an average of 41.8 yards per punt.

“He’s got a lot of different ability,” Svoboda said. “He can spiral, he can end over end it, banana ball, roll right kick left, roll right kick right. He’s got a lot of skillset, lot of tools in his toolbelt. He’s trying to flip that field every time we get an opportunity. We’re not scared to fake the ball. We did that in our last football game. We’re going to be aggressive as a punt unit, as well.”

Keltner was the Mustangs’ primary kicker last season, going 14-for-20 on field goals, including six makes from 40+ yards.

He has ties to Stillwater. His dad and sister both attended OSU, and he said at OSU’s Media Day last weekend that he’s grown up an OSU fan because of that.

“I was in the portal for maybe an hour,” Keltner said. “I jumped in, I got that offer, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.’

“This was the offer I wanted, and it was the offer I got. It’s just surreal. It’s an awesome experience, and it’s sometimes hard to believe that I get this opportunity and I’m really grateful for it.”

On3’s Andy Staples went on the Brandon Walker College Football Show this week, where Staples was asked to breakdown his personal preseason Top 25, where he included Oklahoma State at No. 23.

“I’ve been an Eric Morris guy since he was at Incarnate Word,” Staples told Walker. “I just think he’s really good at finding talent. He’s really good at running an offense. He knows what he’s doing. The fact that these guys were really good at North Texas and then you port them and add pieces out of the transfer portal that are capable of playing in the Big 12, I think it’s going to work, and I think it’s going to work immediately.

“Because what I think what was going on last year is Mike Gundy said it himself. Like, he came on our show at Big 12 Media Days, and Ari and I’s jaws just dropped when he’s like, ‘Yeah, I didn’t believe in it. I thought NIL was a flash in the pan and was gonna go away.’ And I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’ So, Oklahoma State’s donors obviously knew that long ago, and they were basically starving him out. They didn’t give him any resources. There’s a reason they were the worst team in school history last year despite having the best coach in school history. They turned the faucet back on when Eric Morris got there and made sure that he had what he needed. … There’s an opportunity to be one of the best three or four teams in the conference.”

If Staples’ reference to Gundy went over your head there, the Cowboys’ former coach went on Staples’ podcast — Andy & Ari On3 — at Big 12 Media Days before the 2025 season, where Gundy was rather forthcoming about OSU’s slow entrance into the NIL world.

“Three years ago when this started, I almost refused to believe it was ever gonna happen, and I just thought it would go away,” Gundy told them. “It was almost like getting in an argument with your wife, and then you just hope it goes away. …

“The truth be known, this portal class from January (last year) is the first class that we ever bought. We had not bought portal kids. That hurt us. It hurt us the last year or so from a depth standpoint. That was nobody’s fault. That’s not the administration’s fault, not the donors, that was really kind of my fault because what I had done was taken money that had been raised through donations and spread it amongst the troops, somewhat evenly to the current players. We didn’t go out and solicit for players and pay them to come to our team.”

So, that’s the context.

As far as this current team, Staples went on to point out that there’s some turnover in the Big 12 this year — whether that be at Utah or Kansas State — before he noted that it’s possible this OSU squad is fighting at the top of the Big 12.

OSU was fifth among Big 12 teams in Staples’ poll, coming in behind Texas Tech (No. 8), BYU (No. 12), Utah (No. 19) and Houston (No. 21).

Considering the Cowboys were 1-11 last season, there has been a lot of talk about OSU from a national perspective given the excitement Morris’ hiring has injected into Stillwater. The Cowboys received votes in the preseason Coaches Poll, and it seems like twice a week, the major college football podcasts are picking the Pokes to be one of the better teams in the Big 12.

With all the newness in Stillwater (plus how the past two seasons have gone), it’s hard to be certain about anything, but it does make for some exciting times in August.

Parker McDaniel (South Central Prep) and Keaton Murry (Putnam City-North), both members of the 2028 class, announced that they had received offers from Oklahoma State. Here’s a little bit about each guy.

Parker McDaniel

Blessed to receive an offer from Oklahoma State University!! Thank you Coach Lutz and Coach Page for believing in me!! #gopokes🤠@OSUMBB @LutzSteve @KeitonPage pic.twitter.com/MkEzzSvr3h

— Parker_McDaniel (@ParkerMcDaniel0) August 14, 2026

McDaniel is a sharpshooter.

Across 17 games with Southern Assault on Adidas’ 3SSB circuit, McDaniel averaged 19.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists a contest.

He did that while shooting a ridiculous 49% from 3-point range on 114 attempts, according to the 3SSB website. There was a game in May in which McDaniel dropped 38 points in just 24 minutes on the floor, going 8-for-8 from 3-point range.

Out of South Central Prep in Tulsa, McDaniel is a 6-foot-3 guard. He formerly played at Lincoln Christian.

McDaniel, the No. 79 overall player in the 2028 class, per the Rivals Industry ranking, making him a four-star prospect.

Along with his OSU offer, McDaniel has announced offers to Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, West Virginia, Nebraska, Iowa, LSU and others.

McDaniel took on unofficial visit to Stillwater in February. He was in Gallagher-Iba Arena as the Pokes knocked off No. 16 BYU and the students rushed the floor.

@OSUMBB @KeitonPage @LutzSteve Thanks for having me and my family in Stillwater for the game. Congrats on the win!#UnofficialVisit@OkieBall_1 @CAA_Bball_Ok @SCP_Hoops @AssaultSouthern pic.twitter.com/S62GftSnmm

— Parker_McDaniel (@ParkerMcDaniel0) February 5, 2026

Keaton Murry

Thankful to receive an offer from Oklahoma State University. Appreciate Coach Page & Coach Lutz for the opportunity. @osumbb @KeitonPage pic.twitter.com/btQ4E4teiy

— Keaton Murry (@KeatonMurry) August 14, 2026

Out of Putnam City-North, Murry is the No. 63 player in the Rivals Industry ranking for the 2028 class.

Listed at 6-foot-4, Murry plays his AAU ball with MoKan, the same program that produced Jalen Montonati and Class of 2027 OSU commit Tyson Pogi.

Playing in the 16u division of the EYBL circuit, Murry averaged 13.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 steals a game this summer. In one game in June, Murry scored 19 points, going 8-for-10 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range while also bringing down eight boards.

According to MaxPreps, Murry averaged 10.8 points a game as a sophomore at PC-North last season to go with 3.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals a game while shooting 33% from 3 and 80% from the foul line.

Along with his OSU offer, Murry has offers to OU, Indiana, TCU, Missouri and others.

PC-North competed at OSU’s team camp this summer. Here are a highlight reel from Murry’s time on the White Maple.

Oklahoma State released the noncon schedule on Friday via a video that showed off some campus beauty.

A brand new season 🌟#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/Ybh3LHe6VG

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) August 14, 2026

Oklahoma State’s 2026-27 Nonconference Schedule

Oct. 11 (Sunday) — vs. New Mexico (exhibition)
Oct. 23 (Friday) — vs. Tulsa (exhibition)
Oct. 27 (Tuesday) — at Wisconsin (exhibition)
Nov. 2 (Monday) — vs. Incarnate Word
Nov. 6 (Friday) — vs. Queens
Nov. 12 (Thursday) — at Texas A&M
Nov. 16 (Monday) — vs. Central Arkansas
Nov. 20 & 22 (Friday & Sunday) — Charleston Classic
Nov. 25 (Wednesday) — vs. Jackson State
Nov. 29 (Sunday) — vs. Tennessee State
Dec. 2 (Wednesday) — vs. Grand Canyon
Dec. 5 (Saturday) — vs. Saint Mary’s
Dec. 12 (Saturday) — vs. Oklahoma (OKC)
Dec. 16 (Wednesday) — vs. Oral Roberts
Dec. 20 (Sunday) — vs. Northwestern (Tulsa)
Dec. 29 (Tuesday) — vs. Houston Christian

That’s a lot of games in the confines of Oklahoma’s borders, with OSU set to leave the state for just four of those games (and one is an exhibition).

OSU’s 2026-27 season officially starts Nov. 2 when welcoming Incarnate Word to town. This will be the program’s first meeting, but there are some links between the schools. Steve Lutz began his coaching career as an assistant at UIW, while new OSU football coach Eric Morris had his first head coaching job there.

The Charleston Classic will see the Cowboys play two of Dayton, Minnesota, Northwestern, Utah and Virginia Tech.

The Bedlam doubleheader in Paycom Center marks the 252nd all-time meeting between OU and OSU on the hardwood, while OSU’s trip to Tulsa just over a week later to play Northwestern will be the Cowboys’ third game in BOK Center and first since 2019.

Lutz and Co. have rebuilt the Cowboys’ roster this offseason, and the Cowboys’ preseason trip to Puerto Rico provided some offseason excitement for what looks to be Lutz’s best OSU roster to date.

In 2023, Adeyi was the Mean Green’s top back, rushing for 1,017 yards and averaging 7.1 yards per carry, which ranked eighth in the nation among backs with at least 50 attempts that season, according to Pro Football Focus.

All of that success ran out when Adeyi suffered a turf toe injury in the second quarter of the second game of 2024. It required surgery, and that was the end of Adeyi’s first season at JMU.

“Missing the whole season is like, you kind of go your whole life (with your) identity being an athlete, and then throughout college being a football player,” Adeyi said. “So having that stripped from me was really tough.”

The back estimates he missed maybe two games ever leading up to that injury across his first three seasons of college and his entire high school career. Facing life on the sidelines was difficult.

“My mom (Taiwo Adeyi) came out actually and stayed with me for like that week,” he said. “I’m a man of faith, and so having her there really kind of grounded me, you know, doing Bible study every night kind of helped me just see life. It’s a lot bigger than football, but yeah, it was really tough.”

During the last two years, Adeyi rebuilt his foundation to include not just football but family, friends and even hobbies like going to the movies to watch superhero films.

This was helpful considering he had yet another setback on the football field last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Adeyi played 35 snaps spread out over weeks 1, 2 and 4 of last season. He then played three in week six and didn’t take the field as an offensive player again until the College Football Playoff game against Oregon.

“We play running back, and so going through a whole year taking no hits coming back the next year, and you’re just playing a lot,” Adeyi said. “Like I think this past year, I think it was like Week 4. My body just wasn’t really used to that big game I had in Week 3, and so at practice, the last play is just my hamstring snapped.”

It’s safe to say Adeyi placed a huge emphasis on rehab during the offseason.

It also sounds like the decision to become a Cowboy was relatively easy for him.

“To be honest with you, just the success I had with this staff at UNT,” Adeyi said when asked what brought him to Stillwater. “It was just for me, a no-brainer to get back with this staff. I know how explosive the offense can be, so I was excited to come back.”

That familiarity could help him earn significant snaps this fall.

Morris made it clear on Saturday that he would like to reduce the workload on starting running back Caleb Hawkins. Assuming he can stay healthy, something Morris hinted at almost challenge-like, Adeyi would be a favorite on paper to emerge as the No. 2 back.

“Obviously, Ayo Adeyi, who’s been in our program at North Texas a couple years ago and is familiar with this offense,” offensive coordinator Sean Brophy said while addressing the team’s depth at the position. “He’s a guy that’s gonna be able to come in and be really productive for us, and you can count on.”

Adeyi was asked on Saturday about what he needs to do to prove he can be the complementary back behind Hawkins.

“I think it just starts with consistency in practice,” he said. “You know, just showing up every single day. So that’s what I’m trying to do every single day. Starting from spring ball to fall camp. Now, just I want to be that relief in any way I can to ultimately help us to win the game.”

Morris has had a lot of success both with and without Adeyi in recent years. The reunited running back made it clear that both he and the team have high hopes for the start of this new era in Stillwater.

“Seeing what they did last year was like really impressive, really cool,” Adeyi said. “So I think we’re not looking at it as like a starting from the ground zero (this year). I feel like everyone’s here to get to work starting from game one, and so the expectation is simple, just win. However that looks, just win.”

OSU Bullets

• A couple of players OSU came across were highlighted through fall camp – an offensive lineman from the Pacific Northwest and a Miami defensive back transfer (PFB)  

• Drew Mestemaker listed as a player who can really bump his draft stock after transferring (CBS Sports)

• This was insightful – ESPN’s SP+ analytics system has the Pokes rising more than anybody else between 2025 and 2026, rising from what would be 119th place to 39th place: 

…(A)fter stellar 20-year SP+ averages, OSU suddenly collapsed at the end of the Mike Gundy era and fielded its worst team in more than 60 years last season.

A coaching change (to North Texas’ Eric Morris) and a major production boost on both sides of the ball have the Cowboys likely to rebound pretty significantly.

[ESPN $$$]

• Check out ESPN’s win-loss projections for every Big 12 team (HCS)

•  It’s really nice to see Cowboys listed as All-America candidates again: 

A few more preseason All-America honors 👀 pic.twitter.com/8D1s1S66QV

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 10, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Ask for what you want.

Being curious and excited can take you far, especially over the long arc of a life. The person who is a voracious lifelong learner will figure it out eventually. A strong reader with a healthy dose of curiosity and a willingness to try things is hard to stop.

James Clear

GAME 1 | GAME 2 | GAME 3 | GAME 4 | GAME 5 | GAME 6 | GAME 7 | GAME 8

This game was billed as the Air Raid vs. the always-potent Navy ground game, but it was a Mean Green rusher who stole the headlines.

North Texas beat Navy 31-17 to move to 8-1 on the 2025 season.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against Navy.

Hawkins Was Near Unstoppable

Through two drives, Caleb Hawkins had 80 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The pace slowed a bit from then on, but not by much.

Hawkins finished this game having carried 33 times for 197 yards and four touchdowns. He caught another three passes for nine yards.

Just about all of Hawkins’ runs left a trail of humanity behind him. Per PFF, he forced 10 missed tackles in this game. If that number had been 25, I would’ve believed it.

His most bruising run of the day was probably touchdown No. 3, where four different Midshipmen got hands on him, but none were able to bring him down. In fact, the last guy was straight up trucked.

He finished with 119 yards after contact.

Two New Cowboy Defenders Have Big Days

This also marked a big game for a pair of Mean Green-turned-Cowboy defenders.

Ethan Wesloski had 14 tackles, the most he had in a game in his career to that point. One of those tackles was for a loss, as Wesloski came screaming downhill to blow up an option play.

The safety Quinton Hammonds iced the game on two occasions with a pair of picks.

The first looked like the Jordan logo, as Hammonds went up one handed and plucked the ball out of the sky. It was a sick interception, but it was also important, as North Texas’ lead was 24-17 at the time and it set up North Texas’ final TD of the game.

Then with Navy down 31-17 late, the Midshipmen were driving again, but Hammonds grabbed another INT, this one coming in his own end zone to end Navy’s unbeaten run. He also had four tackles.

Other Notes

• As I just mentioned, Navy was 7-0 coming into this game, which included a 5-0 mark in the American.

This Navy squad finished the year 11-2 with its only loses being this game to North Texas and a 49-10 loss to Notre Dame the next week. The Midshipmen’s wins included USF, Memphis and Cincinnati.

• Skyler Cassity’s defense has a knack for getting the football back. Along with Hammonds’ interceptions, the Mean Green also recovered another fumble, winning the turnover battle 3-0.

• Navy tried a surprise onside kick at one point in this game, but Baron Tipton called a fair catch to nullify it. It was a heads up play that Cowboy Demarco Jones pulled off against Texas Tech back in 2022. Good coaching.

Maybe the play of the day for #okstate. Demarco Jones you can see gives a brief “fair catch” wave as Tech attempts an onside. Tech recovers, but called for catch interference. So OSU gets the ball in great position, scores two plays later. pic.twitter.com/qPGgIONan8

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 8, 2022

• Again, there were signs that this show was moving to Stillwater, as one small group of tarpless fans turned into an army.

• Although Drew Mestemaker didn’t have the gaudy 608 yards he had in the previous game, he was uber-efficient. He finished with 234 yards while going 19-for-24 (79%).

His best ball, in my eyes, was a 39-yard pass to Cameron Dorner on a double move that Mestemaker dropped from the heavens into a bucket.

• The 31 points UNT scored in this one were the second-fewest they scored in a game this season. The most points OSU scored in a game last year was 27.

Ethan Wesloski was one of 51 linebackers named to the watchlist for the Butkus Award on Thursday. The award is given to the best linebacker in college football.

 

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A transfer from North Texas, Wesloski led the Mean Green with 113 tackles in 2025, also finishing with nine tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, an INT, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery that he made in the end zone.

Wesloski had spent his entire college career to this point in Denton. He played two games while redshirting in 2022 before jumping into a regular starting role as a redshirt freshman in 2023.

In total, the 6-foot-1, 234-pound redshirt senior has made 233 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks in his career.

Wesloski is a native of McKinney, Texas, where he attended Boyd High School. He was considered a three-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class.

Semifinalists for the Butkus Award will be announced on Oct. 28 and finalists on Nov. 20. The winner will be announced the week of Dec. 7.

STILLWATER — If you listened to Eric Morris at all this offseason, you’d know a big thing he was looking for when basically building the roster from scratch was experience — at any level.

And it seems like experience has been a valuable asset for Morris for some time. Going back to his last two North Texas teams, Morris’ premier tight ends were both transfers from from the Division-II ranks in Tre Williams (Limestone University) and Oscar Hammond (UCO).

Well, early returns might suggest that seeking experience worked out again for Morris with the addition of Shaun Torgeson this offseason.

Torgeson brings both youth and experience to the Cowboys’ offensive line room. Only a redshirt sophomore, he started 14 games at Portland State (FCS) across the past two seasons, including all dozen of the Vikings’ games last season at left tackle.

He also got a mention on The Athletic’s “Freaks” list in the section breaking down OSU receiver Justin Bowick.

“Shaun Torgeson, a 6-4, 302-pound O-line transfer from Portland State who bench-pressed over 500 pounds and broad-jumped more than 9 feet, also merited strong consideration.” — The Athletic

Just for reference, 9 feet is the length of a standard pool table, and 500 pounds is about the weight of an adult male tiger. And Torgeson weighs 302 pounds. That’s not normal.

For his first year at the FBS level, it sounds as if Torgeson is on the outside looking in of OSU’s opening day starting lineup, but not by a ton.

OSU offensive coordinator Sean Brophy discussed Torgeson’s elevation from FCS to FBS this offseason.

“He’s been great,” Brophy said. “He’s been great. Physically, he dominated this summer in our offseason workout program with Coach (Bryan) Kegans (OSU’s strength coach) and has done a phenomenal job and has done a really nice job through camp so far.

“Been a really pleasant surprise, not that we didn’t have high expectations, but I think the consistency from him, obviously I think he’s getting more and more comfortable with where we’ve got him but is somebody that’s really come on and is pushing those guys, too. He’s a great, great option for us in there.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Torgeson played 788 offensive snaps at Portland State last season (all at left tackle). In 412 Allowed Pressure Opportunities (non-spike, non-penalty snaps when participating as a pass blocker), Torgeson allowed two sacks, four QB hits and 15 hurries while his pass blocking graded out above 80 in six of his dozen games. Torgeson finished with a 97.2 in pass-blocking efficiency, which measures pressures allowed on a per-snap basis with weight toward sacks allowed.

At this point in fall camp, it seems as if the Cowboys’ opening day offensive line will include some combination of Jacob Sexton (Oklahoma transfer), Ashton Lepo (Michigan State), Johnny Dickson III (North Texas), Joseph Hanson (Coastal Carolina), Desmond Magiya (North Texas) and Tyler Mercer (Kansas).

But three of those guys are redshirt seniors, Hanson is a true senior and Magiya is a redshirt junior. So, having an experienced young guy who’s a bit of a physical freak in the position room sounds only like a good thing for the Cowboys.

STILLWATER — There’s a name that keeps popping up who wasn’t in Stillwater this spring.

Markeith Williams transferred to Oklahoma State shortly before fall camp. Listed as a 6-foot-2, 175-pound safety, Williams spent the past four seasons at Miami, playing in 28 games in that time before leaving the team early last season.

OSU coach Eric Morris noted Williams at OSU’s Media Day last weekend, and after the Cowboys’ Thursday practice, defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity listed Williams as one of five guys competing for snaps at safety alongside Quinton Hammonds (North Texas), Mose Phillips III (Missouri), Evan Jackson (North Texas) and Vincent Holmes (Washington). Cassity also noted that Christian Bodnar (Liberty) and the returning Cameron Epps are getting work at nickel.

“He’s done a great job,” Cassity said of Williams. “He’s trying to pick up the playbook, obviously. The other guys have probably taken hundreds of reps more than he has (since he wasn’t at OSU in the spring), but he has a skillset. He’s played a lot of football. He’s an older guy. He understands what it takes to be successful at this level. Has a lot of confidence in playing man-to-man coverage on slot receivers, which is something you have to do to be successful and live in this league. I think he’s doing a good job of that.

“He’s just continuing to pick it up and get mental reps and make mistakes and learn from them and get better every day. Think he’s doing a good job right now.”

Reacts 99 overall @MarkeithWilli10 #GoPokes | @OkFordDealers pic.twitter.com/Df519MhegN

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 6, 2026

Out of Evans High School in Orlando, Williams was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. 247Sports tabbed him as the No. 246 player in his class, making him a Top 20 safety. He committed to Miami over offers from Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, OU and others.

He took part in four games as a true freshman in 2022 while redshirting, making three tackles.

Williams played 11 games as a redshirt freshman in 2023, finishing the year with 15 tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. He made eight of those tackles in the Hurricanes’ bowl game against Rutgers.

He then played in all 13 of Miami’s games in 2024, makings his first career start. He finished the year with 13 tackles and a PBU.

“So Markeith is probably getting the most playing time right now (among guys who arrived before fall camp),” Morris said at Media Day. “And a guy that’s kind of shown he can make some plays for us. Played quite a bit at Miami. When he got here, a little bit undersized. Didn’t know if he was gonna play, so he needed to put on some weight. He was a little skinny. He’s done a nice job, I think he’s gained 12 or 13 pounds right now. He’s gotta gain five or six more pounds just so his body can hold up.”

Here’s a quick look at the other four guys Cassity noted competing for reps at safety:

Hammonds (Jr., 6-1, 206): Made 105 combined tackles the past two seasons at North Texas, including 6.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Also intercepted three passes and was credited with four pass breakups. Played in 25 total games, making 15 starts.

Phillips (Sr., 6-2, 196): Spent the 2025 season at Mizzou after playing two years at Virginia Tech. He has 36 games of experience under his belt, including 13 starts. Has 97 career tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack, an interception and four pass breakups.

Jackson (Sr., 5-11, 188): A product of the heralded North Shore High School, Jackson played in all 39 games of North Texas’ past three seasons, making 13 total starts. Has 130 career tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, six interceptions and seven pass breakups.

Holmes (R-Jr., 6-0, 192): Holmes spent the past three seasons at Washington, playing in 29 games. He played in all of Washington’s games last season as a redshirt sophomore, making one start. Has 11 career tackles.

STILLWATER — Someone can spend a lot of time lauding Drew Mestemaker’s stats and breaking down advanced metrics that explain what makes him such a good thrower of the football.

​Last month, Todd McShay, who is literally paid to evaluate these guys not as elite college football players but as NFL hopefuls, praised the one thing almost impossible to see from Mestemaker in practice — his brain.

On Thursday, Oklahoma State’s coordinators chose to single out the same stuff when asked about QB1.

“Our offense is huge, right, and you think about the success that Drew had early on,” offensive coordinator Sean Brophy said. “So much of it’s because of his mental capability and capacity, and his ability to process information and recall, which allowed us to have a lot of volume in our offense but also a tremendous variety and variance week to week.”

When asked to name specific improvements, Brophy praises Mestemaker’s progress across the board before complimenting his ability to show up every day weighing 219 pounds.

According to the official UNT roster, Mestemaker weighed 211 pounds last season, and it’s common for football players to lose weight once the season begins. So it sounds like the coaches wanted their quarterback to put on a little weight this summer.

Brophy then circled around to the mental component second.

“We’re spending so much time with him in the film room, and we’ve reached a point now where he knows our offense extremely well,” Brophy said. “We’re able to challenge him in different ways and put more on his plate and show him different looks.

“And it’s talking about inches where ball placement is, right, as opposed to just completions. And so he takes all that stuff in stride so well. He’s a football junkie. He’s always sending me stuff and talking through coaching points.”

Again, just eerily similar stuff to what seemed to excite McShay and his podcast cohost Steve Muench.

“I really thought this kid showed a great grasp of the offense and was more developed as a quarterback and understanding concepts and how to attack coverage than I expected,” Muench said.

On Thursday, Brophy described Mestemaker as a coach on the field and added that he can line guys up correctly and get in and out of run checks at the line. Although not uncommon, these aren’t things you always put on young quarterbacks.

Speaking of which, both Morris and Brophy sound excited to have a guy back for a third season, even though this will only be Mestemaker’s second as a starter. During their three years together at UNT, they coached three different starting quarterbacks, including Mestemaker last season.

“It’s great because we were rolling through them there for a while,” Brophy said. “And so to have the consistency, I think it’s been great for us. But I think it’s been great for him as well.”

Although Mestemaker’s decision to follow his coaches to Stillwater was an incredible boost for Oklahoma State’s offense, those guys aren’t the only ones who benefit. Not every defense in the country has a quarterback with what seems like legitimate NFL talent on the roster they can practice against.

“It is great to go against a quarterback, obviously of that caliber, consistently every day in day out,” defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity said. “… It being competitive and continuing to sharpen each other’s blade essentially on both sides of the ball. And so Drew obviously does a good job. If you give tells away and things like that, he’s going to expose you for it. When he’s got good matchups that he likes to take advantage of, he’s going to challenge you. And our guys welcome the challenge.”

It’s so well documented that Mestemaker had zero starting experience at the high school level before walking on at UNT that some college football fans around the country probably already refer to him as that “guy that couldn’t even start at high school.”

On Thursday, Cassity made a great argument for why that path might have served Mestemaker well.

“With him playing defense in high school, one of the things that he does such a good job of is processing defensive looks extremely fast,” Cassity said. “He sees tendencies, he sees tips, things like that. He does a really, really good job of that.”

This is what Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator wanted to discuss when asked to name the one thing Mestemaker does so well that gives his guys the best possible look to get ready for the season. And Cassity wasn’t done.

“And he knows where the ball is supposed to go really, really early on in the process,” he said. “So showing him post-snap movements and things like that obviously is something that he’s really, really good at evaluating. So he does a great job of that, and I think he does a good job of that and exposing us. So when we give tips away and things like that, he’ll expose you in practice if it happens.”

Shortly after taking the helm at OSU, head coach Eric Morris said he wanted to “dominate the state of Oklahoma” when it comes to high school recruiting. But with a huge amount of turnover and the need to completely rebuild, Morris leaned on the portal to start. Of the 87 new players, a huge chunk of them are transfers, chiefly a bunch of his former players from North Texas.

But that doesn’t mean this year’s Cowboys squad is short on in-state talent, or that there isn’t a strong contingent of native Okies in the locker room.

In fact, 22 players on the fall roster played their high school ball in Oklahoma (same as on Oklahoma’s roster), and those aren’t just holdovers from the Mike Gundy era. Eleven of those 22 in-state players are entering their first season at OSU, with only Caleb Hawkins following Morris from North Texas.

This past weekend, Oklahoma State held its annual media day which means we are now weeks (not months) from the season opener in Tulsa. During the festivities, several of those in-state Cowboys were asked about what it was like to play for their home state school.

First-year offensive tackle Jacob Sexton has spent all of this college career within these borders — even if it was across enemy lines. He saw the field as a true freshman for the Sooners in 2022 and ended up starting 14 games for OU before a couple of injuries hampered him, including a season-ending injury in Week 1 last year.

He was asked what it was like to make the move north on I-35.

“It’s been really easy,” said Sexton. “Short transition, about an hour away. So, the move was really easy. People here are great. It’s been a really good.”

Sexton played his high school ball even closer at Deer Creek where he met one of the Cowboys’ longest tenured defenders, veteran defensive end Jaleel Johnson. He and Johnson battled across the line when the latter played at Putnam City-North.

“He’s been a lot of fun to play against in the offseason and our spring ball,” said Sexton of Johnson. “Great competition. I played against him in high school and that was a fun game. I remember that being a great time. He’s also a great person.”

Redshirt senior cornerback Mo Horn spent the last four years at Texas Tech before transferring to OSU.

“It’s been great, man,” Horn said on returning to his home state. “It’s nice coming back here just being able to go see my family whenever I need to.”

Second-year OSU tight end Oscar Hammond checks all three boxes: an Oklahoma prep and North Texas transfer who first played at UCO. He spent a year with Morris in Denton before transferring back across the Red River. Unfortunately, his first season at OSU was derailed due to injury, but he’s finally ready to get on the field at BPS.

“I always knew I wanted to play at this level, no matter what,” said Hammond who won a state title at Collinsville. “I grew up being an OSU fan, so I’m very excited to be here. I’m very excited for this season. I’ve always wanted to play here.”

Among that group of in-state Cowboys, there’s still some leftover high school rivalry.

“It’s really cool. It’s fun too. Just knowing everybody,” said Sexton. “Knowing guys I played against in high school and now here, everybody pulls up their old high school highlights tape and everyone’s like comparing plays and just to talk about that. So, it’s been a lot of fun kind of comparing all that.”

Horn said he hasn’t quite pulled up HUDL highlights just yet, but the in-state competition is still there.

“Most definitely,” Horn said about the fun of playing with other Oklahomans. “We haven’t got to do ours yet. I’m sure we’ll do it at some point. But yeah, it’s definitely been great, you know, being around guys that come from the state that you’re from as well. That’s what made it much easier for me to transition here.”

Here’s the full list of in-state Cowboys.

Non-OSU Bullets

• What your preferred airplane seat says about you • In defense of emotionally-stunted friendships  

Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news. 

OSU Bullets

• Cowgirl Soccer kicked off their season last night – with Ted Lasso night, free hot dogs and 1-1 tie against Sam Houston State (X)

• Oregon’s top running back is expected to miss time, including what’s likely to include the OSU game (CBS Sports)

• Draft analyst Todd McShay dove into Drew Mestemaker’s game – focusing on his processing and underrated athleticism: 

“This guy’s brain is pretty developed, I think, for a first-year starter. If I wanted to be obvious, I could talk about the arm strength. I think he’s got a live arm, but I think to me what stood out that I wasn’t really expecting was how smart he is.”

They both also noted that Mestemaker was more athletic than they initially anticipated. McShay said he had to go back and keep updating his notes the more he watched of him. [PFB]

• Catching up on a brief rewatch of the UNT football season – a win over UTSA, a loss to USF, a win over South Alabama, before housing Charlotte and setting records (PFB)

• Predicting the best Big 12 football game of each week this season (PFB)

• Taking a peek at the Cowboys running back room (PFB)

Non-OSU Bullets

• What your preferred airplane seat says about you • In defense of emotionally-stunted friendships  

GAME 1 | GAME 2 | GAME 3 | GAME 4 | GAME 5 | GAME 6 | GAME 7

After a Friday night in Charlotte, Drew Mestemaker had to be a shoo-in to finish with the national lead in passing yards.

North Texas traveled to North Carolina for a Friday night game against Charlotte. It wasn’t always the cleanest, but the Mean Green went back home with a 54-20 win while advancing to 7-1 on the season.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against Charlotte.

Drew Mestemaker Sets American Conference Record for Passing Yards in a Game

With the Mean Green already up 47-20 late in the fourth quarter, Eric Morris sent Drew Mestemaker back on the field, but after after a completion that got UNT to Charlotte’s 32-yard line, Mestemaker was jogging off the field with his arms in the air.

That 12-yard completion to Simeon Evans gave Mestemaker 608 passing yards for the game, which is an American Conference record.

Mestemaker finished 37-for-49 for the 608 yards and four touchdowns. The numbers could’ve been more gaudy. In the first half, Terrence Lewis dropped a pass that hit him in the chest behind the Charlotte defense, one of three drops UNT had on the game.

Mestemaker was also pressured 14 times in this game and was sacked on three occasions. Some of that probably has to do with the 49 pass attempts.

To put an OSU spin on this, the Cowboys didn’t throw for half Mestemaker’s total in a game all last season, with the most being the 291 yards the Cowboys threw for against Baylor.

Had Mestemaker had that game as a Cowboy, it would have been an OSU record. OSU’s current record belongs to Mason Rudolph when he threw for 540 yards against Pitt in 2016.

North Texas Responds to Being in a Scrap

The things I knew about this game going into it were that UNT won by 34 and Drew Mestemaker threw for 608 yards.

But this wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

I would consider this the first outright bad team the Mean Green played this season (Charlotte finished 1-11), but things started a little weird on a Friday night in the road.

Charlotte was 1-6 entering this game and hadn’t held a lead in three weeks going into this. But with all that, Charlotte was up 20-17 in the third quarter before the Mean Green woke up and started dominating.

UNT did have two turnovers in the red zone, which certainly didn’t help matters, and then Charlotte just couldn’t keep the pace. UNT outscored Charlotte 27-0 in the fourth quarter to make the score line look how many thought it would.

Other Notes

• A few fun facts about Charlotte: former OSU defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo coaches Charlotte’s safeties last season. Nardo is now a senior defensive assistant at Minnesota.

• Former Cowboy Yamil Talib intercepted Mestemaker in this game, just Mestemaker’s fourth pick of the season. Talib is the nephew of former NFL corner Aqib Talib and walked on to OSU in 2024.

• UNT’s first drive ended in a 42-yard back-shoulder fade to Cameron Dorner for a touchdown. Mestemaker was 42 yards away from this guy, and put the ball right here:

• Today in fun fourth down moments: Eric Morris elected to go for it on 4th-and-9 from the Charlotte 36-yard line. Did not work in this instance, but it’s another example that Morris is not afraid to keep his offense on the field.

• Charlotte also went for it on fourth down, attempting a fake punt deep in its own territory that got sniffed out instantly. In some ways, it was the start of the route.

• Wyatt Young had another huge day (which makes sense considering his QB had 608 yards).

Young finished with nine catches for 190 yards and a touchdown. A good chunk of that came on a little tunnel screen where Young caught the ball just in front of the line of scrimmage and ran 70 yards to the house. I continue to be impressed with how good Young is with the ball in his hands, as he weaved in and out of traffic all the way to the house.

• After Mestemaker got to the sideline following his record, the TV camera showed this shot, which I found funny because it’s made up mostly of people at OSU now:

We are exactly one month out from the Oregon Ducks playing in Boone Pickens Stadium — what a world.

That got me thinking about big games in 2026, so I decided to predict what I think will be the Big 12’s Game of the Week during each week of the 2026 college football season.

Week 0

We start with a mulligan, as the only Week 0 game featuring a Big 12 team is TCU’s game against North Carolina in Dublin, Ireland.

Could you imagine telling yourself 10 years ago that Bill Belichick would be coaching against TCU in Ireland?

It’s a matchup that won’t be short on eyeballs, as it officially kicks off the college football season and is the only game in the 11 a.m. time slot that day. Given the media circus that has surrounded Belichick in Chapel Hill, this game also won’t be short on storylines.

UNC went 4-8 in Belichick’s first season, the program’s worst record since 2018. The Tar Heels have a quarterback battle going into camp.

TCU, meanwhile, is coming off a relatively quiet 9-4 season, Sonny Dykes’ fourth in charge. Dykes has 36-17 record at TCU.

The Horned Frogs will be breaking in a new QB in Ireland. Jaden Craig, listed at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, transferred in from Harvard after throwing for 2,869 yards and 25 touchdowns in 11 games last season. Both of those stats were program records.

Week 1

Contenders:
Colorado at Georgia Tech
Baylor vs. Auburn (in Atlanta)
Boston College at Cincinnati

Although all of those games could be good when it comes to conference bragging rights, I think the clear standout here is Baylor going to Atlanta to take on an SEC foe.

Since winning the Big 12 in 2021 (the less said, the better), it hasn’t necessarily been all ups for Baylor and coach Dave Aranda. Since 2021, Baylor has gone a combined 22-28, finishing 5-7 last season. It feels like Aranda’s seat is at least a little toasty entering 2026.

But there’s also some buzz about the Bears with the addition of Florida transfer quarterback DJ Lagway. Lagway was the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, per 247Sports, but things didn’t exactly go to plan in his two seasons as Florida’s starter, though he still left Gainesville having thrown for 4,179 yards and 28 touchdowns. If Baylor can help him realize his potential, the Bears could be a player in the Big 12, or at least a team that could ruin a couple seasons.

As for Auburn, the Tigers are under new management in Alex Golesh, who was also thought to be a candidate for the OSU job this offseason. Golesh brought quarterback Byrum Brown with him from USF after Brown threw for 3,158 yards, ran for 1,008 yards and was responsible for 42 total touchdowns last season.

Week 2

Contenders:
Missouri at Kansas
Arizona State at Texas A&M
Oregon at Oklahoma State
Arizona at BYU
Iowa State at Iowa

Honestly, what a slate.

I think I’m going to have to go with the lone true Big 12 game in Arizona at BYU because come December, this game could mean a ton.

BYU is second in Big 12 titles odds, while the Wildcats are down in eighth, but the Wildcats are returning Noah Fifita, the Preseason All-Big 12 quarterback. Fifita has thrown for 9,183 yards in his time as a Wildcat with last season being his best statistical season to date (3,228 yards and 29 touchdowns).

After going 12-2 last season, BYU returners quarterback Bear Bachmeier for his sophomore year after he threw for 3,033 yards and ran for 527 yards as a freshman. There also seems to be a tinge of drama surrounding the program this offseason after the Cougars were able to retain coach Kalani Sitake despite a big push from Penn State.

“We’ve been given the challenge of doing the most with the least.”

– BYU Football HC Kalani Sitake pic.twitter.com/5DO99a9X2v

— Cougar Sports Media (@CougSportsMedia) August 10, 2026

Week 3

Houston at Texas Tech
Tulane at Kansas State
Colorado at Northwestern
West Virginia at Virginia

To me, this one is clearly Houston’s Friday night trip to Lubbock.

The Cougars are a popular dark horse candidate in the league after going 10-3 last season — Houston’s second under Willie Fritz. Houston returns quarterback Conner Weigman, a former blue-chip recruit who threw for 2,705 yards and 25 touchdowns last season.

Texas Tech is viewed as the final boss of the Big 12 this year. The Red Raiders lost a lot to the NFL Draft and lost transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby to a gambling investigation this offseason, but in the modern world, there might not be a program more ready to reload than the Red Raiders.

Week 4

Contenders:
TCU at UCF
Oklahoma State at West Virginia

As much as I want to talk about the Cowboys, I think I’m going with TCU at UCF on this one (because through the orange-tinted glasses the preseason provides, I think OSU is a marginal favorite right now).

But with TCU and UCF, I think this game could be a decider in who is going to finish in the middle of the pack and who could potentially make a push for something bigger.

I’ve already broken down the Horned Frogs a little bit, but UCF brings in Alonza Barnett III from James Madison. Barnett threw for 2,806 yards, ran for 589 yards and was responsible for 38 total TDs last season.

This marks Scott Frost’s second year back in Orlando after going 5-7 last season.

Week 5

Contenders:
Baylor at Arizona State
BYU at TCU
UCF at Houston

Should TCU win both of its games I’ve highlighted to this point, it would make for a big game against BYU, but I’m going to lean Baylor-Arizona State for now.

Both of these teams will be tested by SEC foes in the noncon, and we’ll get to see what adjustments each made from that point.

Arizona State has been the better program in recent years, but the Sun Devils still have an ongoing quarterback battle, while Lagway is already known to be the guy in Waco.

I think I’d still give Arizona State the nod in an early prediction, but there’s a world where the Lagway experiment goes right for Baylor and this ends up being a fun game.

Week 6

Contenders:
UCF at Oklahoma State
Houston at Kansas State

Again, I want to pick OSU’s game because it’s an OSU game, but I think I’m going to have to go with Houston’s trip to Manhattan.

I’m not sure I’m fully bought into the Wildcats competing for a spot in Arlington in Collin Klein’s first season, but I do think K-State will be much improved from its 6-6 finish in 2025. And a trip to Manhattan isn’t easy on anyone, just ask the Cowboys who have been outscored a combined 90-20 in their past two trips to The Little Apple.

I expect K-State quarterback Avery Johnson to have his best year yet with Klein back in the fold. We’ll see if that’s enough to pull an upset off against an Arlington-minded Houston squad.

Week 7

Contenders:
Notre Dame at BYU
Arizona State at Texas Tech
Kansas at Kansas State
Oklahoma State at Houston
TCU at Baylor

This in contention for the best Big 12 weekend of the season, but I think I’m finally willing to give the Pokes a nod on Game of the Week.

Houston for all the reasons previously mentioned.

Should things go how I expect, OSU would travel to Houston at 4-1. A win here, and the Cowboys’ race to Arlington is on. They’d be 3-0 in the league at that point with more-than-winnable games against Colorado at Iowa State on the horizon before a tough stint to close the year. But I think OSU’s would-be path to Arlington needs a win in H-Town.

Week 8

Contenders: 
Houston at Utah
Kansas State at Arizona State

This exercise has shown me that Houston has a tough schedule, but I’m again going with another Cougar game.

I feel like Utah is going relatively under the radar entering this season despite the fact that the Utes bring back Devon Dampier, who threw for 2,490 yards and ran for 835 yards last season while going 11-2 as a team.

Sure, Utah has a new guy in charge for the first time since 2005, but new head coach Morgan Scalley has been with the program since he was a graduate assistant in 2007. So, things should be relatively business as usual.

Week 9

Contenders: 
Baylor at UCF
Arizona at Texas Tech
Arizona State at BYU

Another tough call, but I lean the Wildcats’ trip to Lubbock.

Tech will likely be a big favorite, but Arizona will likely have the game’s better quarterback. This could be a spot for some Fifita magic on Halloween. Or it’ll be a big blowout.

Week 10

Contenders: 
TCU at Arizona
BYU at Utah
Oklahoma State at Kansas State

The Cowboys’ trip to Manhattan will be a fun matchup of two young offensive minds, but give me The Holy War.

Any game that has previously featured an athletic director taking to the podium and running down the officials after the game is must-see.

This, to me, is the league’s premier rivalry since Bedlam croaked, and with both teams expected to be good again this season, I’ll stay up however late to watch this one.

Week 11

Contenders:
Arizona State at UCF
Baylor at BYU
Kansas State at TCU
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State
Utah at Arizona

My head is saying Utah-Arizona, but I’m going to go with my heart on this one and pick the Red Raiders’ trip to Stillwater.

In order to get to this game undefeated in Big 12 play, OSU would have to beat: West Virginia, UCF, Houston, Colorado, Iowa State and Kansas State. That would be tough, obviously, but it isn’t necessarily the league’s murders’ row.

If this game has any sort of stakes behind it, Boone Pickens Stadium will be as electric as its been in some time. An absolute hornet’s nest.

And that’s not even to mention the Morris storyline of him playing his alma mater.

Week 12

Contenders: 
Arizona at Kansas State
Oklahoma State at Arizona State
Texas Tech at Baylor
Utah at TCU

I’m taking the battle of the Wildcats here mainly because I think this game has the potential to look like a Big 12 game circa 2012.

One team has the Preseason All-Big 12 quarterback and the other has an eclectic, dual-threat guy who has a smart young offensive mind calling plays for him. I hope it ends 49-45.

Week 13

Contenders: 
Arizona State at Arizona
Baylor at Houston

Not the greatest of slates to close the year on (watch all of these games have supreme meaning come late November), but I’ll take the Arizona schools going at it.

Although Arizona State has had the more top-ended success in recent seasons, the Wildcats have won three of four against their in-state rival. Although I’m not necessarily predicting either of these teams to make it to Arlington, this could see two solid teams playing for something that used to be a lot more meaningful in this sport: bragging rights.

Oklahoma State on Wednesday released its exhibition schedule that features a game against Tulsa at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23. That’s the day before the OSU football team hosts Colorado for America’s Greatest Homecoming. That means fans should have the opportunity to walk the Cowboys and then go to walkaround and view the Greek houses.

OSU will also host  New Mexico (Oct. 11) and travel to Wisconsin (Oct. 27) for exhibition games.

Tulsa went 30-8 last season in the program’s fourth year under Eric Konkol. After losing in the second round of the American Conference Championship, the Golden Hurricane accepted a bid into the NIT and made it all the way to the final before losing to Auburn in overtime.

Have to imagine OSU associate head coach James Miller had something to do with New Mexico getting on the exhibition schedule, as Miller had previously coached at New Mexico State and New Mexico Junior College. The Lobos went 26-11 last season after making the NCAA Tournament in 2025 and 2024.

The Wisconsin exhibition was announced earlier this month. The Badgers have made the NCAA Tournament the past three seasons and have taken part in 25 NCAA Tournaments since 1999.

Here’s the reported full nonconference schedule for the Pokes:

Oct. 11 vs New Mexico (exhibition)
Oct. 23 vs Tulsa (exhibition)
Oct. 27 at Wisconsin (exhibition)
Nov. 2 vs Incarnate Word
Nov. 6 vs Queens
Nov. 12 at Texas A&M
Nov. 16 vs Central Arkansas
Nov. 20 in Charleston, South Carolina vs Virginia Tech OR Minnesota
Nov. 22 in Charleston, South Carolina vs Virginia Tech OR Minnesota
Nov. 25 vs Jackson State
Nov. 29 vs Tennessee State
Dec. 2 vs Grand Canyon
Dec. 5 vs Saint Mary’s
Dec. 12 in OKC vs Oklahoma
Dec. 16 vs Oral Roberts
Dec. 20 in OKC vs Northwestern
Dec. 29 vs Houston Christian

From Dykes to Rashaun Woods to Adarius Bowman to Dez Bryant to Justin Blackmon to James Washington to Tylan Wallace — the list goes on and on. But there’s a guy raising a lot of eyebrows in an NFL training camp right now who spent two seasons at OSU before closing his career out in the SEC.

De’Zhaun Stribling was taken in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers after spending last season catching 55 passes for 811 yards and six touchdowns at Ole Miss.

This week, a 49ers beat writer said Stribling is “already the best wide receiver on the team. Full stop.”

And here is what ESPN’s Nick Wagoner wrote about the former Cowboy:

“Stribling continues to produce at a high level regardless of who he is on the field with and against. The size and speed are obvious but there’s a maturity and understanding of the game that his teammates and coaches continue to notice that are helping him adapt quickly.”

But don’t just take reporters’ words for it. Here’s what San Fran coach Kyle Shanahan said on Tuesday of Stribling’s growing confidence:

“The more he’s out there, the more he’ll get confident,” Shanahan said. “We truly believe he’s made of the right stuff. We know his ability and now it’s about him going through a lot of situations that he hasn’t been through, that I expect him to fail a number of times in practice, but he’s good enough and made of the right stuff, that he’ll eventually get through it. You seen a lot of those today and hopefully we can keep doing that more and more so he’s ready in Week 1.”

A new connection 😏 pic.twitter.com/uA9KxXbroJ

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) August 11, 2026

Stribling spent two seasons in Stillwater, transferring over from Washington State ahead of the 2023 campaign. It was evident early that Stribling was good, but his season in the spotlight in Stillwater came as the quarterback position started to sputter.

He played in just four games during the 2023 season before suffering a thumb injury. When he returned in 2024, Stribling had a team-high 882 receiving yards on 52 catches in a season where Alan Bowman, Garret Rangel and Maealiuaki Smith all played some significant snaps at quarterback and the Cowboys finished 3-9.

My most prominent Stribling memory was him catching a touchdown from Smith against Texas Tech and punting the ball into the stands, seemingly out of frustration with how the year went. It was Smith’s first career touchdown pass, and Stribling had to get on social media to try to track down the ball to give to him.

Given how that season went (and the hindsight of 2025 season), it’s hard to blame Stribling for making the move to play under Lane Kiffin in Oxford, but in this world where you’re not exactly sure who claims players who transferred, it could sting a touch watching Stribling excel as an NFL player wondering what could have been.

So once he knew he was leaving Los Angeles behind for Oklahoma, Chisom decided he’d make fishing one of his primary hobbies.

“Just the scenery,” Chisom said, explaining his new passion for fishing. “Sometimes you know you can go to a really good lake, and just sit out there, and even if you don’t catch a fish, it’s just nice to decompress and get your mind out of everything.”

The linebacker is definitely coming off a chaotic year after his former team, UCLA, fired its head coach on Sept. 14 following an 0-3 start. The Bruins finished the season 3-9 and named a new head coach on Dec. 6.

Chisom didn’t let that stop him from making an impact, as he finished second on the team with 84 total tackles, including 2.5 for loss. Twenty-five of those resulted in stops, which Pro Football Focus defines as a “tackle that constitutes a ‘failure’ for the offense.” Only one UCLA player had more stops last season.

“I think it was okay,” Chisom said, reflecting on his individual performance in 2025. “You know, I feel like personal success is always great, but you know, we were missing that team part, and that’s what I’m looking forward to about being at Oklahoma State.”

Chisom said he went in the portal to escape the uncertainty surrounding UCLA at the time. There was one clear reason he chose the Cowboys over other options.

“Coach (Eric) Morris and all the other coaching staff,” Chisom said. “I think that they had a great, I had a great talk with coach Morris in his office, and just speaking to (linebackers) coach (Reggie) Johnson and coach (Skyler) Cassity, like it just made sense for me.”

Chisom, now a redshirt junior after two years at Oregon State and one at UCLA, ranked 52nd among linebackers coming out of high school according to 247Sports. He has more or less remained in place from a rankings standpoint, as 247Sports and On3 ranked him 54th and 55th, respectively, in their transfer portal rankings.

He was one of four guys Morris mentioned competing for a starting spot at linebacker last week and would appear to be Arizona State transfer Tate Romney’s top competition for second at the position behind UNT star Ethan Wesloski.

“Competition everywhere is always good, and it’s going to make you better as a player,” Chisom said. “I think in the room, you know, we’re always still trying to make sure that we’re helping out each other. It’s not like we’re in a competition, I’m not going to help you out. We want the best people to be out there, you know, no matter who’s out there.”

Although not a direct commentary on Chisom, Morris highlighted some of the unique dynamics in the linebacker room on Saturday when discussing Romney, who is 25 years old.

“It’s fun for me to watch Tate sitting next to a really young linebacker that just got to college,” Morris said. “Their social lives are, like, completely opposite. One of them is thinking about what his 1-year-old is doing, and finally walking, and what they’re eating, do I need to send flowers to my wife right now. … And then the other guy sitting right next to him, going through the same thing on a day-to-day basis, is trying to figure out who the pretty girls at the sorority house are that just got on campus and all the different things. It’s cool for me to see them to start having connections.”

It definitely sounds like Chisom has benefitted from watching Romney balance everything this offseason.

“I definitely think it makes you remember what’s important in life,” Chisom said. “Obviously, you know, you want to have fun and have a social life, but also at the end of the day, people want to have a family and be able to have that type of stability. So it’s definitely been cool to see somebody who’s focused on both.”

The former UCLA linebacker doesn’t have that one truly incredible fish story yet, but he’s expecting to get a fair share of stories worth telling in the months to come on the football field, and maybe one on the lake will soon follow.

“I think it’s super high,” Chisom said of Oklahoma State’s expectations. “I think all eyes are on us, and that’s something that we’re embracing. We’re not going to shy away from that. We know what everybody’s looking from out of us, and we know what we’re expecting from each other.”

Here were some of the other talking points.

Doucet Is Back?

Media members were handed rosters before walking into the interview room, and the most surprising part of that roster was the fact that Konner Doucet was on it.

Doucet’s first season as a Cowboy was in 2020-21, which means the 2026-27 season would be his seventh year in Stillwater. The first of those years was COVID, and then Doucet redshirted in 2021-22. It sounds as if the year he is getting back was the 2024-25 season, when Wyatt Hendrickson won a national title and Doucet was hurt.

“There’s that window of guys getting an extra year before that five-for-five started,” Taylor said. “When Wyatt came him, (Doucet) was hurt for most of the season and was able to get that last year.

“It’s good to have him around. Konner is just a great leader, really awesome person to have in room to have wrestling every single day and to have on our team. So, we’re excited to have him for another year.”

Last season was Doucet’s best, as he finished fourth and earned his first All-America honor.

Taylor and Co. are bringing in a blue-chip heavyweight prospect this year in Dreshaun Ross. Ross finished as the No. 4 overall wrestler on MatScouts’ big board rankings for the 2026 class. Ross won at the U20 World Team Trials this summer and will represent to United States at the U20 World Championships this month in Slovakia at 125 kg.

“Those guys (Hendrickson included) are scrapping,” Taylor said. “They’re so good for each other. They are so good for each other. They’re great for Dreshaun. They’re giving him a lot of experience and a lot of really valuable information.

“Typically when you have a good heavyweight, you can’t find a person for them to wrestle, and it’s so nice that they have each other. I mean, you’re talking about really high level training, and it’s what it takes to be great.”

Swiderski Up in Weight

If you followed the summer wrestling circuit, this won’t be too big a surprise, but Casey Swiderski was listed at 165 pounds on OSU’s updated roster.

Swiderski was OSU’s 149-pounder last season, taking eighth at nationals while becoming a two-time All-American.

At U23 Nationals this summer, Swiderski competed up at 74 kg (about 163 pounds). He took fifth in one of the more loaded brackets of the event, going 6-2. One of those losses was to Nicco Ruiz, the reigning Big 12 champ at 165 pounds, where Swiderski kept it tight but lost 5-4. He also had a nice win against Ohio State’s e’Than Birden, who went 18-8 last season at 165.

In some ways, Swiderski moving up two weight classes was surprising, given he started his college career at 141 pounds, but if you think back to about this time last year, the Cowboy RTC put on a semi-secret dual in Texas against the Chinese National Team, where Swiderski wrestled up at 74 kg and didn’t look small.

Swiderski’s move coincides with the belief that Sergio Vega will make the move up from 141 to 149 for his sophomore season after Vega won a national title as a true freshman without getting taken down.

“Casey and Sergio last year, spent a lot of time with them helping them with their weights,” Taylor said. “Casey’s kind of, definitely a little bit bigger now, but he was cutting a lot of weight. So, honestly he doesn’t look really all that much different to me than what he did. He’s a high-energy guy, but it’s hard for him to wrestle with a lot of energy last year (when he was cutting weight). So, I think now he just has a lot more — yeah, I would say energy.

“I thought he wrestled pretty good this summer. Made a little mental mistake at U23s, but that’s also kind of Casey sometimes. Gotta keep working on getting better, but I would say his adjustment to getting a little bigger has gone well.”

Transfers Integrating Well

There was a wonder going into the offseason as to whether Taylor would use the portal given he already had a young team that finished comfortably in second at the NCAA Championships.

Taylor didn’t go crazy portal shopping, but he did add Bennett Berge from South Dakota State and Lorenzo Norman from Stanford.

Berge finished fourth at the 2024 NCAA Championships at 184 pounds. He bumped up to 197 pounds last season, going 17-7.

It’s believed Berge will be back down at 184 in Stillwater. That’s a spot Zack Ryder manned last season, but late last year, Ryder suffered a shoulder injury that he toughed out to finish eighth at NCAAs. Taylor wasn’t asked about Ryder’s status Tuesday, but there’s a chance he isn’t ready to go by the start of the season.

After qualifying for nationals as a redshirt freshman in 2025, Norman wrestled just two matches last season and missed the rest of the year with injury. He’s a 174-pounder, a spot Alex Facundo held down for the Cowboys last season. Facundo went 18-8 in his first year with the program, going 2-2 at NCAAs.

“I think the portal is definitely an extension of your recruiting,” Taylor said. “When we first got here, we were obviously in a big recruiting phase in all aspects. Now with having two really good recruiting classes that have come in, great kids, you’re just kind of thinking about where do you need. Maybe if it’s depth or maybe it’s injuries. There’s just different factors that go into it, but ultimately it’s really no different. The people that do the best here are really the guys that really wanna be here. I think when guys really wanna be here, they’re here for the right reasons.

“I would say that definitely with Bennett and Lorenzo. I think they’re both great kids that love wrestling and really felt like, ‘Hey, for me to make the best jump in my career, this is where I need to be.’ Those are the kind of guys that make a great culture and make a great team. They’ve done a great job, and every year is a year-to-year basis. There’s no this is the formula, this is what we’re gonna do-type deal, but just continue to try to find the right people to fit what we’re trying to do. That makes your best team.”

It was part of The McShay Show’s “Building the Board” exercise where McShay and cohost Steve Muench breakdown a pair of NFL Draft quarterback prospects. You can, and should, listen to the full episode here (Spotify), as it’s incredibly insightful stuff to get to know Oklahoma State’s quarterback entering the 2026 season, but I wanted to hit a few of the highlights.

What stood out about Mestemaker to both analysts is something that’s hard to notice to the untrained eye: a firm grasp of Eric Morris’ offense. McShay lauded Mestemaker’s ability to breakdown a defense pre-snap, seeing the whole field, making the right decision and being accurate with his passes.

Both noted this was extra impressive given the 2025 season was Mestemaker’s first as a full-time starter even going back through high school.

“I really thought this kid showed a great grasp of the offense and was more developed as a quarterback and understanding concepts and how to attack coverage than I expected,” Muench said. “Now look, the inexperience still shows at times. There’s certain rotations he didn’t read well. He threw into coverage a couple times. I’m not saying it was perfect, but he could get to his backside read. He knew where he wanted to go with the ball. There were times it certainly looked like to me he was setting protections and making changes at the line.

“This guy’s brain is pretty developed, I think, for a first-year starter. If I wanted to be obvious, I could talk about the arm strength. I think he’s got a live arm, but I think to me what stood out that I wasn’t really expecting was how smart he is.”

They both also noted that Mestemaker was more athletic than they initially anticipated. McShay said he had to go back and keep updating his notes the more he watched of him.

Mestemaker technically had 89 rushing yards last season to go with five rushing touchdowns, but college quarterback rushing numbers can be a little misleading because of sacks. He actually gained 233 yards on the ground but lost 144 thanks to sacks.

PFF tabbed Mestemaker with nine rushes of 10-plus yards and 13 runs for first downs in 2025.

If you listen to The Reload podcasts, we’ve often compared Mestemaker’s running ability to that of Taylor Cornelius. Cornelius didn’t scream dual-threat, but when he needed to run, he was capable. He finished that 2018 season at OSU with 406 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. McShay compared Mestemaker to another Drew.

“Taller, pocket passer — not a statue,” McShay said of Mestemaker. “Not a statue. Competitive mobility. Think about all the things we said about Drew Allar and his mobility. Not the fastest, not the twitchiest, all those things, but there were times where you need a first down, and he kind of felt it and he’s got good coordination and balance. I think (Mestemaker) has a little bit more juice than Allar. I mean, I know it.”

With Mestemaker’s ability to move, though, came one of the weaknesses McShay and Muench discussed about his game, saying his accuracy starts to drop as he has to move his feet. Muench also compared Mestemaker to a power pitcher who needs to develop a little more finesse on certain throws.

It’s important to remember that this podcast is more tailored to what type of NFL prospect Mestemaker is rather than what kind of year he’ll have at OSU. I say that that to preface this quote:

“He doesn’t have an elite arm,” McShay said. “It’s a two. One is exceptional on our grading scale. Five is marginal. Three is right in the middle. It’s a two. It’s good. And I like it, and I like the way he can kind of sometimes a defender is hanging on him or he doesn’t have his feet properly, he can kind of just flick it and get the ball there.

“So, those things are all good. I’m really excited to see him in a similar system, new weapons, but also new level of competition. We’re not saying Big Ten or SEC, but definitely a step up.”

Based on watching his games at North Texas last season, I can somewhat confidently say that Mestemaker has the best arm of any OSU quarterback in some time. Saying he “doesn’t have an elite arm” sounds like an insult, but again, this is in comparison to the best ball throwers walking the planet based off film where Mestemaker was a redshirt freshman.

Lastly, the guys talked about what kind of steps can be made this season. There’s been a good amount of discourse in Stillwater as to just how long the Cowboys will have Mestemaker. These two draft analyst (in the summer before the season, at least) think OSU fans will get to see No. 17 slinging the pill again in 2027.

“If he’s gonna be this guy, I gotta see a big step,” McShay said. “I wanna remind people, he’s just a redshirt (sophomore). My guess is he’s got two years at Oklahoma State, and I think that that will be best for him. …

“I say all that because if he’s gonna be this guy, which he is, I want to see the advancement. Because now he’s going into his second year as a starter, didn’t play a lot of ball in the past but now is time for the ole rinse, refine, repeat. He’s so good at making reads and so good at controlling the offense and doing those things. Now he’s gotta take it to a graduate level.”

OSU Bullets

• David Taylor called out his wrestling superpower, alma mater Penn State yesterday – could you imagine a home-and-home dual with them? (PFB)

My Top 25 Teams heading into the 2026-2027 Season! pic.twitter.com/SpGR2tI0eQ

— The Cradle Zone (@TheCradleZone) August 9, 2026

• Texas Tech-transfer Braylon Rigsby could be an X-factor at defensive tackle this fall (PFB)

•  Eric Morris raved about receiver Wyatt Young recently – pointing out a key element of why he’s got room to develop after a 1,261-yard season in 2025: 

“I think Wyatt is continuing to elevate his game at this level,” Morris replied. “He’s so new (at) the receiver position. So was Michael Crabtree. Michael Crabtree played quarterback in high school. So did Wyatt Young. He’s gotten so much more comfortable at the position and being able to manipulate defenders versus man coverage. Once we get him in space, he’s really hard to tackle. [TulsaWorld]

• Heartland College Sports has the Cowboys upsetting Texas Tech this fall – or noting the game as the most likely upset for the Red Raiders (HCS)

• Wow – Bill is buying stock in the Pokes.

ESPN’s Projected Playoff Field by Bill Connelly: Hawaii Oregon USC Indiana Georgia Texas Tech Notre Dame Texas AM Ohio State Miami Texas Oklahoma State

— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) August 9, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• The rise of the $100 hot dog • Love this model of family prayer (faith-based)

GAME 1 | GAME 2 | GAME 3 | GAME 4 | GAME 5 | GAME 6

Coming off its first loss of the season, North Texas bounced back in a big way against an in-state rival.

UNT routed UTSA 55-17 to move to 6-1 on the 2025 season in a game where the Mean Green imposed their will on the Road Runners.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against UTSA.

Wyatt Young Doesn’t Run Like a Receiver (in a Good Way)

Wyatt Young played quarterback in high school, so he’s relatively new to the wide receiver position. And in the best way possible, you can tell.

Young  is unlike many receivers I’ve seen with the ball in his hands, looking more like a running back with how physical he can be. The biggest example I can provide from this game came in the third quarter, as Young fought to the goal line after a catch, breaking one tackle and carrying another inside the 5-yard line.

Young had his best game of the season in this one, catching six passes for 102 yards and three touchdowns in just three quarters of action. The numbers could’ve been even more gaudy, but Drew Mestemaker missed him on two post route where Young got behind the defense.

They finally connected on one of those for Young’s final reception of the game: a 42-yard touchdown that pushed UNT’s lead to 45-17.

His other TDs came on a slant route that Mestemaker ripped to the middle of the field for a 20-yard TD. Then Young caught a ball in the flats for an 11-yard score.

Speaking of Tough Runners

This is not a sentence I ever thought I would type, but: Caleb Hawkins sort of has Chuba Hubbard’s hips.

What I mean by that is Hubbard always seemed to have his hips pointed toward the end zone he was running to. Hawkins is that same way. They obviously have different running styles (Hawkins seeks people to truck while Hubbard jetted away from people), but both were always looking to go north and south (or east and west in Boone Pickens Stadium).

Hawkins brings the boom to would be tacklers. According to PFF, he had 105 yards after contact in this one. One of the most brutal examples for the UTSA defense came on this play. Hawkins gained 11 yards from this moment, somehow:

He finished with 133 rushing yards on 18 carries.

Hawkins is also a demon in the check-down game. Often times when Mestemaker doesn’t have anyone downfield, he’ll dump it off to Hawkins. That puts Hawkins in space usually with just defensive backs in front of him, and there aren’t a ton of single defensive backs who are able to bring him down. He caught eight balls in this game and had 90 receiving yards.

Other Notes

• I learned that this in-state rivalry is called the “Battle of the Birds,” and it was North Texas’ homecoming.

• UTSA had a 72-yard rush on its first play from scrimmage, but after that, the yards were tough to come by. Taking that 72-yard run out, UTSA averaged 4.6 yards per play to UNT’s 7.2 yards per play.

• With a man coming free on his blindside, Drew Mestemaker spun out of this would-be sack, another example of his underappreciated athleticism:

• Eric Morris is a bit of a river-boat gambler. He went for it on fourth down in the first half from inside his 35-yard line. Hawkins put his head down and got the yard required.

• Some borderline psycho stuff late in the first half. With no timeouts and 21 seconds left in the half, Morris called a run play. It worked. Kiefer Sibley ran in from 18 yards out to give UNT a 24-14 lead at the half. It was awesome because it worked but would’ve been significantly less awesome had it not.

• Mestemaker threw a 15-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter in which he was rolling to his left. He was able to flip his hips and deliver a perfect pass to Cameron Dorner.

• Now an OSU receiver, Terrence Lewis got behind the defense late and caught a touchdown on a 37-yard go-ball from the UNT backup QB.

• This marked North Texas’ third time over 50 points this season.

STILLWATER — David Taylor is not ducking his alma mater, in fact he’s far from it.

Taylor held a rare August media availability on Tuesday, where he was asked about scheduling and particularly what it would take to get Penn State — a program that has won the past five NCAA titles — on the schedule.

“Hey, I’ll tell you what, when it comes to Penn State, I’m saving one date on my schedule every single year for when they wanna wrestle,” Taylor said. “So, as soon as they say they want to wrestle, we’ll do it. We’ll go there. If they ever wanna come back here, we don’t really care. We just wanna wrestle the best teams, and we want to challenge ourselves.

“I think the sport would really benefit from those two programs wrestling with the history and excitement of it. And if it doesn’t happen, well then the national tournament will be really exciting. But, yeah we’ll save one date every year. So, whenever they want to do it, we’ll do it.”

David Taylor dropped a bomb at his summer media availability.

He’s saving a date for Penn State.

“When it comes to Penn State, I’m saving one date on my schedule every single year for whenever they wanna wrestle. So, as soon as they say they want to wrestle, we’ll do it.” pic.twitter.com/VymGXzj8nj

— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) August 11, 2026

It’s hard to make much of an argument against Penn State and Oklahoma State being the top two programs in the sport right now.

Penn State’s recent dominance at the NCAA Championships speaks for itself, and since Taylor’s arrival in Stillwater, the already historic Cowboys have been going nowhere but up. OSU took second at NCAAs this past season, doing so while crowning three true freshmen national champs.

OSU and Penn State last shared a dual in 2017 in front of 14,059 fans inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Penn State won that dual 27-13. It was part of a four-year stretch where the two programs wrestled each other with Penn State winning three of those duals.

That stretch started during Taylor’s senior year at PSU in 2014, a dual Penn State won 23-12 in Rec Hall in State College. Funnily enough, Taylor earned a 5-2 decision win against Tyler Caldwell that day. Caldwell is now on OSU’s staff in Stillwater.

Taylor, in a lot of ways, helped lay the building blocks for the Penn State program alongside coach Cael Sanderson. Taylor went 134-3 in college, winning two NCAA titles and finishing his career with an 88.3% bonus rate. Penn State won NCAA team titles in each of Taylor’s years competing.

OSU is Taylor’s first head coaching gig, as he left Pennsylvania to take it. Since taking over, Taylor has produced five individual national champs in two seasons.

OSU’s nonconference schedule is set to be released on Wednesday, and by the way Taylor answered that question, it doesn’t look as if the Nittany Lions are on it. But the gauntlet has been put down. The Cowboys are willing to wrestle the top dogs.

“The schedule, that’s been one of those things where there’s so much more to scheduling that what you would think,” Taylor said. “It’s a lot of back and forth and — I don’t know — politics, probably, into it, which I don’t like that much about it.”

We had learned some of Brophy’s backstory this spring, when Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris told the story about how one of his first major interactions with Brophy was to bench him as Incarnate Word’s starting quarterback.

Well, it turns out that before that, Brophy was playing for Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham in high school. Sports360AZ released an excellent piece this week detailing how Brophy, now OSU’s offensive coordinator, played under Dillingham at Chaparral High School in Arizona.

“He was my first quarterback that I ever coached when I was the freshman offensive coordinator at Chaparral High School,” Dillingham told Sports360AZ. “Sean Paul Brophy was the quarterback for the team. And then my first job as the varsity OC, he was my quarterback.”

After that stint at Chaparral, Dillingham began his college coaching career as an offensive assistant at Arizona State in 2014 before climbing the ladder with stints at Memphis, Auburn, Florida State and Oregon before getting the head job at his alma mater.

Following his time at Chaparral, Brophy went to Glendale Community College for a year before transferring to Incarnate Word ahead of the 2017 season. Brophy threw for 1,277 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games in that first season at UIW, but then Morris got to town. Morris turned to freshman Jon Copeland to be the Cardinals’ starter in 2018.

“Our relationship started off not very good,” Morris said in the spring. “Not for anything he did or anything in particular, but one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had as a coach was when Sean was the starting quarterback at Incarnate Word before I got there. He was the starting quarterback all through spring ball. We had a true freshman come in and gave us a chance to be a little more mobile.

“The first time I had a sit-down with Sean was to tell him he wasn’t the starting quarterback a couple weeks before his senior season. I think there are a lot of tears shed in that.”

In some ways, that tough conversation started Brophy’s coaching career, as a few days later, Brophy was back in Morris’ office talking about how he’s going to be the best teammate possible and find ways to help the team.

Morris said he tried to talk Brophy out of coaching, saying he could make a lot of money in the business world, but Brophy wasn’t having it. Morris brought Brophy on as a quality control coach in 2021 at Incarnate Word and then took Brophy with him to Washington State as a graduate assistant in 2022.

Brophy earned his first full-time role as North Texas’ quarterback coach in 2023 and has steadily climbed up to UNT’s passing game coordinator in 2025 and is now OSU’s offensive coordinator just a few short years later.

As far as offensive minds go, Morris and Dillingham are two good names to have learned under.

As either a head coach or offensive coordinator, Morris’ and Dillinghams’ offenses have been in the top 10 in the country in yards per game a combined nine times since 2013.

Morris’ offenses have spiked at No. 1 twice, at Texas Tech in 2016 and at North Texas last season. Dillingham’s peak in the stat came when he was the OC at Memphis in 2018, leading the Tigers to the fifth-most productive offense in the nation.

Coaching under one of his former coaches, Brophy will coach against another of his former coaches when Oklahoma State travels to Arizona State on Nov. 21.

“It’s been so fun to watch his career,” Dillingham told Sports360AZ. “He’s a stud, and to see him just flourish like he’s done, I was just at his wedding, it’s super, super cool.”

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When asked for an offensive player that isn’t getting enough buzz this summer, Bowick pointed to the entire running back group. “Everybody’s talking about Caleb [Hawkins], but that whole room’s deep.

“They’re explosive, they hit the holes, they get out in the outfield, catch the ball, get upfield.”

Hawkins does command the headlines (for good reason) after his breakout freshman campaign at North Texas last season. He led the nation in rushing touchdowns and points scored and was fifth nationally in rushing yards at 1,434 and yards per carry (6.2). But Hawkins isn’t the only tailback with proven production in the room.

Redshirt senior Ayo Adeyi amassed more than 1,800 yards and 10 touchdowns over two years at North Texas, earning an All-AAC second team nod, before transferring to James Madison for the last two seasons where he’s dealt with some injuries.

Tre Page III comes in having racked up 839 yards and seven scores for Tarleton State as a redshirt freshman last season. He may be making the jump from FCS to a Power Conference team, but he brings lightning speed and big-play ability after averaging 7.5 yards per carry a year ago.

William Mason comes in after multiple productive seasons at UCO

Even KD Jones, an incoming true freshman, came in having set the record books ablaze at Oklahoma powerhouse Jenks. He set records with 4,742 rushing yards, 5,798 all-purpose yards and 67 total TDs over his prep career.

“KD, that’s my guy,” said Page. “He’s a freshman so I feel like he still has something he can learn but so far he’s made a lot of progress that I’ve seen since he got here in the weight room and on the field and in the meeting room.”

Page talked about what it’s like competing in what sounds like an underrated room, if you listen to those within the program.

“I love it because we all make each other better every day,” said Page. “I feel like you know you’ve got a competition within your group every day. We all bring our own skillset. I feel like we have the best running back room in college football.”

Although college football’s talking heads may not cosign on that claim just yet, it’s not outright hyperbole. Athlon Sport recently tabbed OSU as No. 21 when ranking running back rooms for 2026, and the group has a nice mix of productive youth and some star power. And they’ve got a prolific head coach and play caller in Eric Morris who’s got a track record for fielding a potent running game.

OSU Bullets

• A program legend came back and talked with the current Cowboy Football squad (PFB)

• 247’s Scott Wright talked with OSU’s 2027 quarterback commit Carson White in south Texas (GoPokes 247 $$$)

• Drew Mestemaker is drawing opinions – Tom Fornelli is tamping down expectations while an anonymous Big 12 coach is raving:

“The best quarterback in the league is at Oklahoma State,” a Big 12 coach said. “Accurate, sneaky athletic, can make all the throws. He’s an NFL quarterback when you watch his tape. And then you don’t think he’s athletic, but he’s way more athletic than people give him credit for.” [ESPN]

• Diving into Eric Morris’ defensive back room and his thoughts (PFB)

•  Joel Klatt’s high on the Pokes:

Thoughts on @joelklatt‘s Preseason Top 25? pic.twitter.com/P39EewUOCh

— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) August 10, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Major legislation to revamp college sports didn’t make this session, reconsidered next month

• The most meaningful work (faith-based)

It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it. If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process is to guarantee disappointment. James Clear

Oklahoma State released a video on Monday showing Brandon Weeden (2007-11) and Terry Brown (1966-68) meeting with the Cowboys after practice.

Playing together and honoring the past, present and future 🤠@bweeden3 | @OkFordDealers pic.twitter.com/Dw34bQsD1n

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 10, 2026

Weeden’s Comments

“I’ll tell ya what, I loved the juice, man,” Weeden told the team. “Loved the juice. Defense, I haven’t seen that juice around here in a few years. I love to see that, and offense, same deal, man. That’s what it’s all about. You’re gonna look back two, four, five years from now and be like, ‘Daggum, I wish I could go back and do it again.’ …

“It goes fast, fellas. It goes so fast. Enjoy this time with your buddies. When you guys are done here — I was talking to somebody earlier, Coach G, he said we haven’t had a team like this that’s been this close, offense, defense, special teams — everybody’s one the same page and looking for one ultimate goal, right? Let’s go win a championship. Whatever that championship may be, let’s go win one. …

“You get this place rocking, you get Boone Pickens Stadium rolling, you get a little juice in here, you’re gonna love playing at Oklahoma State — I promise you. When we won 12 games my senior year, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that, fellas. …

“It doesn’t get any better than that, but do it for the guy next to you. Stay cohesive good, bad or indifferent. Stay together and have fun, man. I look forward to watching you guys in the fall.”

Brown’s Comments

“When I came, Perkins Road was dirt,” Brown said. “Highway 51 was two lanes. Freshmen dressed in the bottom of Gallagher-Iba. We didn’t get to play with the varsity. …

“I see it in your attitude, I see it in the way you’re practicing, I love your practice. Coach, I don’t think you wasted a second. I was always looking for a break. …

“You guys can show this whole country what you got. Just keep that unity. That’s so important in teamwork. Keep that feeling of liking each other and liking to work with each other and getting the job done.

If you’ve found you way to this website, there’s a 99.9999% chance you know who Weeden is, but for the uninitiated, he’s perhaps the most decorated quarterback in Oklahoma State’s history.

He ranks third on OSU’s career passing yards list with 9,260 yards and second in touchdowns with 75. His 69.5 completion percentage is the best in OSU’s history among passers with at least 200 attempts.

He led the Cowboys on their magical run in 2011 where they won the program’s lone Big 12 title and won the Fiesta Bowl.

As you could tell by Brown’s comments, he comes from a different era, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t impactful.

He played on offense, defense and special teams during his tenure in Stillwater, recording 57 tackles, three fumble recoveries, six pass breakups and three interceptions as a sophomore in 1966. Then he switched over to the offensive side of the ball as a junior, catching 34 passes for 425 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 35 yards on 17 punts. He then had 54 catches for 688 yards and two touchdowns as a senior.

Brown would go on to play in the NFL and became the first Oklahoman to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. As a member of the Minnesota Vikings, Brown played in Super Bowl VIII and IX. In Super Bowl IX, he recovered a block punt in the end zone.

GAME 1 | GAME 2 | GAME 3 | GAME 4 | GAME 5

As it happens, North Texas didn’t go undefeated last year.

In a big game by Group of Five standards, North Texas hosted No. 24 USF coming out of a bye week, but the battle-tested Bulls got the better of the Mean Green in Denton, winning 63-36.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against USF.

It Was Close Until It Wasn’t

North Texas was set to get the ball back with less than a minute left in the second quarter while holding a 21-14 lead. Less than five minutes of gametime later, USF had a 42-21 lead.

This game was filled with turnovers, but they really started to bite the Mean Green about then.

USF punted with 50 seconds to play in the opening half, but Miles Coleman muffed it. USF fell on it and scored as time expired in the first half to tie it at 21.

USF then got the ball out of the break and stormed down the field in just over a minute to score again.

Then Drew Mestemaker was picked off on UNT’s third play of the next drive, and 24 seconds later the Bulls scored again.

Then a UNT receiver fumbled on the Mean Green’s next drive, and USF returned that fumble for a touchdown. All of a sudden, it was 42-21.

If you take out that five-minute stretch, this game was 42-36, but it got away from that young North Texas team in a hurry.

Mestemaker Throws First Picks

Mestemaker entered this game with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions, but he threw three picks against the Bulls.

The first was a good play by USF linebacker Jhalyn Shuler down deep in the Bulls’ territory. Mestemaker was looking to throw a slant route. It looked as if Shuler was going to run to the flat to cover a receiver before Shuler stood pat in zone and intercepted the pass.

A ballplayer, Mestemaker made the tackle after throwing his first pick of the year, though I’m sure Oklahoma State fans would prefer him not throw his throwing shoulder into a charging linebacker.

The second pick was sort of ugly. He tried to hit a receiver deep down the sideline but left too much space between the receiver and said sideline. A USF defensive back back-pedaled and snagged it.

INT No. 3 came as Mestemaker got crushed by two pass rushers and sailed the ball over the would-be receiver’s head. One of the hits on Mestemaker was reviewed for targeting, but the officials deemed it OK.

Mestemaker finished 30-for-46 (65%) for 336 yards, two touchdowns and two INTs. According to PFF, Mestemaker was pressured 13 times in this game, which is the third-most pressures he faced all season. UNT receivers also dropped four passes, the second-most drops on Mestemaker passes this season.

It’s also somewhat important to remember that this is still just his seventh start since playing on the high school freshman B team.

Other Notes

• This was the first sellout of DATCU Stadium, and even through the TV copy, you could tell that there was a much more palpable buzz than any game North Texas had played previously.

• This was North Texas’ first big game of the year, but it was sort of just another week for USF at that point.

The Bulls had already beaten a ranked Boise State team, a ranked Florida team and lost to a Top 5 Miami squad before this trip to Denton.

• North Texas showed a fun formation on fourth down early. USF called a timeout because there were 12 Bulls on the field.

• North Texas was 3-for-4 on fourth-down attempts in this game. The first of which came after that timeout. Mestemaker handed to Caleb Hawkins who plowed ahead for a first down. Then on the next play, Mestemaker pulled it with everyone running toward Hawkins, and Mestemaker slipped into the end zone.

• Now an OSU corner, Kollin Lewis made the second interception of his sophomore season. It was one he had to work for, too, essentially outrebounding the wide receiver for the ball.

• Another fun fourth down play: North Texas lined up in the wildcat formation with Wyatt Young, a QB in high school, taking the snap and running in for a touchdown.

• Miles Coleman scored on this play by simply being faster than everyone else on the field:

The play-by-play guy had a good line calling the 5-foot-6 Coleman “lightning in a shot glass.”

• Spoiler alert: Despite this loss, North Texas is able to fight back and make the American title game. This is UNT’s last loss of the regular season, but USF dropped games to Memphis (a team UNT didn’t play) and Navy (a team UNT beats 31-17 two weeks after this game).

STILLWATER — In his own words, Texas Tech transfer Braylon Rigsby was a “backseat guy” last year.

The defensive tackle entered the portal for the chance to finally be the guy, but even he wasn’t sure how his journey would play out.

“The portal is scary to begin with,” Rigsby said. “You don’t know who’s gonna come after you or whether you’re gonna get anything. … I was more confident selecting this school over anything else.”

He chose Oklahoma State because he had prior relationships with OSU defensive line coaches Ike Eguae, who followed Eric Morris from North Texas, and Mike O’Guin, who coached the D-line at Texas State from 2023-25.

Rigsby wasn’t just some guy. 247Sports ranked him as the 82nd-best defensive lineman coming out of high school, and he was ranked as the 44th-best D-lineman in the portal.

He just got lost in the shuffle as Texas Tech made the transition from occasional conference dark horse to what appears to be the Big 12’s new big bad.

“I don’t regret anything,” Rigsby said. “I enjoyed everything. I learned so much from those guys that left, like (third-round draft pick) Romello Height, (second-round pick) Lee Hunter, (sixth-round pick), (current Red Raider) A.J. Holmes, Skyler Gil-Howard, you know what I mean. I just learned so much from those guys, and I try to take it with me.”

That list didn’t even include No. 2 overall pick David Bailey. With that much talent playing at defensive tackle or on the edge, it’s hard to feel much concern that Rigsby couldn’t crack the rotation.

The 6-3, 283-pound tackle seems very much in the mix for a spot somewhere in Oklahoma State’s two-deep this fall, especially after the praise his teammates offered up at Big 12 Media Days last month.

“I’m definitely excited to show what I can do,” Rigsby said. “Like it’s been a long time coming. I finally feel like it’s there. Like why not go get it? I have the opportunity now. So that’s what I’m chasing.”

He wasn’t the only Red Raider to make the transition to Stillwater this offseason. Risgby said he and cornerback Mo Horn were best friends back at Texas Tech.

“Once I knew Braylon was in the portal, I was like, ‘Man, I’m probably looking at Oklahoma State,’” Horn said. “And then I guess they were looking at him, so I said, ‘Why not, man? Let’s go run it up over there. Keep that relationship we have.’

“That’s like a brother to me, so I’m very excited for what he has to come this season. I’m very excited that he also picked OSU, as well, because I’d hate to play against him.”

Given the national spotlight on the Red Raiders and their eventual journey to the College Football Playoff, Rigsby said Texas Tech players felt the target on their backs.

“You’re targeted most,” he said. “Everyone has their eyes on you. Everyone expects these things of you, and it’s a little pressurizing, but pressure helps build dominance.”

That experience could prove useful if Oklahoma State capitalizes on the expectations that seem to be building around the country. Rigsby said the Cowboys are chasing a great season and not just settling for a good one, and he’s not surprised that is the case.

“With our head coach’s history, he has history of turning programs around,” Rigsby said. “And he wants to do it now. So I kind of expected that coming in, starting with a fresh team and a clean slate.”

STILLWATER — When you’re talking Big 12 title picture, you have to start with Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders went 12-2 last year, winning the program’s first Big 12 title. Their lone loss in the league was a miraculous game in Tempe, but outside of that, Tech outscored Big 12 foes a combined 356-81 or by about 30.6 points a game. It was dominant stuff.

There’s reason to believe Tech can run it back. The biggest of those reasons is the fact that it’s no secret that there’s a decent chunk of change circulating through Lubbock, Texas, and in this new era of college athletics, that’s going to give you a chance even if you lost a lot to the NFL.

But there’s also reason to believe that it won’t be so simple as Tech rolling out there on Saturdays this fall and collecting wins. Not since Oklahoma in 2019 and 2020 has a program won back-to-back Big 12 titles. In fact, the league’s past six champions have all been unique, and the final five of those involved a head coach winning his first Big 12 title.

New Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris is in a unique position in that he is a Tech alum but he’ll try his best to keep that last stat going this fall.

“(Texas Tech) had one really good year and I think they built another good roster from the looks of it,” Morris said Saturday. “But that’s a cool thing about this sport, and I’ve always loved it — and just my mentality and quite honestly, I have little-man syndrome and so I’ve had it my whole life is this is a sport you got to come out, you got to prove it year in and year out, right? I think nowadays with revenue share, NIL, transfer portal, it’s created a ton of parity, and I think fans love parody and it’s healthy for the sport.”

Tech is the heavy favorite, even after news that transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby would be unable to play. FanDuel, as of writing, has Tech at -105 to win the league with BYU sitting second at +500. OSU currently sits ninth in Big 12 title odds at +2,700, also behind Utah (+850), Houston (+1,500), Kansas State (+1,600), TCU (+1,700), Arizona State (+2,200) and Arizona (+2,200). After the Cowboys, the drop gets steeper, with Baylor being +4,000 down to least-likely Iowa State and Colorado each at +10,000.

Those odds might seem long, but Indiana entered last year at +3,500 to win the Big Ten and +10,000 to win a national title.

“There’s all these new teams each and every year that are up there at the top,” Morris continued. “I think it creates that. I think obviously you look at what Houston did last year (the Cougars went 10-3). I think you look at what BYU did last year (the other Cougars went 12-2). Or what Utah’s been able to do for the last 15 or 20 years. What Arizona State did two years ago. Like there’s a lot of things that say, ‘Hey, like there’s going to be some dogfights this year and you got to go prove it and earn it each and every week.’

“I think obviously Tech’s been in the media for some different reasons right now. But they’re definitely the reigning champs. That’s who everybody’s chasing right now. And you’re going to have to prove it one way or another, whoever is deemed the champion at the end of this thing.”

Coming off a Big 12 title game appearance the season before, Oklahoma State started 3-0 with wins against FCS power South Dakota State, Arkansas of the SEC and a blowout win in Tulsa after which Alan Bowman was named the National Player of the Week.

The Cowboys entered Big 12 play as the No. 14 team in the AP Poll, but then this nightmare that OSU fans have been put through started. OSU lost the next week in a weird game against Utah and fell to No. 20. Then the Pokes got hammered in Manhattan the next weekend and fell out of the poll. They haven’t been back since.

So, that’s the set up for this: Joel Klatt unveiled a Preseason Top 25 on Monday, and sitting there at No. 25 is OSU.

Thoughts on @joelklatt‘s Preseason Top 25? pic.twitter.com/P39EewUOCh

— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) August 10, 2026

“How often do you see a team that went 1-11 start out in the Top 25?” Klatt said. “Welcome to the new, modern age of college football. Listen, I keep telling you guys that this is better than it used to be, and I kind of am proving it here. There’s so much turnover that you can immediately turn your fortune around, and I think Oklahoma State is gonna be able to do that. I really do.

“Mike Gundy, great coach. Great coach. Twenty-one years, so many 10-win seasons, a guy that I really, really respect and like a lot, but he’s out and now Eric Morris is in at Oklahoma State. Eric Morris comes in from North Texas. He led the No. 1 scoring offense in the country a year ago. Morris has worked with sort of a who’s who of quality offensive players in college football — Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward — in his career. So, you know he’s gonna get the most out of his quarterback. He did that a year ago with Drew Mestemaker, and now Drew Mestemaker is with him in Stillwater at Oklahoma State.

“I love this, completely different team. Fifty-five transfers, 17 of them from North Texas, including Mestemaker who led the country in passing. Caleb Hawkins, their running back, he led the country in rushing touchdowns as a freshman. Their slot receiver, a guy that I think is a really good player, Wyatt Young — third in the country in receiving yards last year. …

“I think that this is a really good football team that can turn it around quickly, remember, in a conference in the Big 12 where everyone’s kinda mashed together. So all of a sudden, you start winning some close games, and you can have a big bump in Year 1. I think that that might happen for Eric Morris there at Oklahoma State.”

It’s not an official poll, so we’ll still wait to see when that streak that started in 2024 is broken, but considering OSU went a combined 4-20 in the past two seasons, it’s remarkable to see the logo on such a list again.

From 2008 to 2024, OSU spent at least one week in the AP Top 25, something the orange-clad faithful probably started taking for granted given how tough the past two years have been.

That No. 25 ranking puts OSU behind four other Big 12 programs, with Klatt listing Texas Tech (No. 11), BYU (No. 14), Houston (No. 21) and Arizona (No. 24) ahead of the Cowboys entering the year. Oh, and OSU’s Week 2 opponent came in at No. 1 on Klatt’s list.

This comes after the Preseason Coaches Poll released last week and included the Cowboys in the “receiving votes” category. OSU would’ve been 37th in an expanded poll.

Pate, Again, Speaks Positively About Cowboys

Another national podcast also had some good things to say about the Cowboys.

On the Sunday episode of Josh Pate’s show, Pate introduced a game where you create a bubble of college football teams you think could be in the College Football Playoff. The winner of the game is whomever has all four teams in the semifinals while keeping their bubble the smallest.

When he started to get into the potential landmines of the College Football Playoff, Pate gave a little nod to the Cowboys.

“And then you get down to the step three of this whole process to me, which is you’ve gotta take a real, real fine-tooth comb, and you’ve gotta search for the chaos agents,” Pate said. “This is the kind of team that in the modern age of college football with how more evenly distributed the talent is, with how relatively inexperience the collection of players on a roster is, it kind of lends itself to an anything can happen. It’s like the Kevin Garnett Era of college football, and you gotta be careful that you don’t just skim over some of these teams and then come December find yourself saying, ‘I can’t believe that I didn’t look at that more closely.’

“Houston is one of those teams. I think Oklahoma State is one of those teams. Because think about yourself five years from now. In five years, is Drew Mestemaker starting on Sunday Night Football, leading a professional franchise and us looking and saying, ‘Man, you remember when he transferred with Morris up to Stillwater from North Texas. Man, if we knew then what we know now, we could’ve made a lot of money on Oklahoma State.’ Well, yeah, I’m trying to figure that out ahead of time.

“What if they’re the one that just goes full lightning in a bottle this year with all those transfers from North Texas? And what if Eric Morris ends up being one of, if not the best hires in Year 1 out of that entire hiring cycle. I’m on the fence about that.”

​Coleman was a top-three receiver for North Texas last season, catching 47 passes for 550 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed twice for 22 yards and one score.

According to Pro Football Focus, 353 of Coleman’s 385 offensive snaps came at the slot position. Based on practice sessions in front of media members, Coleman is not expected to start in the slot for the Cowboys in three-receiver sets.

PFF graded Coleman 81 on offense, making him UNT’s sixth-best offensive player, ignoring guys who saw fewer than 30 snaps.

Despite playing a starring role for UNT last season, Coleman also saw time on special teams, returning 10 punts for 42 yards and three kicks for 16.

Oklahoma State faces five other Hornung watchlisters

Oregon DB Koi Perich: In 2025 at Minnesota, he played an active role in all three phases, racking up 98 yards of total offense, returning 37 total kicks and punts for 617 yards and recording 82 tackles, including three for loss as a defensive back.

West Virginia WR DJ Epps: In 2025 at Troy, he caught a team-high 47 passes for 512 yards and five touchdowns while also finishing second in the Sun Belt with 554 return yards on 23 kick returns.

Iowa State RB Cameron Pettaway: In 2025 at Bowling Green, he finished as a First-Team All-MAC kick returner with a nation-high 33-yard average kick return on 12 attempts, which included one score. He also rushed 72 times for 365 yards and added another 139 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions.

Texas Tech WR Kenny Johnson: In 2025 at Pittsburgh, he hauled in 48 receptions for 695 yards and five touchdowns while also returning 19 total kicks and punts for 338 yards and a touchdown.

Texas Tech RB J’Koby Williams: In 2025, as a Red Raider, he finished as a finalist for this award after rushing 155 times for 868 yards and six touchdowns, catching 35 passes for 388 and another two scores and taking nine total returns back for 269 yards and a touchdown.

That’s been the case in Stillwater, with more and more people talking about the potential of high-powered offense returning to Oklahoma State by way of new coach Eric Morris and quarterback Drew Mestemaker. But not everyone is ready to anoint Mestemaker as the next big thing just quite yet.

The Cover 3 Podcast’s Tom Fornelli went on the Brandon Walker College Football Show last week, and they did a segment on transfer quarterbacks.

The segment would pin two transfer QBs against each other, and Mestemaker was first mentioned in response to a tandem he wasn’t a part of.

Walker asked Fornelli who he’d take between Penn State’s Rocco Becht and Auburn’s Byrum Brown in a question about two veterans following their head coach to a new destination, and Fornelli had this to say:

“I did a blind QB resume comparison online a couple weeks ago in response to The Athletic’s tiers for college football quarterbacks because they had Drew Mestemaker as, like, the top tier — in Tier 1 with the Dante Moores and the Arch Mannings and the Julian Sayins,” Fornelli said. “And listen, I understand that kid put up numbers at North Texas, but like, it’s a different league that he’s playing in now.

“And then I compared the stats because North Texas played in the same league as Byrum Brown did. In fact, they played each other last year, and Byrum Brown played nonconference games against Florida and Boise State and Miami. Byrum Brown had better stats than Mestemaker did last year in pretty much every category, and yet Mestemaker is the dude we’ve anointed to be the great one because he’s got the NFL prototype size. He’s got the rocket arm.”

The Athletic article Fornelli was mentioning came out late last month and included Mestemaker in the top tier of college quarterbacks alongside Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), Dante Moore (Oregon), CJ Carr (Notre Dame), Darian Mensah (Miami), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), Arch Manning (Texas) and Sam Leavitt (LSU). For what it’s worth, Brown and Becht were down in Tier 3.

As for the Mestemaker-Brown stat comparisons, have a look:

Later in the segment came a pairing that actually included Mestemaker, with Walker asking Fornelli who he’d take between the Cowboys’ new QB and Miami’s Mensah.

“Oh, Mensah — without question,” Fornelli said. “I mean, listen, I was criticizing Mestemaker earlier because of the way he was ranked in The Athletic’s tiers, which I thought was preposterous. It’s not because I don’t think he’s good. I do think he’s a very good quarterback. It’s just to me Darian Mensah has Heisman, No. 1 pick potential. I don’t think that Mestemaker has that. And then also, the cast around Darian at Miami is significantly better than what Mestemaker is dealing with at Oklahoma State.”

Some OSU fans will immediately jump to Mestemaker’s defense, but I think it’s fair to say you’d rather there be an argument of whether your quarterback is in the top tier in the sport than the issue OSU had last year of literally having a wide receiver start games at quarterback.

My defense in the Mestemaker vs. Brown debate would be that there were plenty of statistics where Mestemaker was better, and he was a redshirt freshman who didn’t play the position in high school, while Brown was in his fourth year at South Florida. One would think Mestemaker has more room to grow than Brown.

Regardless of whether Fornelli is right about Mestemaker or not, the Cowboys’ quarterback being in these types of discussions has OSU lightyears ahead of how things have felt the past few seasons. It’s safe to say no OSU quarterback has had this much said about him nationally before a season than at least Mason Rudolph in 2017.

It’s something that the local media has caught on to by the way Eric Morris and Bowick’s teammates have talked about him since the 6-foot-5, 209-pound receiver arrived from Illinois, but now he has gone national.

The Athletic released its annual college football freak’s list on Monday, which featured Bowick as the No. 66 freak in the country. This list comes with justification in the form of numbers, noting that Bowick back squatted more than 500 pounds this offseason while topping 22 mph on the GPS and a 1.36 10-yard split.

To put one those numbers in a bit of context, Google tells me that Usain Bolt’s world-record 100-meter sprint had a top speed of 27.78 miles an hour and an average speed of 23.25 miles an hour.

That speed is impressive enough on its own and then you add to it the fact that he can back squat a stocked refrigerator, and it’s starting to sound a little unfair.

Although Bowick was the only OSU freak officially on the list, Jaleel Johnson and Portland State transfer offensive lineman Shaun Torgeson also garnered shoutouts.

A 6-foot-4, 270-pound redshirt senior who has spent his entire career with the Cowboys, Johnson was noted for his 365-pound power clean while running 20 miles an hour on the GPS. How the heck can someone who weighs 270 pounds run 20 miles an hour?

Torgeson is only a redshirt sophomore, but he started all season at left tackle for Portland State last season. He comes to Stillwater with a good amount of in-game experience given his youth. The Athletic highlights that Torgeson benched more than 500 pounds and broad jumped more than 9 feet. So, that stocked fridge that Bowick can squat, Torgeson can bench. And while having that strength and weighing 302 pounds, Torgeson can also broad jump the length of a standard pool table.

There are also some freaks that OSU will run into this year. Here’s everyone on the list who is on OSU’s schedule.

No. 3: A’Mauri Washington, defensive tackle, Oregon — If you watched OSU’s trip to Eugene last season, it should come as no surprise that the Ducks have some freaky athletes. He apparently ran 20.7 mph at 327 pounds and squatted 855 pounds for two reps. Yikes.

No. 11: Devon Jackson, linebacker, Oregon — Behind Washington stands another freak. Jackson reportedly hit 24 mph on the GPS and can leap 40 inches off the ground.

No. 61 Shadre Hurst, guard, Houston — A Tulane transfer, Hurst is a former state champion wrestler who benched 475 pounds and squatted 655 pounds.

No. 62: Ben Roberts, linebacker, Texas Tech — Roberts has spent his entire career in Lubbock. He’s reportedly squatted 700 pounds this offseason and can run 21 mph.

No. 74: Kyran Duhon, edge rusher, Tulsa — OSU fans will be familiar with Duhon, as he was a Cowboy just last season. He’s apparently running 21 miles an hour, jumping 35 inches off the ground and putting up some gaudy numbers in the Tulsa weight room.

No. 79 Trequan Jones, running back, Tulsa — A transfer from Old Dominion, Jones reportedly hit 23.6 mph on the GPS while having a 42-inch vertical.

Look at The Athletic’s full list of freaks here.

Steel City = Cowboy Central

There has long been an OSU contingent in the Steelers organization, but there’s a decent chance we see a pair of Cowboys controlling the backfield at some point this season.

Jaylen Warren the Steelers Top Back

🚨 DEPTH CHART UPDATE 🚨

Jaylen Warren has officially been named the Steelers’ RB1 on the latest depth chart.

• RB1: Jaylen Warren
• RB2: Rico Dowdle
• RB3: Kaleb Johnson

Warren enters the season as Pittsburgh’s lead back.#NFL #Steelers pic.twitter.com/HORa7zOwwX

— The Standard (@TheStandard412) August 5, 2026

Warren has done nothing but impress in his four seasons in Pittsburgh. He’s coming off a career-best 958 yards and six touchdowns after starting 15 games last season.

Mason Rudolph has also impressed his new head coach and seems to be on the way to locking up the QB2 role behind an aging Aaron Rodgers. As Rudolph has learned in the past behind Ben Roethlisberger, he’s just one turned ankle from leading the offense.

#Steelers HC Mike McCarthy on Mason Rudolph:

“I’can’t tell you how pleased I am with Mason Rudolph…he throws it better than I ever knew.”

Rudolph is still listed as QB2 on the first #Steelers depth chart

— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) August 6, 2026

And it looks like there’s a solid gap between he and the rest of the QB pool.

Per sources, the #Steelers plan to trade Will Howard following the preseason.

If there are no suitors, they will plan to stash him on the practice squad.

They will keep

-Aaron Rodgers
-Mason Rudolph
-Drew Allar pic.twitter.com/9V7ulXZE5x

— Larry Foster (@LarryFosterNFL) August 6, 2026

Tylan Working on Earning a Spot in The Land

Although he had a handful of eye-popping plays that endeared him to Ravens fans, Tylan Wallace was never quite able to secure a breakout role in Baltimore. But now he’s landed and Cleveland and appears to be taking advantage of his clean slate.

🏕️ pic.twitter.com/R7kvVcp5Fb

— Tylan Wallace (@OfficialTylan2) August 6, 2026

Wallace is currently projected as second-string wide receiver according to Ourlads, competing for targets behind the likes of Jerry Jeudy and touted rookies KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston.

The second-to-last play of the day was also a standout for the #Browns offense.

Tylan Wallace with an impressive contested catch. pic.twitter.com/kwfYYxWBbd

— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) August 3, 2026

Shedeur Sanders up next in the late-game situation. Finds Tylan Wallace for the TD pic.twitter.com/CdxsdZxSjW

— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) May 27, 2026

Ollie Gordon Could be an Every-Down Back

Ollie Gordon had his ups and downs with the last coaching regime in Miami, but he appears to have a fresh start and a vote of confidence from his new head coach.

Jeff Hafley says he wants to see Ollie Gordon compete to be an “every down back”:

“I think he’s capable of doing it. Ollie has flashed and knows what he’s doing. He has great speed, he has great size, and he can catch the ball out of the backfield too.” pic.twitter.com/7JyeHMJK1g

— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) August 3, 2026

He finished his rookie season with 70 carries for 199 yards and three touchdowns.

Chuba Involved in a Practice Scuffle

The veteran Panthers running back got in a dust up with teammate defensive tackle Bobby Brown III last week. Whether it was just a case of heightened tensions after a few weeks of practice or what, it sounds like it was Chuba who boiled over. He apparently threw a punch at Brown and threw the helmet of his 6-4, 332-pound teammate.

Hubbard saw his carries drop off with the emergence of second-year back Jonathon Brooks last season. He’s still the projected starter for 2026 but saw his production cut in half in 2025 after rushing for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024.

Tyler Lacy Gets a Shoutout

There’s another former Cowboy defender making a name for himself in Motor City.

Tyler Lacy may be one of the most important under-the-radar players on Detroit’s defense.

He isn’t the explosive edge rusher everyone keeps asking for. His value is in how many jobs he can handle. Lacy can play as a heavy defensive end, slide inside, help set the edge against… pic.twitter.com/rGIwWVmK1a

— Steve Leaman (@InsideDLions) August 5, 2026

After spending two years in Jacksonville, Lacy landed in Detroit ahead of last season and made four starts for the Lions. At this rate, he could be in for an increased role.

Shoutout Tyler Lacy pic.twitter.com/Uk4Nph2y5z

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) July 31, 2026

Other Notes:

Cowboy-on-Cowboy Crime

Edge Collin Oliver with a nice couple plays in team. Beats TE Drake Dabney to stuff a wide run and then beats Dalton Cooper for a “sack” that would’ve sent Tyrod Taylor to Narnia in a real game. Last year’s fifth rounder only played one game as a rookie because of a hamstring…

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 2, 2026

Rodrigo Stood Out but Suffers Setback

Lions LB Malcolm Rodriguez left practice early to be evaluated for an ankle injury, per @ttwentyman pic.twitter.com/fu1HV4m0eh

— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔦𝔱 𝔗𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 📰 (@the_det_times) August 4, 2026

AJ Green garnered a shoutout in Miami.

AJ Green Is Standing Out at Dolphins Camp 🔥 #ajgreen #dolphins #nfl pic.twitter.com/FEO396MTcl

— Locked On Dolphins (@LockedOnPhins) August 6, 2026

Tanner is in the mix.

Keeping an eye on the kicker battle.

Tanner Brown’s turn today.

5-for-6 today. 15-for-17 overall in camp. pic.twitter.com/BDcDzyNuuK

— NOF (@nofnetwork) August 5, 2026

ANOTHER 4-POINTER 🤯‼️

Tanner Brown is good from 63-yards 🔥@DynastyFP 4-Point Field Goal pic.twitter.com/Jqp63Ed7Ks

— Louisville Kings (@UFLKings) June 8, 2026

OSU Bullets

• A look at what Caleb Hawkins’ workload might look like this fall. [PFB]

• Carson and Colby recap OSU’s football media day. [PFB]

• How Eric Morris, a former receiver, became pro-run game. [PFB]

• How Drew Mestemaker refused to accept no for an answer. [The Oklahoman]

• A look at OSU’s offense.

Here’s almost a minute of the #OKState up-tempo offense with Drew Mestemaker leading the way. pic.twitter.com/oS88AHT6mo

— Jacob Unruh (@jacobunruh) August 8, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Whoa on both fronts. 

Good god who threw that? https://t.co/TW4bEGP2Ru

— Blain Crain (@Blain_Crain) August 8, 2026

• Top storylines from NFL training camp. [Ringer]

You know what helps the show and helps us make more shows? When you rate us on Apple Podcasts or subscribe to our pod: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | SoundCloud.

As always, we appreciate our sponsor Chris’ University Spirit and Echo Contracting.

Support PFB with a PFB+ membership — $8 a month or $50 for a year.

​At least 12 of those seasons, Morris coached an offense that ranked 16th or better.

​But make no mistake, running back Caleb Hawkins is not simply a product of the system. In many ways, he breaks it.

​Ignoring last season and 2020 (fewer games), Morris’ No. 1 running back averages 147 carries per season. That’s 84 carries fewer than Hawkins finished with last season (231).

​Only former NFL running back DeAndre Washington finished with more, carrying the ball 233 times for Texas Tech in 2015 while playing alongside Patrick Mahomes.

​Every other back under Morris has fallen short of 200 carries. In fact, his other top backs have finished with 188, 177, 150 and 144 or fewer carries, so the drop in workload comes quickly.

​That gap between Hawkins and the rest looks a lot larger if Morris knew what he had in the freshman last August. Had he been the starter from the beginning, even Washington’s numbers would fall below him.

​“Early last year, we didn’t know how much he’s playing,” Morris said on Saturday. “So, we were on a program, see what he was at after four games.”

​Hawkins played 31 total snaps in his first two games, putting him behind two other UNT backs. He hit double-digit carries for the first time in his third game at Army, which went to overtime. He still finished second on the team in carries and running back snaps in that game.

​Then came his fourth game, when he rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns while also catching two passes for 78 yards and a third score against South Alabama.

​It would be hard to imagine the UNT coaching staff even discussing redshirting him after that one, especially considering he took the starting role for the remainder of the season.

​This fall, there’s no question that Hawkins will be both a starter and a workhorse for the Cowboys. At first glance, that puts the sophomore running back on pace for something like 250 carries this year, but in this case Morris is hoping to fix something before it breaks.

​“I thought there were times we probably put a little bit too much on him, to be honest with you,” Morris said. “It came back, he got hurt the first drive of the conference championship game, and it changed the outlook of what was going on.”

Hawkins’ total touches (carries and receptions) exceeded 25 four times in the regular season, highlighted by a season-high 36 touches against Navy on Nov. 1. From Oct. 18 through Nov. 28, Hawkins touched the ball 155 times across six games.

All of that caught up to UNT when Hawkins fumbled the ball, for only the second time that season, on the second drive of the American Conference Championship game. That game served as a de facto play-in game for the College Football Playoff.

“It wasn’t smart for me (giving him that workload), and then the second drive of the game, I leave him in cause he’s as tough as anybody,” Morris said. “He’s never going to tell you he can’t go. That’s just what type of kid he is, which I respect that. He didn’t fumble all year, and then he’s carrying the ball in a hurt arm and fumbles second drive of the game and ends up spiraling a little bit.”

No one will challenge Hawkins for top billing this season, but North Texas’ No. 2 back finished the season with 161 fewer carries. Morris made it clear on Saturday that he would like for one of the other guys to step up so they can shrink that gap a bit this fall.

“His running style, they only have so many carries in him,” Morris said. “Like we want to have a rotation and we want to be able to have some of these guys kind of take the workload off of him at times.”

Morris is undoubtedly a Leach disciple, having played and coached under the Pirate, but one thing that differentiates Morris’ Air Raid scheme from Leach’s is an emphasis on running the football.

“If he looked at my script today and saw how many plays I’ve threw on the inside, he probably wouldn’t agree with it much,” Morris said with a chuckle. “He’d spend that time playing a little bit more 7-on-7. I just think any time you can force your will on an opponent and run the ball to finish out football games, and on the other side, when you can stop the run. I’ve been a part of teams where we’ve been really good on offense, can’t stop the run. Turns into long seasons for you. It’ll be something that’s definitely a huge part of this camp.”

In Leach’s 21 years as a Division-I head coach, nine of his teams didn’t even rush for 1,000 yards. His 2012 Washington State squad ran for just 349 yards all season. His 2014 team ran for 478 yards, and his 2020 Mississippi State team rushed for just 483 yards.

In Morris’ three seasons as a Division-I head coach, his teams have ran for at least 2,000 yards in each season — a number a Leach team never hit. The most was his 2016 Wazzu team that ran for 1,575 yards.

And it isn’t that Morris grew up with a fondness for pounding the rock in his heart. He was a slot receiver at Texas Tech, meaning he was having more fun when the ball was in the air.

As a junior in 2007, Morris had 767 receiving yards, and he had 771 receiving yards as a senior in 2008. That means there were seasons when Morris had more receiving yards than an entire Leach team would have rushing yards.

But it got to the point early in Morris’ coaching career that he started to note a trend.

“I think I really studied the first time when I became a head coach at Incarnate Word,” Morris said. “I think I was tired of at Texas Tech multiple times being the No. 1 offense in the nation and not having any championships that come along with it. So, I did a big study that year, and really, I studied. There were people winning championships that would call that they’re throwing the football and spreading it out a little bit. The Clemsons, at that time, were throwing the ball all the time. LSU, at that time, was throwing the ball and winning championships. And so really, when I went back and studied, we were running the ball for about 60 to 70 yards a game, and the people that were in the championships were rushing for about 150 to 175 yards a game, and that was a huge factor, kind of consistently with conference champions at different levels and with the national champions.

“So that’s something that we really took that study and tried to apply it on what our philosophy was in our game planning at Incarnate Word. As we started winning championships, we kind of married up with it, and same thing kind of last year with our team. I mean, we were an explosive offense and holistically, but we also are really efficient running the football.”

That study still holds true today. Of the past five national championship teams, none have averaged fewer than 160 rushing yards a game, with the average of those five teams being 188.98 rush yards a game.

Morris won two Southland Conference titles in four seasons at Incarnate Word, his first head coaching gig.

His 2018 championship team ran for 1,765 yards, or 160.5 a game. Incarnate Word got back to to the top of the Southland Conference mountain in 2021, Morris’ last year with the program, by running for 1,654 yards (127.2 a game).

That’s something he further expounded upon at North Texas, his second head coaching gig, where his Mean Green teams averaged 182.2 yards a game across his three seasons in charge.

It’s a similarity Morris shares with former OSU coach Mike Gundy. Gundy was known for his high-powered offenses, but that didn’t mean Gundy’s Cowboy teams were all pass. Chuba Hubbard led the nation in rushing under Gundy in 2019, and Ollie Gordon did so in 2023.

Morris’ passing scheme this upcoming season will probably more closely resemble some of the things Leach did, but it’ll come with a little (or a lot) more running mixed in.

Of the 113 guys on the roster, Justin Bowick’s name was said three times. The 6-foot-5, 209-pound Illinois transfer receiver might just be a freak.

“An offensive player — Justin Bowick, for sure,” tight end Oscar Hammond said. “He’s a great player, man. Throw the ball up, he’s gonna catch it. He’s a great deep threat. He’s just a man. He’s a great player, too, and off the field, I like him. He’s a great guy. He’s a good buddy of mine.”

“I’d say Justin Bowick’s a guy on offense that’s gonna be an animal — for sure,” kicker Sam Keltner said. “… We do flying 10s (a 10-yard velocity sprint) in the offseason, he would win about every one of them. He was running like in the 1.3s, which is quick. Me on a good day is running like a 1.52, which I’m feeling good about. It’s insane how athletic he is. He’s really hard-working. I see him in the weight room doing extra stuff all the time, so he’ll be a dude for sure.”

Those 10-meter dashes were something new Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris mentioned when he met with the media earlier this week.

“I think Justin Bowick is a guy that has a skillset to play this game for a long time, has the length and speed,” Morris said. “I think he had our fastest timed 10-meter dash this summer at 6-foot-5, so a guy that is looking like a 4.4, 4.3 guy at that size is a guy (I’m) super excited about.”

It seems unfair that a guy could be 6-foot-5 and one of the faster guys on the team.

It hasn’t exactly all come together for Bowick on a Division-I football field yet, but there’s reason to believe it’s coming.

Out of Atlanta, Bowick started his career at Eastern Illinois. Across two seasons at the FCS level, he caught 48 balls for 749 yards and eight touchdowns before transferring to Ball State ahead of the 2024 season.

That year in the MAC was Bowick’s best to date .. and he did it in just four games. Bowick started four games with Ball State while redshirting, and in that time he caught 20 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns. In his last two games that season, Bowick caught 15 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

Last season was Bowick’s lone year at Illinois, where in a dozen games he caught 22 passes for 265 yards and five touchdowns, which tied a team lead.

But the Illinois offense and Morris’ OSU offense aren’t exactly the same thing.

The Illini had a good season last year, but Illinois ranked 78th nationally in total offense at 373.8 yards a game. The Illini ranked 58th nationally in passing, throwing for 235.8 yards a game. At North Texas, Morris’ offense ranked first nationally (512.4 yards per game) while the Mean Green’s passing offense ranked second nationally (318 yards a game)

“I think if you look at the difference of offenses and how we’re going to attack people and how Illinois attacks people, two totally different schemes,” Morris said Saturday. “And we’re really going to put together some creative ways to utilize that speed and that length on the perimeter. So he’s worked hard this whole entire summer.

“I got a 10-year-old that’s eaten up with football right now, so we come in the afternoons to the indoor just to get some drills in and all those things. And almost every time I went in there, Justin Bowick’s in there whether he’s catching jugs, working on his craft.”

Bowick said Saturday that he can already feel how differently his skillset is being implemented.

“Ever since OTAs and the winter, I’ve been used a lot differently this year and spread all across the field, used different ways, run different routes,” Bowick said. “So, I love it.”

OSU Bullets

• GoPokes 247 did a great job summarizing yesterday’s media day for Cowboy Football – here’s the video if you want to watch it (GoPokes 247 + YouTube)

•  Conversation with tight end Oscar Hammond, who left North Texas for a year and reunites with Eric Morris (PFB)

• Probably one of the more intriguing players on the roster – OU transfer and offensive tackle Jacob Sexton talked about the fresh start at Oklahoma State after losing last season to injury (PFB)

• Drew Mestemaker will be a problem for Big 12 teams (HCS)

• The misfits in Stillwater – I’m here for creating a chip on our shoulder:

“Our mantra this year is, we call ourselves the misfits.” Eric Morris on the importance of building confidence in a roster with 88 new players. pic.twitter.com/INPxKnUIp4

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) August 8, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• How to have a great family movie night • Wrestling with “your will be done” (faith-based)

“Clarity isn’t about knowing what you want to do with your life, it’s about knowing what you want to do this week. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step.” James Clear

If you ever wondered where “wall street” came from: 

In the 1640’s the Dutch inhabitants of New Amsterdam built a 12 foot wall to keep the
“bad people” out. In 1664 the British ignored the wall and took New Amsterdam by sea. It’s now called New York. They took down the wall and built a street, which is now called Wall Street. pic.twitter.com/mLrH7SUhQH

— Today In History (@historigins) August 8, 2026

A tight end out of Collinsville, Hammond transferred to Oklahoma State from North Texas ahead of last season but missed the entire year after suffering an injury in camp. A year removed from that downer, Hammond has rejoined many staff members and players from his year in Denton.

“Whenever I found out, I was like, ‘Wow,'” Hammond said. “I thought it was crazy, just how everything happens. Like I’ve told a lot of people, it’s God’s plan, you know. Everything happens for a reason. When I found out, I was really excited — great coaches, great staff. I loved my position coach (Drew Svoboda) there, too.”

Hammond said Morris hasn’t changed a ton from when he played for him in 2024 and now, joking that OSU’s new coach “knows how to get on our butts.”

As remarkable a story that Hammond’s coaching staff got hired at the school he transferred to is, Hammond’s individual journey is just as impressive.

Hammond had virtually no Division-I recruitment coming out of Collinsville, where he won a state championship as a senior while starting on both sides of the ball. So, he started his college career at Central Oklahoma in Edmond, where it was evident pretty early on that he had been overlooked.

As a true freshman for the Bronchos, Hammond played in nine games, catching 25 passes for 327 yards and a touchdown. His next year was even better, catching 33 passes for 463 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games as a sophomore.

That led to Morris and Co. grabbing Hammond out of the portal ahead of the 2024 season at North Texas, and the jump from Division-II to Division-I didn’t slow Hammond down too much.

Hammond was the Mean Green’s lead tight end in 2024, catching 19 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. He caught one more pass than a freshman Wyatt Young did that season. Hammond had at least one catch in nine of the 10 games he took part in, which included a four-catch, 69-yard outing against Stephen F. Austin, also scoring his TD in that game.

Morris spoke about what Hammond’s brings to a tight end room earlier this week.

“I think Oscar’s, obviously, your guy that’s a hybrid, that’s a great receiver,” Morris said. “You can split him out. You can match him up against linebackers and have the advantage. He’s a great pass catcher, great route runner.”

That standout year with North Texas led Hammond back to the portal and Oklahoma State, the school he grew up cheering for.

Quickly, Hammond had jumped from D-II to Group of Five to Power Conference football.

“I always knew I wanted to play at this level no matter what,” Hammond said. “I grew up being an OSU fan, so I’m very excited to be here. I’m very excited for this season. I’m very excited for everything we’ve got going on. I’ve always wanted to play here.”

Who knows with modern eligibility rules, but hypothetically speaking, last year should’ve been Hammond’s final year of college given he started playing as a true freshman. But that injury in camp meant he had another year on the horizon, and little did he know when he suffered the injury, it’d be with Morris.

“It was tough,” Hammond said. “Whenever I got hurt, it was definitely hard on my mental at first, but as I’ve thought about it and as everything kinda happened, I just realized how thankful I am. I believe that everything happens for a reason, so I’m just thankful I have another year. I’m able to play again. The grind doesn’t stop here, so I’m very excited.”

Hammond’s lone year in Denton was Drew Mestemaker’s true freshman season.

As Mestemaker was going from not playing quarterback in high school to climbing the Mean Green depth chart, Hammond was on the field playing.

Hammond said he remembered catching a few balls from Mestemaker in practice, and when all this Denton-to-Stillwater movement started happening, Hammond’s father reminded him of something his son had shared with him.

“I had told my dad about him,” Hammond said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, we got a young quarterback that’s pretty good.’ I couldn’t really remember that, but my dad told me I did tell him that. I just thought it was funny because to see his positioning now, I’m so happy for him, man. It’s so good to see what he’s done and what he’s capable of continuing to do. I’m so happy for him, man. Great kid. I remember him being a great guy at North Texas, being a good guy coming in. Always been a great guy with a level head.”

​On Saturday, he detailed who is competing at the position, what their strengths are, and then described the other guys competing for time throughout the secondary while he was at it.

The head coach started with the two most would pencil in as the favorites to start, Mo Horn and LaDainian Fields.

“Mo Horn, he’s a really savvy, veteran guy from right down the street in Tulsa,” Morris said. “Played a ton two years ago at Texas Tech. Had an injury or two here or there, but we like where Mo is. He’s kind of the old veteran of the group.”

Horn played a career-high 806 snaps for Texas Tech in 2024, then played only 108 last season. He started the first game in a position battle, but injury sidelined him for multiple weeks, effectively taking him out of the mix.

“LaDainian Fields, obviously he played good at the end of the season last year,” Morris said. “When he came back, he has the skillset to be great. Now he’s gotta be able to finish and go make some plays. But he’s a guy that has a skillset that hopefully we can eliminate a side of the field and allow him to play a lot of bump-and-run and man coverage out there.”

This was one of the most complimentary things Morris said about a defensive player on Saturday, but in the moment, this also felt like a challenge from the Cowboys’ head coach.

Fields played 254 snaps across the final eight games last season and worked his way firmly into a starting spot. His season-long Pro Football Focus grade of 77.2 was second-highest among all the defensive backs Morris discussed on Saturday.

Both Fields and Horn were at corner with the first-string defense when they faced off with the offense in front of media members during Saturday’s practice.

It would seem the two favorites to unseat them, or at least work into the rotation on the field, would include North Texas transfer Kollin Lewis and Vanderbilt transfer Trudell Berry.

Lewis has familiarity with the coaching staff, having played 437 snaps at North Texas last season. PFF graded him out at 75.9 overall, which makes him the third-best DB mentioned by Morris on Saturday.

Berry, on the other hand, is a bit of an unknown, having last played 176 snaps in 2024 and 326 in 2023.

“Lewis is a guy coming over that had a good season for us last year at North Texas, continues to develop,” Morris said. “Trudell Berry we got in late this summer from Vandy. Same thing, he’s played a lot of football, continues to get better each and every day.”

Sophomore returner Kobi Foreman is one of the rare young Cowboys that the coaching staff chose to retain, and he seems to be working his way into the conversation at least as a dark horse option.

Foreman only played 23 total snaps on defense last season, but did flash some skills on special teams late.

“Kobi Foreman is a guy that is a little bit smaller, but his tenacity is unmatched out there,” Morris said. “A guy that really loves to compete. So yeah, those battles over these next couple weeks will kind of tell what type of playing time and what kind of rotations we’re about to put out there.”

The Oklahoma State head coach seemed more confident about his starting safeties, mentioning four guys, though one, Christian Bodnar, was described as a nickel on Saturday, which lines up with where he played in the spring and at Liberty. He was also at that spot with the first-string defense on Saturday.

“I think he’s a guy that is gonna be really, really a household name by the end of this thing,” Morris said. “With just how well he can play man coverage in the slot. He’s a great blitzer off the edge. We can be aggressive with him. He tackles well in open space.”

Safety Evan Jackson has played 1,393 snaps of college ball, all under Morris at North Texas across the last three seasons.

“A guy that needs to take the next step this year,” Morris said. “Evan’s kind of one of those guys we’ve had meetings about. There’s been times he’s flashed, he’s shown he’s got the ability to be great, but he hasn’t put it together consistently for a whole season. He needs to take that next step.”

However, it was another UNT transfer that played with the first-string defense in Saturday’s limited viewing period.

Quinton Hammonds played 1,027 snaps for Morris at UNT in the last two seasons, but missed time in the spring due to injury. He also earned a mention from his head coach on Saturday.

“We moved Quinton, he played nickel for us last year,” Morris said. “We think he fits a little bit better as a strong safety for us. He’s such a great tackler. And that guy’s put in those positions a lot of different times. Really changed his body. He had one of the best transformations, in my opinion. He looks as good as he’s looked.”

The other safety seen with the first string on Saturday was Markeith Williams, who last played 192 snaps for Miami in 2024. He left the team last September and was a late addition to the Cowboys’ class this offseason.

He wasn’t included in Morris’ breakdown of the secondary, but was mentioned when asked about recent additions to the roster.

“A guy that’s kind of shown he can make some plays for us,” Morris said. “Played quite a bit at Miami. When he got here, a little bit undersized. Didn’t know if he was gonna play, so he needed to put on some weight. He was a little skinny. He’s done a nice job. I think he’s gained 12 or 13 pounds right now. He’s gotta gain five or six more pounds just so his body can hold up.”

Williams is listed at 6-2 and 175 pounds as of Saturday.

The last guy Morris mentioned when discussing safeties was Missouri transfer Mose Phillips. He finished with a PFF grade of 77.3, which tops this list, last season after playing 149 snaps across eight games. He also played 1,000-plus at Virginia Tech across 2023 and 2024.

“Physically has all the tools, played in the SEC, smart kid,” Morris said. “He’s on the front row of meetings. He’s taking notes. He’s got a veteran mentality about himself.”

​Mestemaker was infamously never given the starting job in high school, and he was hard-pressed to even get a last-minute walk-on opportunity at North Texas.

“I think there was more frustration,” Morris said, describing Mestemaker’s mindset back in those days. “But then too, getting the opportunity at that level, like he was just so happy to be in the conversation and be in the room and thankful at that point.”

Of course, Mestemaker earned his place at UNT in large part because he made a great first impression on Morris.

“Just super polished as a passer,” Morris said. “You know, there was zero wasted movement in his throwing motion, which is something we look for. … Drew was as good as anybody I’d seen, just as far as some of those mechanics were.”

At this point during Saturday’s press conference, Morris sidetracked a bit while praising QB1 and revealed a little bit of his process for recruiting and developing quarterbacks. He didn’t elaborate on specific mechanics, but Morris did say Mestemaker checked a lot of boxes on the “little things, detail-wise” that he looks for when recruiting quarterbacks.

High praise given Morris’ track record with quarterbacks, and it was the second or third time since December that the Cowboys’ head coach has stopped just short of suggesting he prioritizes different things than most of his peers when evaluating high school quarterbacks.

“When they get to this level, these kids have thrown so many footballs,” Morris said. “We really don’t try to tweak their upper body mechanics. You know, we’ll try to speed some things up, make them faster, but really think we can really fine-tune some things in the lower half and how that works together.”

Numerous times, Mestemaker has insisted he never lost faith that his football journey would lead him to a starting gig in college and eventually the NFL. Although even he can appreciate how that must sound to everyone else.

“Some people probably called me crazy for thinking that,” Mestemaker said in February. “But I think that’s kind of the mentality you have to have. … I’m forever grateful for Coach Morris for taking a chance on me.”

Although he never gave up, Morris said the version of Mestemaker that first stepped foot on UNT’s campus needed the kind of confidence boost that only comes through experience on the football field.

“I think he was a little gun-shy at that point,” Morris said. “I mean, I think you know, obviously, you gain confidence by going out there and proving yourself on Saturdays.

“Now, that was something I saw grow throughout camp, and we got into scrimmages. You could really see, as he started learning, gaining more confidence by the time that last scrimmage comes and he knew he was battling for the number two position. That was probably the first time you’re like, okay, like this kid’s got some fight in him.”​

That fight eventually put Mestemaker in the driver’s seat to become UNT’s starting quarterback in 2025, which allowed him to finish first nationally in passing yards (4,379), second in passing touchdowns (34) and 14th in completion percentage (68.9%).

Morris knew Mestemaker had the physical tools immediately, but the coach didn’t realize how smart he was until a couple of weeks or more had passed.

“How well he retained information,” Morris said, describing the mental traits that set Mestemaker apart. “How well he processed when the bullets were flying, when things were moving in front of him. And so that’s been the fun part for me.”

Morris added that he’s excited to be working with a quarterback for a third season. Mestemaker only started one game as a freshman in 2024, a 30-28 loss to Texas State that saw him finish 24-of-41 for 393 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed nine times for 55 yards and a touchdown.

He only played a reserve role in four other games that season, but his entire college career has been in the Morris offense.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to coach a third-year quarterback in a really, really long time,” Morris said Saturday. “And so I think just the familiarity of it. Yesterday after practice, I was watching Tulsa, and Drew came in and sat down, and we sat there for 45 minutes, being able to talk through things.

“And he’s starting to see things like we are, and asking questions, ‘Hey, coach, what do you think about this? You know, if we motion this guy here, how are they going to trade it off?’ And so, just the wheels are always spinning. Really high football IQ, and so it’s been fun to see that (growth) happen in real time.”

Sexton finished his high school career as a four-star recruit in the 2022 class. He started getting Division-I offers in 2019 leading up to his commitment to OU in the summer of 2021.

His second recruiting process, when he entered the transfer portal this past offseason, wasn’t so long.

“It was a lot faster than I thought it would be,” said Sexton on Saturday at OSU’s Media Day. “Coming from high school recruiting, where it takes years, whereas here, it takes days. It happened a lot faster than I thought it would, but I was lucky enough that this was my first visit and I knew this is where I wanted to go. So it worked out very well for me.”

Getting on the field as a Sooner wasn’t an issue for Sexton. It was avoiding the injury bug.

Sexton played in 10 games as a true freshman in 2022. He made four starts in 2023, eight starts in 2024 and started last year’s season opener before an injury saw him miss the remainder of the season. Now, he’s in line to start at tackle for the Pokes.

Coming into his first year at a new school, Sexton has trimmed down a bit, according to first-year coach Eric Morris. That’s obviously relative, as Sexton is a gargantuan human, listed at 6-foot-6, 328 pounds. When I shook his hand Saturday, mine disappeared entirely.

“Jacob’s done a great job, especially in the offseason just changing his body,” Morris said. “This is the leanest he’s ever been. He’s gotten heavy at certain points in his career. Both of our tackles – him and (Ashton) Lepo – are just big human beings, 6-6, 6-7, long guy. And both of them kind of have the same story. They’ve played. They’ve battled some injuries, and they just haven’t gotten the results that they’ve wanted, right.

“Sometimes a change of scenery is a good thing for these kids and allows them to mentally reset just because this game is obviously so taxing from a physical standpoint playing up front. And then frustrating I think. When you get into a situation where you’re a starter somewhere and you go through injuries and the frustration of feeling like you can’t perform.”

Morris noted this isn’t the first time he’s had a player coming off a stretch at a school that didn’t go how they wanted. Morris pointed to one of his former quarterbacks as an example.

Chandler Morris (no relation to Eric) started his career at OU in 2020 before spending three seasons at TCU. He played a bit in each of those seasons but never played a full season until he got to Morris and North Texas in 2024, where he threw for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns leading to a nice NIL deal at Virginia for his final season where he again played well.

Eric Morris said he still talks to Chandler’s dad all the time, saying his dad often expresses gratitude for restoring Chandler’s love of the game.

“I always tell our kids belief is one of the most powerful drugs in sports,” Eric Morris said. “Belief in themselves, number one, and then carrying it on to your teammates and coaches. So, we’ll have to work through some of that stuff, psychology. I think they have stuff in their heads, some people on our team. That when they’re coming from a negative situation, I gotta do a good job mentoring them to getting the belief back in themselves where they do think when they go out there they can do it at a high level.”

As far as the mental toll of his injuries, Sexton said Saturday that he’s in a good spot.

“I’m doing great,” Sexton said. “I’m doing great. Everything has been really smooth here. I’m focused on staying healthy, doing everything I need to do to get me through the season so that way I don’t have any issues on the field. So, that’s been my biggest thing this offseason.”

In a lot of ways, OSU and Sexton are after the same thing this season in Stillwater.

“Just a new opportunity,” Sexton said. “It was a full restart for everybody here. I feel like that’s something I needed anyway, as a team too. To be able to step in and have that same mindset, I think that’ll be huge for us.”

Three Thoughts

• The Big 12 schedule for the Pokes is more friendly than it comes across – assuming you have a positive outlook on the Cowboys. 

OSU is picked to win 3.5 games in the Big 12, while they play five games against other teams also projected to win 3.5 games. (TulsaWorld)

• Fun look behind the curtain with Eric Morris – from nutrition to playcalling with Drew Mestemaker and defensive terms (PFB)

• A Big 12 blog circled in on OSU-Oregon as one of the top non-conference games – a competitive game is a win for the Cowboys and the conference.

 If the offense can get rolling, like it has in recent years at North Texas, this could be a fun game to watch with fireworks all over the field and a high scoring game between both teams. Oregon will be the big favorite, but if the Cowboys can even come close to pulling off the upset, that would be great for the program and the conference as a whole. [HCS]

Two Quotes

• Kind of wild how slow the state of Oklahoma was to induct Terry Miller compared to the National College Football Hall of Fame.

Terry Miller

🤠 College Football Hall of Fame (2022) 🤠 Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame (2026) Absolute legend pic.twitter.com/pgnFmNCNwr — OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 7, 2026

• Wow – impressive that someone has Wyatt Young as a top ten receiver in college football:

The Top 30 College Football Wide Receivers Entering The 2026 Season 🏈 pic.twitter.com/57ayesNtB3

— College Football Report (@CFBReport) August 7, 2026

One Question

• Where will the season Wyatt Young has put him among great Cowboy receivers of the last 15 years?

Non-OSU Bullets

• The internet’s trickiest lawn mowing game • Don’t set your hope on tomorrow (faith-based)

The Protect College Sports Act up in the air for legislative approval, has the following distinctives: 

Here’s most of what the current version of the bill would do:

Provide antitrust protection for: One-time transfer rule Five years to play five eligibility No professional athletes returning to college Creating an agent registry and a 5% max fee Push the revenue sharing cap from $21.3 million to $48.8 million $22 million retention pool $5 million women’s sports pool Create a strict verification process for any other NIL deals – they have to be with outside entities and not connected to the school at all Limits conference size to 19 (basically a Notre Dame clause for the Big Ten) Any team moving from power league to power league has to be independent for 5 years Coaches can’t leave their team before the season ends [Open For Business]

 

If there’s one thing I’ve always said it’s that you can’t lose to South Alabama at home.

North Texas didn’t last season, beating the Jaguars 36-22 to move to 5-0 on the season.

In preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season, we’re going back and watching North Texas’ 2025 season. Here are some takeaways from this game against South Alabama.

Hawkins Carried UNT to the W

Caleb Hawkins broke out at just the right time in North Texas’ previous game against Army because, boy, did North Texas need him in this one.

He finished this game against South Alabama with 16 carries for 140 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 78 yards and another score — which came on a ball he caught in the flats and took 68 yards to the house.

It marked the first 100-yard performance of Hawkins’ young career, and he hit that mark after contact alone, with PFF crediting 115 of his rushing yards after contact. He forced 11 missed tackles.

Hawkins ability to keep moving forward is impressive. It’s like he has bumpers on him the way he bounces off would-be tacklers.

South Alabama scored and converted a two-point conversion with 6:11 to play to cut UNT’s lead to 28-22 before Hawkins went beast mode to put this on ice.

On the Mean Green’s ensuing drive, Hawkins had a 10-yard reception and three carries for 57 yards and a touchdown. He left a cavalcade of would-be tacklers behind him on the 27-yard touchdown run.

Through his first four games in college (he didn’t play in the Western Michigan game), Hawkins has carried 42 times for 307 yards (7.3 yards per carry) and seven rushing touchdowns while catching seven passes for 120 yards (17.1 yards per catch) and another touchdown. Seems good.

Other Notes

• There were signs that most of UNT’s personnel would be Cowboys before too long. Here’s how the broadcast opened:

Color commentator Dustin Fox even made a “Should’ve been a Cowboy” reference.

• Miles Coleman scored North Texas’ first touchdown of the day on a reverse, and guess who provided the touchdown-sealing block? None other than QB1.

• Ethan Wesloski intercepted a pass and finished with four tackles and a tackle for loss.

• This was probably Mestemaker’s worst game thus far, as he finished with 234 yards and a touchdown while completing 54% of his passes.

That’s obviously relative. Last season, OSU had more than 234 passing yards just twice.

• Mestemaker (illegally) completed a pass to left tackle Braydon Nelson, who is also now a Cowboy.

Nelson caught the ball, tucked it and turned before being brought down. It was called a penalty because offensive linemen aren’t allowed to have fun.

• UNT enters a bye week at 5-0. It’s the Mean Green’s first 5-0 start since 1959 — two years after Sputnik 1 launched.

New defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity marks OSU’s sixth defensive coordinator in as many seasons, going back to Knowles in 2021. Bryan Nardo is the only coordinator in that stretch that spent two seasons calling the Cowboys’ defense, but even that is a little misleading, as he ran his 3-3-5 in 2023 before OSU shifted back to a four-man front in 2024. Then last season alone, the Cowboys had two D coordinators in Todd Grantham, who was fired just four games into his OSU tenure which made way for Clint Bowen on an interim basis.

Since that magical run in 2021, no OSU defense has allowed fewer than 4.3 yards per carry. The best the Cowboys have ranked in the Big 12 in yards per carry allowed since 2021 is ninth, which happened in 2023 (when the Big 12 had 14 teams) and in 2022 (when the Big 12 had 10 teams).

The peak of OSU’s run game yuckiness came in 2024 when the Cowboys ranked last in the Big 12 and 126th (of 134) nationally, giving up 5.41 yards per rush. That ranks worst in OSU’s history — at least going back to 1940 when such stats were kept.

A good run defense often starts with good play on the defensive interior. OSU’s defensive tackle group has had some question marks about it this offseason, but on Wednesday, new OSU coach Eric Morris talked up some depth in that position group going into fall camp.

“I think getting Iman (Oates) back was huge for us in that regard,” Morris said. “Another big experienced body in there that really is taking care of business over the course of the last seven or eight months and learned the defense. But feel really good. Saadiq Clements is a guy who knows it. Jerry Lawson’s a guy that’s played in this defense under Coach Cassity at Abilene Christian. We have Savion Barthelemy’s new … that’s 315 pounds and super athletic. 

“Enai White is a guy. Braylon Rigsby. Those two are three techniques that are super athletic in there, I think can really rush the passer. So yeah, I think defensive line wise, as far as numbers, athleticism and guys I think that can really affect the game is something I feel really good about right now.”

One thing that initially stands out about OSU’s defensive tackles is that from simply a numbers standpoint, the Cowboys are deeper. OSU has 11 guys listed at defensive tackle on the 2026 roster. OSU has averaged 7.3 defensive tackles/nose guards the past three seasons, peaking at eight in 2023.

As we continue to learn this roster of newcomers, here’s a bit about each of the guys Morris mentioned:

Oates — A rare returner, Oates has gone most of this offseason not knowing whether he’d be able to play in 2026. Recently a judge granted him a temporary restraining order against the NCAA so that he could return to the practice field, but his status for in-game action is still somewhat up in the air, depending on how quickly the legal process moves.

Out of Tulsa-Edison, Oates played one season at NEO in 2022, where he secured 44 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and six sacks. He redshirted at OSU in 2023 before playing in all of OSU’s games the past two seasons, totaling 39 tackles, five tackles for loss and two sacks.

Saadiq Clements — Listed at 6-foot-4, 310 pounds, Clements is a North Texas transfer who began his college career at Louisville in 2023. He played in two games across two seasons at Louisville, with last season being his first and only at UNT.

He played in all 13 of the Mean Green’s games, finishing the year with 30 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Jerry Lawson — Speaking of Louisville, that’s where Lawson joins the Cowboys from, but he also has experience with Cassity.

Listed at 6-1, 312 pounds, Lawson played in all 13 of the Cardinals’ games last season, where he made 16 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Before that he played in 25 games across two seasons at Abilene Christian. The first of those seasons (2023) came with Cassity as defensive coordinator. In his two years at the FCS level, Lawson combined for 106 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks — some nutty numbers for a defensive tackle.

Savion Barthelemy — Per the roster, Barthelemy (a true freshman) weighs 286 pounds, but based on Morris saying he’s at 315 pounds, he seems to have added some weight since being in a college program.

Barthelemy hails from New Orleans by way of Belle Chasse High School, where he also played some tight end. He was at one point committed to Jimmy Rogers at both Washington State and Iowa State before the Cowboys were able to secure his signature.

Enai White — White has Power Conference experience, having played at Texas A&M and Penn State.

He appeared in eight games for the Nittany Lions last season, making three tackles, including a sack. He played in 14 games at A&M between 2022 and 2024, making 11 tackles and three sacks in that time.

Braylon Rigsby — Rigsby garnered some shoutouts from his teammates at Big 12 Media Days last month. Listed at 6-foot-3, 283 pounds, he comes to Stillwater after making a College Football Playoff run with Texas Tech last season.

He played in all 14 of the Red Raiders’ games in 2025 as a redshirt sophomore, finishing with six tackles. He played in a dozen games as a redshirt freshman in 2024, finishing with 18 tackles, and three tackles for loss.

Morris also gushed about returning defensive end Malik Charles on Wednesday.

He’s listed at 284 pounds on OSU’s roster, but Morris tabbed him at “300-plus” pounds, saying he can help on the inside and the outside.

Another guy to look out for is Fatafehi Vailea II, another UNT transfer.

Vailea had been a starter for the Mean Green in each of the past four seasons. An injury after four games last season ended his year early. In that game he got hurt in, he had 10 tackles — which is absurd for a DT.

Oklahoma State released its nonconference women’s basketball schedule on Friday, which revealed that the Cowgirls will be making a trip to play Dawn Staley and South Carlina on Dec. 6 in Columbia.

Here’s the nonconference schedule in full:

The Cowgirls will have a good idea where they stand come mid-December with back-to-back games against South Carolina and Oklahoma (in OKC).

A sneaky good game on that schedule is OSU’s trip to Brookings, South Dakota on Nov. 15. The Jackrabbits have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the past four seasons and made the tournament 14 times since 2009. They’ve won five Summit League titles in the past six seasons.

Jacie Hoyt’s squad has gone through a massive amount of turnover this offseason, but it has set up the most talked-about team for Cowgirl Basketball in some time.

Among the players Hoyt and Co. added are Iowa State transfer Audi Crooks and Florida transfer Liv McGill.

Crooks was a two-time All-American at Iowa State. She averaged 25.8 points and 7.7 rebounds a game for the Cyclones last season.

A guard, McGill transferred in from Florida after averaging 22.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.6 steals a game last season as a sophomore.

Those two join up with Stailee Heard, Hoyt’s lone returner from last season. A two-time All-Big 12 selection, Heard has averaged double figures in each of her first three seasons with the Cowgirls, averaging 13.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists through 96 games at OSU.

OSU Bullets

• Eric Morris talked about the backup battles for quarterback and running back (PFB)

• Steve Lutz’s Cowboys are heading to Charleston this winter (PFB)

• Loved hearing this quote from Eric Morris about his quarterback Drew Mestemaker: 

“Drew is so far advanced in this offense and understanding what I like as a playcaller. He’s anticipating things so much faster. “There’s still a fun aspect to it and allowing his brain to continue to think, because he is so sharp.” [GoPokes 247]

• Mike Boynton was interviewed about landing the Michigan job (CBS Sports)

• Jaylen Warren may be at risk of losing his starting job in Pittsburgh (CBS Sports)

• Two Cowboys in the top 26 – does that feel right?

The top 30 greatest College Basketball coaches of all-time 📋🐐 pic.twitter.com/grY9ZycSKw

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) August 5, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• The cost of happiness around the world • Fix your attention span, biblically (faith-based)

Oklahoma State will take part in the 2026 Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic this November.

This is the second time in three years that the Cowboys have taken place in the inter-conference exhibition with Steve Lutz taking his first Cowboys squad there in 2024-25. But none of those Cowboys are on this roster.

This will mark the third time the Pokes have taken part in the tournament. OSU went 1-2 on that most recent trip to Charleston, with an 80-74 win over Miami (Fl.) sandwiched by losses to Florida Atlantic and Nevada. This year the field consists of Dayton, Minnesota, Northwestern, Utah and Virginia Tech.

The Cowboys are 0-2 against Dayton all-time, but the two teams haven’t met since 1983. Both were road games. The Flyers have posted five consecutive 20-win seasons and are coming off a quarterfinal finish in the NIT last season.

OSU is 3-5 against Minnesota having dropped the last two outings to the Gophers in 2018 and 2019.

The Pokes defeated Northwestern 86-81 in the Thanksgiving Classic last November in the two programs’ only meeting. Five Cowboys scored in double digits led by Jaylen Curry’s 18.

The Cowboys are 6-2 all-time against the Utes and 2-1 since they joined the Big 12 to start the 2024-25 season. OSU swept Utah last season.

OSU is 0-5 against Virginia Tech with all of those games occurring since 2010. The Cowboys and Hokies most recently met in Brooklyn in 2022 with a 70-65 decision Virginia Tech’s way.

Entering its 18th year, the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic moved to a two-game format in 2025. The teams will play Friday, Nov. 20 and Sunday, Nov. 22. Specific matchups and times are to be determined.

The Mean Green advanced to 4-0 after a weird game in West Point that featured the emergence of one of the nation’s best tailbacks.

North Texas beat Army in overtime 45-38 (OT) in Week 4 of the 2025 season to remain unbeaten in what was a fun, but odd, game.

We’re rewatching North Texas’ 2025 season in preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season. Here’s what stood out about the Mean Green’s game against Army.

Welcome to the Show, Caleb Hawkins

After performing well in garbage time of North Texas’ Week 3 win, Caleb Hawkins was tasked with more responsibilities as the Mean Green traveled to New York, and boy did he make the most of it.

After carrying the ball 13 total times in the first three weeks, Hawkins carried 13 times in this game against Army and turned those totes into 99 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

He scored twice in the first quarter, as UNT raced out to a 21-0 lead. Neither of those first quarter TD runs were overly flashy, but they were an example of Hawkins’ ability to just keep churning forward.

After carrying four times in the first quarter, Hawkins got just one carry in quarters two and three, but when the game was in the balance late, Morris and Co. went back to him.

Hawkins had six carries for 50 yards in the fourth quarter, including a 21-yard touchdown run where it looked as if he was shot out of a cannon once the hole opened up.

Then he got the rock twice in overtime, with one of those carries being a game-winning, 3-yard touchdown.

A Great, Weird Game

This thing looked like another blowout early, but credit Army for finding a way back into it.

UNT was up 21-0 before Army got off the mat.

The Black Knights scored with 37 seconds left in the half to cut UNT’s lead to 28-14. North Texas nearly got into field-goal range in those final 37 seconds but couldn’t quite get the kick off as the kicking team rushed on the field with no timeouts.

Army then got the ball out of the half and scored again, cutting UNT’s lead to 28-21.

It still felt like things were in North Texas’ control.

A phantom hold call took back what would’ve been a game-icing touchdown for UNT before the Mean Green later went for it on fourth down and didn’t get it.

Then an Army player fumbled, but the ball just got out of bounds before a North Texas defender fell on it. Then Army’s quarterback threw a yolo fourth-down ball down the field that was caught and turned into a 68-yard touchdown.

It couldn’t get any worse for UNT, right? Wrong. Makenzie McGill fumbled when UNT got the ball back and tried to run out the clock, and Army was able to go down and kick a field goal to send it to OT.

North Texas resumed its dominance in the overtime period, scoring rather quickly.

It was a good OT period for UNT-turned-OSU defenders, as well.

Saadiq Clements and Ethan Wesloski made back-to-back tackles for loss to get Army behind the chains. The Army quarterback then scrambled on third down, but big defensive tackle Fatafehi Vailea II ran him down and shoved him out of bounds before the line to gain. That would be Vailea’s last contribution of the season, as he got injured on the play.

That brought up a 4th-and-5, where Army was unable to convert a pass, and the game ended.

Sure, it would’ve been nice for North Texas to navigate that game a little more cleanly, but after all that stuff didn’t go their way at the end of the fourth quarter, the Mean Green showed some resolved and left 4-0.

Other Notes

• Army beat Kansas State in Manhattan the game before this.

• Like in the last game, UNT’s defense created turnovers early with three takeaways in the first half, which helped the Mean Green open up that lead.

New Cowboys were involved in two of those turnovers, as Keviyan Huddleston fell on an errant pitch and Vailea forced a fumble. Here’s Huddleston’s Stone Cold moment:

• North Texas has started on the front foot in all of its games thus far. UNT outscored its opponents a combined 48-10 through the opening quarter of its first four games.

• Miles Coleman was Mestemaker’s primary target in this one. He finished with eight catches for 74 yards.

They kept hitting him on quick screens, like this fun one:

• Wyatt Young caught a 6-yard TD pass on a sick quick fade concept. Mestemaker put the ball right on the money.

• Neither team punted this entire game.

Eric Morris is well aware of that and on Wednesday, even went so far as to acknowledge one of those what-ifs that no Oklahoma State fan wants to even voice out loud. What if QB1 goes down?

“Obviously, I think what Oklahoma State went through last year, you get excited about a kid, starts off good and then series two or three he’s out for the rest of the year, and it’s like, ‘Holy crap, what do we do now?’” Morris said.

The rather ominous turn in that quote was largely unprompted, though the Cowboys head coach was asked to evaluate his backup quarterback options. Morris wanted to go there so he could voice his comfort with the depth of the position.

“Coach (Sean) Brophy does a phenomenal job with that,” Morris said. “I think Grant (Jordan) is a seasoned veteran, he’s played football, he’s been around it, he’s installed. Super smart and continues to get better. And then Brodie’s a guy who’s right on his tail right now. A young guy who got all those reps in the spring. We’ll give them a ton of reps and scrimmage live situations and see who can put it all together.”

Freshman Broderick Vehrs continues to linger in the backup competition, and Morris’ quote lines up with the relatively even performance media members have seen in limited practice viewings from both Vehrs and Jordan, who completed 57% of 110 pass attempts for 595 yards and three touchdowns last season at UMass.

Prior to that, Jordan started nine games at Yale in 2024 and finished the season with 1,938 passing yards and 22 touchdowns after completing 66% of his 250 pass attempts.

Oklahoma State also has a guaranteed superstar at running back in Caleb Hawkins, but the Cowboys have some question marks behind him at the position.

Ayo Adeyi seemed like a favorite when spring began, considering he was Morris’ top running back in 2023 when he rushed for 1,017 yards and six touchdowns. However, he only carried the ball 44 times during the last two seasons at James Madison, in large part due to a season-ending injury after two starts in 2024.

“I think Ayo’s gotta stay healthy,” Morris said. “He knows that. He’s somebody that’s been banged up the last couple years.”

Freshman KD Jones was the No. 24 back in the nation, according to 247Sports, after he rushed for 1,264 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior at Jenks.

“He could push for some playing time this year. … I could definitely see him getting some reps this year,” Morris said at Big 12 Media Days.

Tarleton State transfer Tre Page rushed for 839 yards and seven scores last season, but he and Central Oklahoma transfer William Mason (735 yards and five touchdowns last season) have as much experience against Power Conference foes as Jones.

In fact, between the three of them, Page is the only one to even face an FBS team. He averaged 6.4 yards and scored once on 14 rushing attempts against Army last season. That alone might suggest he’s the guy to beat unless Adeyi can recapture who he was back in 2023.

Still, it sounds like Morris expects to rotate through several guys this season. Three UNT backs topped 55 carries last season with a fourth finishing with 45.

“KD has shown some explosion and has matured a lot,” Morris said on Wednesday. “Tre Page is super fast. He has speed to take it the distance. William Mason is a bigger, stronger kid — 225 pounds. They all have a little different skill set. I think we’ll use the majority of them in different situations.”

Last season, Oklahoma State tight ends accounted for 17 catches. Under Eric Morris, North Texas tight ends nearly doubled that number, bringing in 32.

Those numbers start to get a little closer as you continue to go back. Over the past three seasons, OSU tight ends were responsible for 60 catches, while North Texas tight ends brought in 68 balls. OSU’s numbers were juiced in 2023 by Josiah Johnson, who caught 22 passes as part of OSU’s 27 tight end catches. But in 2025 and 2024, OSU tight ends had 33 catches to UNT tight ends’ 57.

How exactly Morris will use the position group in Stillwater remains to be seen, but in discussing the position after Wednesday’s first fall practice, Morris praised the group’s ability to be multifaceted. He ran down just about the whole room and gave thoughts on each guy.

Morgan McPhaul: Listed at a bruising 6-foot-2, 265 pounds, McPhaul joined the Cowboys from the Virginia Military Institute this offseason. He’s made 23 starts across the past two seasons.

In 2025, McPhaul caught 15 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown.

He’s from Kinston, North Carolina and went to high school at Arendell-Parrott Academy, where he primarily played running back on an eight-man football team.

“Morgan McPhaul is a guy, if you looked at him, looks a little bit more like a tight end,” Morris said. “But he’s a guy really as we watched him over the course of the summer, he can really run and he has a great skillset to catch the football.”

Oscar Hammond: Morris is familiar with Hammond, as the two spent the 2024 season together at North Texas before Hammond transferred to OSU in 2025 and Morris got the coaching job in Stillwater for 2026.

Hammond missed his first season as a Cowboy with injury but has made an impact basically everywhere else he has been.

In his lone year at North Texas, Hammond played in 10 games and started six times where he caught 19 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. He had at least one catch in nine of UNT’s games.

Before that, Hammond (out of Collinsville) got his college career started at UCO. He earned third team All-MIAA honors as a true freshman after catching 25 passes for 327 yards and a touchdown before again being an all-conference third teamer as a sophomore after catching 33 balls for 463 yards and four touchdowns.

“I think Oscar’s, obviously, your guy that’s a hybrid, that’s a great receiver,” Morris said. “You can split him out. You can match him up against linebackers and have the advantage. He’s a great pass catcher, great route runner.”

Bodie Boydstrun: Now listed at 6-foot-5, 239 pounds, Boydstrun’s college career started at quarterback, as he walked on at Southwestern Oklahoma State out of Oklahoma Bible Academy (another eight-man football program).

Boydstrun started two games as a true freshman quarterback in 2023, throwing for 134 yards. He then moved to tight end in 2024, playing in 10 games and catching three balls for 49 yards before being an all-conference selection last season after catching 14 passes for 191 yards and three touchdowns.

“I think Bodie is a big guy that can do some inline tight end stuff,” Morris said. “Big body. Physical. You can put his hand in the dirt. You can run some power behind him. All those different things.”

Donovan Green: All of the guys mentioned to this point had to work their way up different divisions of college football. That wasn’t the case with Green, the group’s presumed starter.

Listed at 6-3, 238 pounds, Green was a Top 5 tight end in the 2022 recruiting class, initially choosing Texas A&M over offers from Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Florida LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Ole Miss, Penn State, Texas, USC and others — basically anywhere he wanted to go.

He had an outstanding freshman campaign in College Station, catching 22 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns, but an injury in fall camp the next year sort of derailed things.

He transferred to LSU ahead of last season and played in all 13 of the Tigers’ games, catching two balls for 40 yards.

“Donovan Green is a little bit of everything, right?” Morris said. “And Donovan’s an old soul. We call him the old head around here. He’s been through a lot. He’s seen it. His body looks good right now. He’s had some injuries in the past.”

Carson Kolb: Lastly, Carson Kolb has already had a cool moment in Stillwater before even taking an in-game snap.

A transfer from Oregon State, Kolb joined the Cowboys as a walk-on this offseason before quickly being put on scholarship.

Scholarship. Earned. 🤩@CooperLai4 @HarrisonD2003 @CarsonKolb3 #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/V4FlVdlPyf

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) June 19, 2026

Kolb played in all 12 of Oregon State’s games last season, excelling on special teams, something that has apparently stuck out about his short time in Stillwater.

“Carson Kolb is a guy that walked on that we ended up putting on scholarship because he’s provided such experience, especially on special teams,” Morris said. “A guy that’s going to start on all four special teams, and then do some spot stuff for us at tight end.”

Morris met with reporters following Oklahoma State’s first fall practice on Wednesday, and he was fairly open about some of his different processes as a coach — like his early-bird film watching.

“I’m an early-morning riser, so usually I’m sitting in my chair anywhere between 4:30 and 5 a.m. to be able to get ahead and watch tape,” Morris said. “But countless hours, and then it’s something even at night, now we have the capability and the technology that I can take cut-ups home with me. After we put the kids to bed, I can lay in bed and sit there on an iPad and go through some cut-ups.”

As will be the case almost any time Morris talks this season, he was asked about budding-star quarterback Drew Mestemaker.

Morris poked fun at Mestemaker’s fall camp mustache but also discussed how much further along Mestemaker is going into his redshirt sophomore season. In discussing that, Morris (also the Cowboys’ play-caller) broke down his process for how the Saturday play-sheet gets put together with some collaboration.

“We always meet on Thursdays and the quarterback brings in the thing and he’s gonna list out his favorite plays and he’s gonna list out his five least favorite plays,” Morris said. “And usually, those five least favorite plays get cut, and it doesn’t matter if I love the play as the guy calling it. If he’s not comfortable with it, there’s no reason I should try to force it.

“We’re so far along in that in operation, and I already know there’s certain concepts he doesn’t like, doesn’t see well, doesn’t fit his style. He always wants answers and checkdowns. So we try to get those where they’re readily available for him.”

Like Mike Gundy drawing up plays on an equipment trunk in Columbia, Missouri circa 2008, the offensive side of the ball gets more of Morris’ attention, given he is the playcaller. But that doesn’t mean he’s totally hands off with Skyler Cassity’s defense.

Morris noted that he gives Cassity some freedoms, but those freedoms take streamlined communication.

“I give coach Cassity a lot of autonomy, and he’s able to make a lot of decisions,” Morris said. “For it to work that way, we’ve got to meet a ton and be on the same page, right? We’ll designate time throughout camp. We’ll sit down and we’ll just go down the entire roster. Feel like that’s a good way. At times, I’ll go into the D-staff room and just get a quick runaround about where our kids are, what they’re doing well, what we need to improve on. And in team meeting segments, I know the defensive verbiage. So I think it’s good for me to get up there and to address the defense, for them to know I know what I’m talking about.”

And it wasn’t just on-the-field aspects Morris was open about.

Between the indoor and outdoor portions of the Sherman E. Smith Training Center sat a snack bar of sorts with everything from fruit snacks to pickles or the players to grab.

Morris discussed how much weight guys can lose in a given practice day, especially in the Oklahoma August heat. But by the end of the day, the guys are expected to get that weight back on — one way or another.

“They weigh in before practice, they weigh in after practice and they weigh in at night before a team meeting,” Morris said. “If they haven’t gotten their weight back, they stay up here and they drink shakes with us. Nutrition is a huge part to what we do here.”

The PFB crew rolled three deep into the Sherman E. Smith Training Center on Wednesday morning to get a look at Oklahoma State’s first practice of the fall. Here are some of Devin Wilber’s best photos from the day. You can see his full gallery here.

OSU Bullets

• Three position battles for fall camp for the Cowboys (PFB)

• Talented redshirt freshman Carl’veon Young switched from linebacker to defensive end in fall camp (PokesReport)

• Forgot to highlight this earlier in the week – Carson’s interview with Bill Haisten was/always is a must listen, great stuff (PFB)

• Eric Morris highlighted this receiver when talking about the first day of practice (yesterday) – Illinois transfer Justin Bowick. 

“I think Justin Bowick is a guy that has a skillset to play this game for a long time, has the length and speed,” Morris said. “I think he had our fastest timed 10-meter dash this summer at 6-foot-5, so a guy that is looking like a 4.4, 4.3 guy at that size is a guy I’m super excited about.” [PFB]

• Gosh, what a big difference during those four tenures of quarterbacks. Spencer Sanders was talented, but the Jim Knowles defense and an NFL running back and receiver feel more the cause for those 30+ wins than his play. 

Going back to 2005, Oklahoma State is 111-36 (75.5%) with these four fellas at starting QB:

Zac Robinson 24-13
Brandon Weeden 24-3
Mason Rudolph 32-9
Spencer Sanders 31-11

With anybody else, the record is 59-63 (48.3%).

I think this Mestemaker season is gonna be awesome.

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) August 4, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Solid blog post calling folks to not let AI replace some important moments as humans

•  Gosh, this Seth Godin book on marketing was amazing – hard to believe it was written 20+ years ago

This is hilarious. 

𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚: A guy has gone viral for being forced to play a full round of golf without a ball with complete strangers as punishment for losing his fantasy football league.

One of the greatest punishments we’ve ever seen.

😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/0pQihWmJZt

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 5, 2026

If he can deliver on even half of those, he could find himself earning a starting job in the NFL as soon as next year.

Despite all that noise, coach Eric Morris still sees the same old kid he coached at North Texas.

“I see him as a goofy young kid still,” Morris said following the first practice of fall camp. “It’s so funny to see him kind of flip the switch on game day and turn into such a fierce competitor. Because off the field, in the office, he’s a guy that’s fun-loving, jokes around.

“His voice still hasn’t dropped yet. Somebody that has a quirky little voice. Dealt with the same thing with (Patrick) Mahomes always. Always picking fun at him. (Mestemaker) grew a mustache for camp. I told him, it’s not a great mustache. But he has a fun kid’s side on the side.”

Although his character has remained the same despite the move into the Big 12, Morris does expect an even better quarterback this fall in his second year as a starter.

“Drew is so far advanced in this offense and understanding what I like as a play caller,” Morris said. “He’s anticipating things so much faster. And then, two, it’s been fun to see his creative side come out this summer. When we did some player-run practices this summer, we allowed him to script the whole practice and put his spin on some stuff. Then the receivers are sending back a play of a design Drew had that scored a touchdown and going, ‘Coach, we should probably put this in.’ There’s still a fun aspect to it and allowing his brain to continue to think because he is so sharp.”

It has been a minute since Morris had a returning quarterback. Current NFL starter Cam Ward played for him at Incarnate Word in 2021 and Washington State when Morris took the offensive coordinator job there in 2022.

Statistically, Mestemaker is easily the best of Morris’ three UNT quarterbacks. He beat the next best UNT starter under Morris by more than 600 passing yards, and his 68.9% accuracy is nearly six points better.

Now that guy gets the chance to prove he can be even better, and Morris thinks that familiarity will help him as well.

“I know what he likes, and I know what he doesn’t like,” Morris said. “We always meet on Thursdays, and the quarterback brings in the thing, and he’s gonna list out his favorite plays, and he’s gonna list out his five least favorite plays. And usually, those five least favorite plays get cut. And it doesn’t matter if I love the play as the guy calling it. If he’s not comfortable with it, there’s no reason I should try to force it. We’re so far along in that in operation, and I already know there’s certain concepts he doesn’t like, doesn’t see well, doesn’t fit his style. He always wants answers and checkdowns. So we try to get those where they’re readily available for him.”

That’s not the only change Morris has noticed this fall.

“I think really building off leadership qualities, and you saw some of that today,” Morris said. “I mean, super vocal in the huddle, super vocal when a receiver’s split wasn’t where it was supposed to be. So he’s been able to take charge and almost be a coach out there, as opposed to a receivers coach screaming across the field that we’re lined up wrong, Drew sees it like that, and he’s able to go in and address that for us.”

Game 3 of North Texas’ 2025 season was the Mean Green’s second blowout win of the year.

North Texas hosted Pac-12 foe Washington State in Denton and proceeded to throttle the Cougars essentially from the opening kickoff, with the game mercifully ending 59-10 in UNT’s favor.

Here is what stood out as I continue my rewatch of North Texas’ 2025 season in preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season.

Turnover City

Skyler Cassity’s group had its best performance of the young season in this one, forcing five first-half turnovers as part of this route.

Two of those turnovers were secured by player now at Oklahoma State, with safety Evan Jackson and corner Kollin Lewis both picking off passes.

Jackson nearly housed his, returning it 60 yards before being brought down.

Lewis nearly had an interception on the play before he actually had one, with the one he was able to hold on to being a finger-tip grab.

A cool part with turnovers for UNT last season is that once the player with the INT or fumble recovery gets back to the sideline, he gets draped in a green championship belt before clanging two drinks together Stone Cold Steve Austin style while standing on the bench. Here’s Stone Cold Kollin Lewis:

Outside of the turnovers, there was some good open-field tackling going on from Quinton Hammonds and Lewis.

It was 42-3 at halftime.

UNT held Wazzu to 211 yards of total offense for the game. Only 64 of those yards came on the ground, with the Cougars running for a measly 2.3 yards per carry. Washington State didn’t score a touchdown in this game until there was 1:57 to play and starters were long gone.

Here is a look at stat lines for players now on OSU’s roster:

Quinton Hammonds (S) — seven tackles, one TFL
Evan Jackson (S) — four tackles, one INT
Fatafehi Vailea II (DT) — two tackles
Kollin Lewis (CB) — two tackles, one TFL, one INT
Keviyan Huddleston (DE) — two tackles, two sacks
Ethan Wesloski (LB) — one tackle
Saadiq Clements (DT) — one tackle

The Caleb Hawkins Train Gets Rolling

It remains funny that this season is going to end with Caleb Hawkins being the national leader in touchdowns because he, again, wasn’t a big piece of this game until late.

He finished the game having played 15 snaps, carrying eight times for 50 yards and scoring his first touchdown.

It all came late. UNT’s first drive of the fourth quarter was the Caleb Hawkins show. He carried six times for 44 yards and that score while also catching two passes for another 19 yards.

This is the game before the game for Hawkins, as he’s about to truly breakout against Army, but he made the most of this garbage-time opportunity here.

Mestemaking It Look Easy

Drew Mestemaker’s line: 24-for-29, 211 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions.

That’ll play.

Through three games in his first full season as a starting quarterback, Mestemaker has thrown for 764 yards, nine touchdowns and no picks. And two of these games have been absolute thumpings, where Mestemaker hasn’t had to play much in the second half.

I’m not exactly sure how to put this, but how he hits guys in the back of the end zone raises my eyebrows almost every time.

He had a couple of those in this game, hitting tight end Tre Williams III in the back corner of the end zone before this ridiculous play where he rolled to his right and threw across his body, hitting Landon Sides.

Through three games, I’m not breaking any news here when I say Mestemaker has looked incredible.

Other Notes

• It’s not like this Wazzu team was horrible either. The Cougars finished the season 7-6, nearly beating No. 4 Ole Miss in Oxford, losing 24-21. The next week, Wazzu dropped a close one to No. 18 Virginia, 22-20.

UNT won its first three games by a combined score of 149-40. Those three opponents went a combined 25-12 while not playing North Texas last year.

• Sort of a small world thing going on with this game. Follow along.

Eric Morris had two stints on Washington State’s staff. He now coaches at OSU.

Jimmy Rogers was Washington State’s coach a year after taking South Dakota State to Stillwater in 2024.

Rogers is now the head coach at Iowa State. Morris is now at Oklahoma State. The two will meet again this season in Ames.

• The tight end might be all the way back in Stillwater. All three of these guys are tight ends:

The guy on the far side (Brandon Young) went in motion toward the other two. Mestemaker called for the snap when Young got close to his position-mates and quickly threw to Young with the other two being his lead blockers for a touchdown. Fun play, and fun use of tight ends.

Morris met with reporters after the opening day. We’ll have plenty of coverage over the coming days from that media scrum, but here are five things that initially stood out.

1. Initial Takeaways from Day 1, Morris Challenges Toughness

The first question Morris fielded on Wednesday was if the first practice went as expected.

“I thought the excitement was there,” Morris said. “I think at some point — this is my eighth year of being a head coach, and it goes back to the same thing. There’s a bunch of anxiety for a lot of people on Day 1. That just seems to happen. Even as much as we get to meet and practice during the summer and go over installs, just the first day you’re out there with your helmet on, it’s happening in real time.”

When the media was first let in on Wednesday morning, I walked down the west sideline of the indoor facility and noticed some puke on the ground. Practice hadn’t even officially started yet. It sounds as if the Oklahoma heat might’ve gotten the better of some of the guys.

“We had some guys that couldn’t finish practice today, so toughness is gonna be a major factor,” Morris said. “I’ve gotta go back and watch the tape and see why that happened. Obviously it’s super hot out here, but we gotta get a lot tougher from this point on before our first game. All of those issues will be addressed. There was some good mixed in there today. I think we had some guys that performed well, came out here and handled like pros, were in shape, but overall I felt that we had too many people that were gasping for wind at the end of practice.”

That led me to asking Morris how you coach toughness.

“Going through hard things, I think, and really seeing how people respond to adverse situations,” Morris said. “It’s tough to do what we’re doing right now with the heat and to come out here mentally and physically put it together for a training camp. Not like the olden days, like the two-a-days, right, but to be able to come out here and be focused in this heat and physically and mentally do it.

“And two, I think it’s a little bit different now. There’s a little bit of an NFL approach to it because these guys are rewarded financially in such a way when they go out and perform, and so much is riding on it for them and their families. So, I think I’ve seen that be a good thing as far as these kids being able to push through because there’s something that they’re gonna be rewarded with on the back end.”

2. Freshmen Receivers Starting to Creep Up the Depth Chart

With all the new faces entering via the transfer portal, there hasn’t been as much discussion about the Cowboys’ freshman class as their might usually be, but Morris name dropped a few rookie receivers who stood out.

“Jabarie Thornton has been a guy that’s a young kid that I think is continuing to improve,” Morris said. “He’s moved kinda from the threes and fours and getting some reps with the ones and twos right now. …

“I’ll tell you the guy that’s surprised me the most of our freshman class that came late is (Dayvon) Standard, that came in from Arizona — 6-3 wide receiver that wouldn’t surprise me if he pushes himself into the rotation.”

Thornton may just be a freshman, but he had an interesting journey to Stillwater. He committed to OSU in April of 2025 and stayed committed up until Mike Gundy’s firing in September. After re-opening his recruitment, he ended up committed to Morris at North Texas, just for Morris to take the OSU job and Thornton follow him over.

Out of La Vega in Waco, Thornton had north of 1,000 receiving yards in his final two seasons of high school ball. He also participated on his high school track team, with MileSplit crediting him with a 22.61 200 meters in 2024 and a 20-8.5 long jump in 2025.

Standard committed to OSU in February, after the early signing period, over offers from Idaho and UMass. He is listed at 6-foot-4, 185 pounds entering his freshman season. He played just six games in his high school senior season at Desert Edge (AZ), where he caught 23 balls for 463 yards and 10 TDs.

3. Justin Bowick Sounding More Freaky By the Quote

Speaking of receivers, I grow more excited to watch Illinois transfer Justin Bowick every time someone talks about him.

In the spring, Chris Barnes put Bowick, listed at 6-foot-5, 209 pounds, on his make-believe 4×100-meter relay team among his teammates. On Wednesday, Morris again pointed to his speed while others might stop at just his height.

“I think Justin Bowick is a guy that has a skillset to play this game for a long time, has the length and speed,” Morris said. “I think he had our fastest timed 10-meter dash this summer at 6-foot-5, so a guy that is looking like a 4.4, 4.3 guy at that size is a guy (I’m) super excited about.”

Bowick is a redshirt senior, having spent time at Eastern Illinois, Ball State and most recently Illinois. He caught 22 passes last season for 265 yards and five touchdowns (which tied for a team lead). His year at Ball State was also impressive, as he caught 20 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns … in just four games.

4. Morris Bullish on the Returning Malik Charles

Morris didn’t get too good a look at Malik Charles this spring as he recovered from injuries suffered while toughing out the 2025 season at OSU. But it sounds like the more Morris sees Charles, the more he likes.

“Just a physical phenomenon,” Morris said. “I mean, like, his numbers right now at 6-foot-4, 300-plus pounds and how fast he was running, the weights he was moving, what kind of shape he’s in — I mean, we can do so many things with him. He’s big enough to be a presence on the end and athletic enough to do that. And at times in certain packages, we can move him down and get him matched up on guards as a three technique.

“I think the versatility, I didn’t get to see him to anything because of the injury in the spring, but he was probably the most pleasant surprise. And he’s a great kid. He’s super thankful to be here.”

Charles, at one point, fancied himself a basketball player, but his genes took over. He’s the son of Mike Charles, who played defensive line at Syracuse and 101 games in the NFL. Charles took the scenic route to Power Five football, spending time at Western New Mexico (as a tight end), Northern Arizona and West Georgia before joining the Cowboys last season. In his first season at OSU, he played in 11 of 12 games and finished with 28 tackles and three sacks.

5. Oates Returns to Practice

After an offseason of uncertainty, a ruling from a judge meant Iman Oates was able to return to the practice field as he seeks another year of eligibility.

Should he officially get that extra year, Oates will likely play a big role in the middle of the Cowboys’ defense.

Morris on Wednesday praised Oates ability to keep working (alone) this offseason despite the uncertainty.

“Incredible,” Morris said. “He’s somebody that I’d be sitting in my office, and he’d be outside running by himself. He’d have to go lift somewhere else and not being able to do his workouts here. Actually, when we were able to get him back, phenomenal shape. Strength was incredible. Maybe the best shape that I’ve seen here, so a testament to him being committed.

“That’s hard to do when you’re out here without the team and don’t know what your future looks like. First day back, having him break the guys down at the end, the whole team went crazy.”

“We feel good about seven, eight offensive linemen right now, and we need to have continuity,” Morris said. “So after scrimmage one, hopefully we have the O-line set in stone so they can get some continuity.”

Morris had the same deadline in mind following his spring scrimmage so it certainly sounds like Oklahoma State can’t afford to leave this group in flux for too much longer.

The calendar shared with the media includes only interview availability and is not a complete practice schedule. However, most programs scrimmage on Saturdays and get in at least two before the season. Considering Morris has roughly 3.5 weeks until the first week of the season begins, it sounds like the offensive linemen might have two weeks or less to prove they have what it takes.

Here’s a breakdown of where that group sits and the other position groups Morris singled out following Wednesday’s practice.

Offensive line

Morris made a point to mention injured linemen Braydon Nelson and Ashton Lepo as two impactful pieces following the spring game despite their status at the time.

“So those are guys that we think will probably be starting rotation,” Morris said then.

The starting group that day looked like this:

LT — Desmond Magiya (North Texas transfer)
LG — Johnny Dickson III (North Texas)
C — Tyler Mercer (Kansas)
RG — Joseph Hanson (Coastal Carolina)
RT — Jacob Sexton (Oklahoma)

During Wednesday’s practice, the following bunch lined up together during drills:

LT — Ashton Lepo (Michigan State)
LG — Johnny Dickson III
C — Tyler Mercer
RG — Joseph Hanson
RT — Jacob Sexton

It would be surprising to see anyone other than Mercer at center, but the rest of the group still feels a little up in the air. If there are truly six guys competing for the remaining four spots, then that list likely includes the other four starters from the spring scrimmage plus Nelson and Lepo.

It’s worth noting that Nelson was seen working as the starting right tackle early in the spring before he got banged up. At the time, Sexton worked at left tackle.

Those two snapshots suggest a lot of consistency inside, but don’t be surprised if the shuffle continues over the next week or so as Morris works to find the perfect mix.

When asked about guys returning from injury this fall, Morris again highlighted Lepo, though not without some criticism as he gets back up to speed.

“Ashton Lepo is a guy that (is) super athletic,” Morris said. “We got to see a little bit more of his skill set. We just didn’t let him do teams. So I saw him in all indy (individual drills) and what he was able to provide. I mean, you knew the skillset was there. He’s a little out of shape today. … We got to get him in playing shape.”

Lepo started two games last season and 12 in 2024, all at right tackle.

Linebackers

This was the first ongoing position battle Morris mentioned on Wednesday.

“I think linebacker and just the way that we roll those guys in there,” Morris said. “I mean, we got to feel really good about four guys playing right now.”

North Texas transfer Ethan Wesloski remains the safest bet to lead the group in snaps this fall.

“Obviously, we got Wesloski that’s played a ton of football,” Morris said. “He knows this scheme. Feel really confident in him.”

After him, Morris listed, in order, UCLA transfer Isaiah Chisom, Arizona State transfer Tate Romney and Tulane transfer Dallas Winner-Johnson.

Morris singled out both Wesloski and Romney at Big 12 Media Days during his time on the main stage last month. Winner-Johnson is easily the surprise of the group as returning Cowboy Trip White was seen working with both the first and second-string units in the spring. Perhaps White is still in the mix as Morris was speaking top of mind following a rather hot practice to say the least.

Winner-Johnson recorded five total tackles last season while playing in a reserve role for Tulane, but it sounds like he’s made an impression since arriving in Stillwater.

Cornerbacks

Morris spent the least time on Wednesday discussing cornerbacks, but the head coach said that is a spot where guys are still battling.

LaDainian Fields and Texas Tech transfer Mo Horn were often seen in the starting role during spring practices. Marshall made the case for both guys earlier this week.

UNT transfer Kollin Lewis appeared to be in the mix behind them during the spring, so he would appear to be the guy with the best chance at unseating them. It’s difficult to say if another corner has firmly established himself inside the top four at this point.

Slot corner can be a bit of a weird corner-safety hybrid in some systems. It’s unclear if Morris was thinking of his fifth defensive back when he mentioned corners, but it would be somewhat surprising to see anyone besides Christian Bodnar at that spot given his experience in the role at Liberty.

Both Bodnar and Fields also received praise from Morris during Big 12 Media Days seemingly supporting the idea those two have the inside track to a starting gig this fall.

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OSU Bullets

Top 10 Linebackers in College Football Ahead of the 2026 Season🔥 Save 33% on PFF+ Subscription: https://t.co/GKa77x09rq pic.twitter.com/W7tFXK05se

— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 3, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

There is now a fitness app that lets you bet money on your own steps https://t.co/r0euPojauU pic.twitter.com/uvyxp11zOc

— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) August 3, 2026

The Mean Green headed to Kalamazoo for the second game of the 2025 season for what ended up being a game between the American’s No. 2 team and the MAC’s No. 1 team.

North Texas would erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and beat Western Michigan 33-30 in overtime before the Mustangs would go on to finish 10-4 (losses to Michigan State, UNT, Illinois and Miami (OH)).

Here are some takeaways I had in my rewatch of North Texas’ 2025 season in preparation for Oklahoma State’s 2026 season.

An Impressive Comeback

The Mean Green trailed 24-10 at one point in this game and 27-17 in the fourth quarter before Drew Mestemaker led scoring drives of 65 and 68 yards to tie it and send it to overtime.

Mestemaker had a touchdown pass to Cameron Dorner in the back of the end zone with about 10 minutes to play that cut Western Michigan’s lead to 27-24. It was another beauty of a ball, not too dissimilar to a TD pass to Wyatt Young in the back of the end zone in UNT’s first game.

The Mustangs sort of crapped down their legs in the overtime period. They ran a wildcat play on their first play of OT but couldn’t handle the snap and had to fall on it for a 5-yard loss. They were doomed to a field-goal attempt after that.

Most of UNT’s overtime yardage came off Western Michigan mishaps, with a Mustang corner getting called for pass interference and an unsportsmanlike conduct within three plays, setting up a Makenzie McGill 3-yard touchdown run to win it.

As noted above, this ended up being a mighty fine win given the context of the rest of the season. Western Michigan started last season 0-3 with this loss sandwiched between losses to Michigan State and a Top 10 Illinois squad, but the Mustangs, for the most part, rolled from then on. Their only loss after the 0-3 start came in late October to Miami (OH), but then WMU got that win back in the MAC title game before thumping Kennesaw State 41-6 in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.

Time of Possession Might Not Mean a Whole Lot This Year

Western Michigan looked like the Group of Five’s version of Iowa for much of this one, so much so that I had to go check to see if WMU coach Lance Taylor had spent any time at Iowa (he hasn’t).

The first quarter flew by as the Mustangs got the ball first and essentially sat on it for much of the frame. Their opening drive took 6:52 off the clock, and Western Michigan didn’t even score, instead electing to punt from the UNT 32-yard line and pin the Mean Green at the 3-yard line.

In total, Western Michigan had the ball for 14-plus minutes more than UNT — nearly a whole quarter.

That led me to go look at North Texas’ season-long possession numbers. The Mean Green held the ball for 6:37:23 seconds during last season while UNT’s opponents had the ball for 7:22:37. That comes out to about a three-minute difference per game, which is interesting considering UNT won 12 of those games.

Time of possession didn’t matter in the Big 12 in the 2010s when points were in abundance. With Morris, OSU might be getting back to that.

Wyatt Young Is Good at Finding Space, Mestemaker Is Good at Throwing Footballs

Drew Mestemaker and Wyatt Young did the college football world a service by sticking together this year because they seem perfect for each other.

Through two games, Young has shown an innate ability to find openings in a defense, and Mestemaker is so good at throwing the football that no matter where that open grass is, he can usually get it to him.

The biggest example of that from this game came when Mestemaker hit Young for a 23-yard gain in which Young found the hole in a zone coverage. All these defenders around, and it didn’t matter:

The two connected on the game-tying drive at the end of regulation on a little wide receiver screen that Young, a high school quarterback, took 23 yards into the red zone.

Mestemaker finished 18-for-33 for 224 yards, two TDs and no INTs, while Young caught four balls for 59 yards.

Other Notes

• Ethan Wesloski had an outstanding open-field tackle in the first quarter. It looked like he was spying on the play before the QB took off and Wesloski tracked him down halfway across the field for no gain.

Wesloski had another solid performance, finishing with eight tackles and two tackles for loss.

• UNT spent much of the first half of this game pinned in its own half of the field. On one of those instances, Mestemaker made a ridiculous play on third down from his 1-yard line where he tight-roped the back of the end zone (no Dan Orlovsky here) before ripping a ball along the sideline to Christian Dorner for a 19-yard gain.

• Mestemaker is a better runner than he gets credit for. He had 24 rushing yards in this game on five carries, but he was sacked three times, making those already solid numbers look worse than they actually were. He had a big 31-yard gain at one point. Everyone in Stillwater will be yelling “slide!” as he took another decent shot on the end of that run.

• The Western Michigan kicker must’ve had a horseshoe in his pocket. He banged a PAT in off the upright to give WMU a 24-10 lead and then hit the ball off the other upright and in to make it 27-17. Naturally, he hit his 48-yard field goal in OT right down the middle.

• UNT has had a little bit of trouble inside the 5-yard line in these first two games, an issue I’m waiting to be remedied by the emergence of Caleb Hawkins.

• Speaking of one of the top running backs in the transfer portal this offseason, Hawkins played 0 snaps in this game. All the more crazy that he finished as the national leader in TDs.

​“I went on my visit, and the feeling just never left,” Sneed said. “Everybody talks about having that feeling, that that’s that one school, and that’s what I felt even after leaving here and visiting another school in the portal. I still was thinking about Oklahoma State, and ultimately, that just made me know that was my decision, and this was the best fit for me.”

Hardly a unique story, but maybe a bit surprising since Hoyt and her coaching staff spent a meaningful part of said visit pointing out everything Sneed did wrong.

“They also showed me things that I needed to work on and the process of that,” Sneed said. “And I’ve been doing that this summer, and it has been translating. I just know they believe in me, and that’s what’s been helping me tremendously.”

The future of Hoyt’s program in Stillwater, especially in the short term, will likely be decided by wins on the recruiting trail. Fresh off one of, if not the, best portal class in the nation, Hoyt and the Cowgirls face big expectations.

But after hearing Sneed and Audi Crooks, it sounds like Hoyt built that class, and by extension those expectations, by telling some of the nation’s most coveted transfers what was wrong with their games.

“I tell our players every day it’s my job to tell you the truth, and that truth is always going to be out of love,” Hoyt said. “Sometimes it might feel really good, and sometimes it’s gonna feel not so good. But that’s how I coach. That’s who I’m gonna be every single day.

“So I feel like on visits and in the recruiting process, it’s important for me to be honest about that because if they can’t take the feedback, it’s probably not gonna be a good match for me.”

Given the wealth of incoming talent and the well-documented return of Stailee Heard, who went through spring practices all alone, it’s understandable if fans aren’t quite sure who to really pay attention to now when it comes to Cowgirl hoops.

Sneed is probably one of those names worth circling. She earned one of five spots on the All-Big 12 Freshman Team last season after she averaged 6.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Sneed also paced her team with 107 total assists for an average of three per game.

“She just has an ability to facilitate, and you know, obviously, with the way that we’ve always played, we’ve always been a team that really shares the ball and wants to make the extra pass and make reads and ball screens,” Hoyt said. “And I felt like she fit that really, really well. Where I needed someone in this offseason to really come in and play a big role was defensively, just being that defensive stopper, and I felt like she has the ability to do that, and I’ve seen her really excel in that in this summer.”

Sneed didn’t surprise Hoyt when she emerged as a playmaker at Utah last season. Both On3 and 247Sports ranked her as a top 32 prospect coming out of high school, and ESPN had her even higher as a five-star recruit.

“I loved watching her coming out of high school, and then hated to see her in our league,” Hoyt said.

Sneed said she’s enjoyed the summer in Stillwater. She predicted an amazing season for the Cowgirls this coming year.

But the sophomore knows there is a lot of hard work left between now and then. Sneed said she feels like every aspect of her game has improved over the offseason.

“Your freshman year to your sophomore year is your biggest jump, one of the biggest jumps, and I want that to be expressed in my game,” Sneed said. “And I think the teammates I’m around now, it’s going to make it easier for me as well, so I’m just excited for everybody to see us as a team and see myself grow individually.”

​The preseason poll released on Tuesday had the Cowboys in the others receiving votes category with 22 points, which amounted to an unofficial ranking of 37th. For context, the 25th team, Missouri, received 158 points, though the three teams directly ahead of OSU have them beat by less than 10 points.

Although not exactly something to celebrate, given how the last two years went, any Cowboy fan would likely be ecstatic to see Oklahoma State viewed as a top 40 team.

Oklahoma State last appeared in the coaches poll in week five of 2024 when the Pokes were 20th in the nation. They dropped down into the unofficial 34th spot the next week and completely fell out of the rankings until Tuesday.

Given a Week 2 showdown with No. 2 Oregon, Eric Morris is either going to have to pull off a huge upset in his home debut or wait a bit to get the Pokes back in the poll officially as a top 25 team.

Oklahoma State also travels to No. 24 Houston on Oct. 17 and hosts No. 12 Texas Tech on Nov. 14.

The Cowboys dodge the other two ranked Big 12 teams, No. 15 BYU and No. 21 Utah. Based on the poll results, coaches expect the Cowboys to finish seventh in the Big 12 behind TCU, ranked 28th with 63 points, and Arizona, ranked 31st with 50. The Cowboys also miss those two teams in the regular season.

Preseason Coaches Poll

Wisconsin released its nonconference basketball schedule on Monday, revealing that the Badgers are set to host Oklahoma State on Oct. 27 for an exhibition game.

Last year’s exhibition against Auburn had Cowboy fans foaming at the mouth for the start of the season, when three Pokes scored more than 20 points en route to a 97-95 win for the Cowboys. It wasn’t exactly all up from there, but it did provide some early juice for the fanbase entering the season.

Wisconsin has made the past three NCAA Tournaments and has taken part in 25 NCAA Tournaments since 1999.

Like most college teams (regardless of sport), the Badgers have had some turnover in their roster this offseason, but they do return Nolan Winter — a 7-footer who averaged 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds a game last season. Austin Rapp also returns after scoring 9.7 points a game last season while shooting 36% from 3.

Among Wisconsin’s portal additions are Eian Elmer and Trey Autry. Elmer averaged 12.7 points a game at Miami (OH) last season while hitting 43% of his 3-point attempts. Autry averaged 11 at George Washington while shooting 39% from 3.

That pails in comparison to the roster turnover the Cowboys experienced this offseason, as Steve Lutz has just four players left over from last season’s team. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. 247Sports ranks OSU’s portal class 25th nationally, while On3 has the Pokes’ class sitting 14th.

OSU hasn’t officially announced its full noncon slate yet, but Field of 68 contributor Rocco Miller says it’ll look like the following:

Nov. 2 vs Incarnate Word
Nov. 6 vs Queens
Nov. 12 at Texas A&M
Nov. 16 vs Central Arkansas
Nov. 20 in Charleston, South Carolina vs Virginia Tech OR Minnesota
Nov. 22 in Charleston, South Carolina vs Virginia Tech OR Minnesota
Nov. 25 vs Jackson State
Nov. 29 vs Tennessee State
Dec. 2 vs Grand Canyon
Dec. 5 vs Saint Mary’s
Dec. 12 in OKC vs Oklahoma
Dec. 16 vs Oral Roberts
Dec. 20 in OKC vs Northwestern
Dec. 29 vs Houston Christian

Moreso than the Cowboys’ offense, there’s a veil of mystery around the Pokes’ defense.

Talking heads, for the most part, feel good about the Cowboys’ offense because Maxwell watchlisters Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins will be standing in the backfield. Although the defense might not hold that level of star power, it has some nice pieces that produce a good group in 2026.

So, just as we did for the offense yesterday, let’s take a stab at predicting what the Cowboys’ defense will look like on this first day of fall camp for the Pokes. There were times last season when Skyler Cassity’s UNT defense would have three safeties and two linebackers and there were others where the Mean Green would have three linebackers and two safeties. So, I’m including three first-stringers in both of those sections.

Defensive End

DE1s: Jaleel Johnson (R-Sr., 6-4, 270), James Williams (R-Sr., 6-5, 256)
Second string: Malik Charles (R-Sr., 6-3, 284), Billy Walton III (R-So., 6-3, 253)

This has been the defensive group Eric Morris has been most bullish of this offseason, and it’s easy to see why with all the depth. I could’ve kept going and included guys like DeSean Brown, North Texas transfer Keviyan Huddleston and Troy transfer DJ Jackson.

It sounds as if Jaleel Johnson is in for a big year, with Morris tabbing him as the “most disruptive” defender of the spring.

Then I went with James Williams as his counterpart as the guy with the most Power Five experience in the room, having played at Nebraska and Florida State.

Despite things not going great on the scoreboard, Malik Charles had an impressive first year at the Division-I level last season after transferring from West Georgia. Battling through injuries, Charles took part in 11 of OSU’s games and recorded three sacks.

Billy Walton was a highly touted prospect a few years ago, redshirting at Texas before spending the past two seasons at SMU.

Defensive Tackle

DT1s: Braylon Rigsby (R-Jr., 6-3, 283), Jerry Lawson (Sr., 6-1, 312)
Second string: Fatafehi Vailea II (R-Sr., 6-1, 307), Saadiq Clements (R-Jr., 6-4, 310)

Braylon Rigsby garnered some shoutouts from his teammates at Big 12 Media Days last month, which is big for a team that was thought to be a little light on the defensive interior.

Rigsby comes to OSU from Texas Tech, taking part in 26 games across the past two seasons where he finished with 24 tackles and three tackles for loss.

A potential X factor in this group is North Texas transfer Fatafehi Vailea II. From 2022 to 2024, Vailea had 103 total tackles, six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He then started the first four games of UNT’s 2025 season but missed the rest of the year with injury. If he’s back to full strength and can handle the jump up in a level, it would be a big boon for the Pokes.

I’d also note that Iman Oates is still off OSU’s roster. Should he be able to play following his quest for eligibility, he’d certainly factor in here.

Linebacker

LB1s: Ethan Wesloski (R-Sr., 6-1, 234), Tate Romney (R-Sr., 6-1, 223), Isaiah Chisom (R-Jr., 6-0, 234)
Second string: Trip White (R-Sr., 6-3, 234), Jack Puckett (R-Sr., 6-0, 234), Carl’veon Young (R-Fr., 6-4, 240)

Ethan Wesloski has, thus far, been the posterboy of the Cowboys’ defense, and for good reason. He had 113 tackles at North Texas task season to go with nine tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery TD.

Tate Romney was in the group of defenders Morris shouted out at Big 12 Media Days. He made 70 tackles across 29 games at Arizona State.

Chisom finished with 84 tackles in the Big Ten last season at UCLA, so that first group looks relatively stout.

When thinking potential X factors, I’d lead redshirt freshman Carl’veon Young. He was a four-star prospect in the 2025 recruiting class who played in the final four games of OSU’s season last year. He brings something different from a size perspective to that room.

Cornerback

CB1s: LaDainian Fields (R-So., 6-1, 176), Mo Horn (R-Sr., 5-11, 183)
Second string: Kollin Lewis (R-Jr., 5-10, 188), Kobi Foreman (So., 5-10, 175)

LaDainian Fields started getting some run midway through last season, and he was one of a few bright spots in that rough season. He finished in the Top 15 in PFF coverage grades among Big 12 corners, as he was targeted 13 times and gave up just two catches (while making two interceptions).

Mo Horn was a four-star prospect in the 2022 class out of Broken Arrow. He’s spent the past four seasons at Texas Tech and was a regular starter for the Red Raiders in 2024.

Kollin Lewis made two starts in the past two seasons at North Texas, playing in 23 games total.

A returner, Kobi Foreman didn’t redshirt last season, but with the new five-for-five rule, he still has four years of eligibility remaining. He’s also a problem in the return game, gaining 114 yards on nine kick returns last season.

Safety

S1s: Quinton Hammonds (Jr., 6-1, 206), Christian Bodnar (R-Jr., 6-0, 188), Mose Phillips III (Sr., 6-2, 196)
Second string: Evan Jackson (Sr., 5-11, 188), Vincent Holmes (R-Jr., 6-2, 175), Cameron Epps (R-Sr., 6-2, 207)

In the little bit I’ve gotten to watch on each of the 80+ guys the Cowboys have brought in, Christian Bodnar, a Liberty transfer, stood out. He brings a level of physicality to the safety position that should help the Cowboys in that nickel spot this season.

Quinton Hammonds was North Texas’ fifth-highest graded defender as a sophomore last season, per PFF. He took home a Bronco Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week honor after picking off two passes against Navy.

I’ll give the potential X factor of this group to returner Cameron Epps. Epps was an honorable mention for Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2023, starting 10 games on a team that made the Big 12 title game, but he hasn’t played a ton since.

OSU Bullets

• Fall camp starts today for Eric Morris’ squad in Stillwater – Go Pokes.

Tomorrow it’s officially football season🏈#GoPokes | #okstate pic.twitter.com/QqCafr5hMe

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 3, 2026

• Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins were named to the Maxwell Award watchlist (OKState.com)

•  The Oklahoman looked at fall camp storylines, and one of them focused on what may be the biggest hole on the defense: defensive tackle.

The talent on the edges will help. (Ethan) Wesloski and the linebackers are expected to be strong. The secondary has some questions but talent. But is it enough to avoid a shootout each week? [NewsOK]

• Rewatching 2025 North Texas football games to learn about the team (PFB)

• What a beautiful sight.

𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 📍 Stillwater, OK#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/ErHO6owzXo

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) August 1, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Most misspelled word in every state – Oklahoma’s is perfectly reasonable

• Solid explanation here on the Save College Sports Act

Oklahoma State’s season is just over a month away, but in the leadup to watching this new-look Cowboy squad, I’ve decided to go back and watch all of North Texas’ games from last season and provide some takeaways.

We’ll start with the Mean Green’s season opener from last season — a 51-0 beat down against Lamar.

Mestemaker Has Zip

Remember when just about any time a TV broadcast would mention Lindy Waters, that broadcast would also note how he was high school teammates with Trae Young?

Well, I have a feeling we’ll be hearing the story about how Drew Mestemaker didn’t play high school quarterback quite a bit this year. It’s an incredible story, so I get it. But just be prepared to hear that a lot this year. The first of such instances in this game came with about eight minutes left in the first quarter, and it wasn’t the only time it was mentioned.

Mestemaker was fantastic in his first regular season start, completing 75% of his 32 attempts for 329 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.

The first throw of his season was plenty impressive, as Mestemaker fit the ball into a tight window to Miles Coleman (also now at OSU). He started throwing the pass when Coleman was behind a defender and had another trailing him, but the ball had so much zip that the Lamar defenders didn’t have a chance.

He was making those types of throws all game, whether it be fitting a ball between the linebacker and secondary for Wyatt Young to score off in the second half or one of about five quick fades that he’d drop right in a bucket. PFF credited Mestemaker with five “Big Time Throws,” the most he’d make in a game this season.

His release is so quick that once he sees a guy breaking open, it’s only a matter of seconds before that ball is right on the receiver.

What OSU fans probably don’t want to see this year is Mestemaker trying to flick the truck stick on two defenders at once like he did on his first scramble of the season.

Hawkins’ Humble Beginnings

When people all across the country discuss OSU football players this year, the second name off their tongue is almost always Caleb Hawkins (behind Mestemaker). That wasn’t the case when discussing UNT players entering last season.

The soon-to-be national leader in touchdowns scored was the fourth running back off the bench in this season opener against Lamar. The broadcast’s pregame spent time discussing Makenzie McGill, who ends up finishing second on the team in rushing yards, some 1,045 yards behind Hawkins.

The North Rock Creek alum finally entered with less than four minutes left in the first half. Given hindsight, I almost expected a sitcom-esque live studio audience to let out a cheer as he entered frame.

This wasn’t a taste of what was to come but rather Hawkins’ humble beginnings. He finished having carried five times for 18 yards while also catching a screen pass and turning it into nine yards.

Wyatt Young Is a Madman

New OSU receiver Wyatt Young had just four catches in this season opener and still had 97 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

One place I didn’t expect to see Young was blocking a punt, but he managed that, too, getting his fingertips to one in the first half. What other All-American receiver did that last season?

His first TD came on a 5-yard pass from Mestemaker, who ripped that ball into a tight window in the back of the end zone.

Young’s second TD was remarkable, as he managed to make three guys miss en route to a 32-yard score. He scored on this play:

Young was seemingly always open and was just as deadly with the ball in his hands as he was running routes.

Other Notes

• Young and Mestemaker nearly connected on big touchdown on the first drive when Mestemaker hit Young on a corner route for a 46-yard gain down inside the 5-yard line. Mestemaker would pull a zone read and score a few plays later.

• After the first touchdown, the Mean Green attempted a swinging gate point after attempt. It didn’t work, but I love the aggressiveness no matter the competition.

• Ethan Wesloski probably deserved his own little section because he, too, was everywhere, finishing with seven tackles, two tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks and a strip-and-score in the end zone.

There was one point early where Lamar tried for some trickeration with a wide receiver pass, but Wesloski didn’t fall for it, guiding the receiver out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage.

• Wesloski’s touchdown came in another moment of aggression from Morris and Co.

Already up 30-0, Morris called a timeout when Lamar had a 2nd-and-20 from their 12-yard line with 40 seconds to play. Most might’ve just let the clock run out, but Morris took a timeout. Two plays later, Wesloski was in the backfield, striping the quarterback and then falling on the ball in the end zone to make it 37-0 going into the half.

• Let’s stick with that halftime score. Did you know OSU never reached 30 points in a game all season? UNT had 37 in their first half of the season.

• More Morris aggression: he isn’t afraid to go for it on fourth down.

UNT was 1-for-2 on fourth downs in this one, which led me to look at where they were in the stat on the year. North Texas went for it on fourth down 36 times last season, which ranked sixth nationally. On top of that, UNT converted 72.2% of those attempts, which was good for seventh nationally.

• Mile Coleman is fearless and a lot of fun. He had five catches for 52 yards in this one and was not afraid to stick his nose in there to field a punt.

• It was 51-0 with 8:41 to play in the third quarter. This thing could’ve been a lot worse.

• Skyler Cassity’s defense finished having given up just 119 yards of total offense on 54 plays.

• It’s also important to note that while Lamar is an FCS team, it wasn’t a terrible one. Lamar finished the 2025 season at 8-5 and made the playoffs.

Oklahoma State opens its fall camp this week, the first time since 2004 that a coach other than Mike Gundy has held a fall camp in Stillwater.

Ahead of the action, here’s a prediction of what OSU’s offensive depth chart might look like. We’ll take a stab at the defensive side of things tomorrow.

DEFENSE

Quarterback

QB1: Drew Mestemaker (R-So., 6-3, 215)
QB2: Broderick Vehrs (Fr., 5-11, 205) OR Grant Jordan (R-Sr., 6-2, 217)

QB1 is about as big a layup as it gets, but I’m interested in what’s happening behind him.

Vehrs is a true freshman and Jordan is a redshirt senior (having previously been at Yale and UMass).

Neither of these guys will supplant a healthy Mestemaker. If QB1 were to get banged up at some point this year, I think it’d make sense to go with the experience of Jordan, but if the Cowboys are up 35 in the fourth quarter against Tulsa in a few weeks, I think it’d make sense to develop your potential future in Vehrs.

All we really have on either potential backup is what they did in the spring game:

Jordan: 4-for-8 for 57 yards
Vehrs: 7-for-7 for 70 yards

I’m not willing to declare a winner after watching 15 total passes thrown, but Morris did have some kind words about his freshman after the spring game.

“I think Brodie’s done a really nice job just thinking the kid should still be in high school right now,” Morris said. “Probably has the strongest arm on our team, he can really whip it. Didn’t get a bunch of great opportunities today to really showcase that, but really happy with what those guys are. Coach [Sean] Brophy does such a good job at developing those guys. But I’m happy with where our backup progression is right now.”

Running Back

RB1: Caleb Hawkins (So., 6-0, 219)
RB2: Tre Page (R-So., 5-8, 184) OR Ayo Adeyi (R-Sr., 5-7, 194) OR KD Jones (Fr., 5-11, 186)

Again, the starter is a layup, let’s talk depth.

The internet was made more aware of Page a few weeks back when PFF released a graphic showing him as the fourth-highest graded running back in the Big 12 (Hawkins was No. 1). A redshirt sophomore, Page has spent the past two seasons at Tarleton State, finishing last season with 839 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in nine games.

Highest Graded Returning Big 12 Running Backs🔥 pic.twitter.com/12XILKvsNh

— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 24, 2026

Adeyi has experience with Eric Morris and running backs coach Patrick Cobbs, as Adeyi was at North Texas from 2021 to 2023 (Morris’ first year). He was the Mean Green’s leading rusher in Morris’ first season at UNT, running for 1,017 yards and six touchdowns before transferring to James Madison, where he totaled 160 yards across eight games the past two seasons.

Lastly, with the five-for-five rule, there is no redshirting. That means if Jenks product KD Jones is ready, he’ll play. Jones was a highly touted back coming out of Jenks, probably garnering more high school recruiting interest than the rest of the room combined.

Morris was asked about Jones’ potential role at Big 12 Media Days last month.

“He’s the guy that is gonna add special teams value right now,” Morris said. “He’s gotten better and better where I think, you know, with end of the end of fall camp, he could push for some playing time this year. I think physically, he’s getting better, you know, as far just his body getting bigger and stronger and be able to withstand the hits that he’s going to have to take at this level. And so I could definitely see him getting some reps this year.”

Wide Receiver

WR1s: Wyatt Young (Jr., 6-0, 199), Chris Barnes (R-So., 5-7, 169), Justin Bowick (R-Sr., 6-5, 209)
WR2s: Miles Coleman (Jr., 5-6, 158), Israel Polk (R-Jr., 6-2, 177), Rodney Harris (R-Sr., 6-1, 207)

Since there are already six listed guys, I tried my best to not dish out any ORs here, but know that if I could, I probably would’ve also included guys like Terrence Lewis and Jani Weir to that second group.

I haven’t been this excited about a group of OSU receivers since maybe that 2017 room that had like five pros in it.

Young is, deservedly, the guy everyone is talking about entering the year after finishing third in the country last season with 1,264 receiving yards. That came from the same quarterback and play-caller Young will be with this season.

After watching tiny bits of spring ball and the spring game, the guy I’m most excited to watch is the speedy Chris Barnes. Barnes hasn’t exactly broken out on the national scene quite yet, but he had a nice redshirt freshman season at Wake Forest, catching 39 passes for 547 yards and three touchdowns. He also totaled 143 rushing yards and housed a kick return.

Illinois had a solid 2025 season, finishing 9-4, and Bowick tied for a team lead in receiving touchdowns with five to go with his 22 catches for 265 yards. He has speed, but what stands out about him in this room is his height at 6-foot-5. He’s one of two receivers on OSU’s roster listed taller that 6-foot-2.

Tight End

TE1: Donovan Green (R-Sr., 6-3, 238)
TE2: Oscar Hammond (R-Sr., 6-3, 243) OR Carson Kolb (R-So., 6-4, 243)

If high school recruiting stars are the judge, Donovan Green is the most talented tight end the Cowboys have had in some time. He was a Top 5 tight end in the 2022 recruiting class before spending three seasons at Texas A&M and last year at LSU.

His best college season to this point was his true freshman campaign when Green caught 22 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns. He then had a knee injury in fall camp ahead of the 2023 season that kept him out all of that year before he returned to play eight games as an Aggie in 2024. He played in 13 games for LSU this past season but had only two catches.

Hammond is another guy with experience in Morris’ system. A lot of the talk this offseason has been about all the North Texas players following Morris up from Denton, but Morris actually followed Hammond. After two seasons at UCO, Hammond made the jump up to the Division-I level at UNT in 2024, playing in 10 games and making six starts where he caught 19 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. He then transferred to OSU ahead of last season, but an injury kept him out the whole year before his UNT brethren made their voyage up I-35.

There wasn’t a guy I looked up on the roster more in the spring than No. 44: Carson Kolb. At 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, Kolb certainly looks the part out there. He comes to Stillwater from Oregon State. He doesn’t have a college catch to his name yet.

Offensive Line

LT1: Jacob Sexton (R-Sr., 6-6, 328)
LG1: Braydon Nelson (Jr., 6-4, 327)
C1: Tyler Mercer (R-So., 6-4, 300)
RG1: Johnny Dickson III (R-Sr., 6-2, 317)
RT1: Ashton Lepo (R-Sr., 6-7, 320)

LT2: Joseph Hanson (Sr., 6-4, 302)
LG2: Desmond Magiya (R-Jr., 6-4, 333)
C2: Jakobe Sanders (R-Jr. 6-2, 327)
RG2: Louie Canepa (R-Sr., 6-3, 299)
RT2: Shaun Torgeson (R-So., 6-4, 302)

Some of these guys were banged up in the spring, and they were seemingly all moving around testing out different positions. All that is to say, I’m quite unsure where these guys are going to line up.

What I do feel fairly confident in is that Tyler Mercer, a Kansas transfer who previously played at UNT, will start at center, and some combination of these five guys will likely be around him in some order: Sexton, Nelson, Dickson, Lepo and Hanson. Whomever the odd man out is in that scenario, I’d expect him to be the first guy off the bench no matter the position (outside of maybe center).

Although I’m not entirely sure where this group is going to lineup, I’ve grown more bullish on the position group as a whole. Nelson, Dickson and Mercer have experience under Morris, while Sexton and Lepo have Power Five starting experience. Then Hanson was an All-Sun Belt selection at Coastal.

Even a younger guy like Torgeson has compiled a decent amount of experience at this point, having started all of Portland State’s (FCS) games at left tackle last season.

The official watchlist for the Maxwell Award, given to the best college football player in the nation, was released on Monday, and those two Cowboys earned a spot.

This probably won’t be the last award watchlist these guys land on, as this is just a continuation of what has been a very spotlight-heavy offseason for those two guys.

At Big 12 Media Days, linebacker Ethan Wesloski laughed when he saw Mestemaker and Hawkins surrounded by an army of cameras while he had maybe one pointed his way.

“It’s one of those things where they’ve deserved everything they’ve gotten, though,” Wesloski said. “So, I mean, it’s kind of their fault, right? They played too good to a degree.”

The full list includes 81 players, and Oklahoma State is one of only 14 programs in the nation with exactly two representatives while Miami and Ohio State lead the way with three each.

BYU (QB Bear Bachmeier and RB LJ Martin), Kansas State (QB Avery Johnson and RB Joe Jackson) and Utah (QB Devon Dampier and RB Wayshawn Parker) were the only other Big 12 programs to place two guys on the list.

After two years of not writing about a lot of winning, we here at PFB are excited at the prospect of some renewed energy reverberating around Boone Pickens Stadium this fall. But before a ball soars through the Oklahoma sky as fans jingle their keys in the air, let’s talk a bit of business.

I always feel awkward about this type of stuff (probably because I was a sports media major and not a business major), but nonetheless, funds are important. So, here are some ways you can help support what we’re doing this upcoming school year.

What We Do

There is a lot of good Oklahoma State coverage out there on this beat. So, I don’t want this to come out as putting anyone else down. A lot of people do a lot of great work getting your Cowboy news to you, and you should support as many of them as you can.

But here’s our angle of covering the Cowboys: we try to be everywhere.

Of course that means football, where we’ll again bring coverage of OSU as the Pokes traverse Morris’ first season. Two of us will be at each Morris luncheon and at every player availability we can. We’ll have all sorts of game coverage following each contest, and on a given week in football season, we’ll produce four podcasts (two via the Pistols Firing Pod and two via the Reload).

Past that, we’re at every home basketball game and even some on the road. We’re at every Steve Lutz media availability.

We’re at every David Taylor availability and every home Cowboy wrestling dual. I’ve become a bit of a wrestling sicko since Taylor took over, and I’d argue no one has written more OSU wrestling over the past five or so years than PFB.

Women’s basketball and the excitement Hoyt is bringing to GIA this year? We’re there. OSU Softball’s journey to get back to the Women’s College World Series? We’re there. Admittedly we were at less baseball this past season than we usually are (had some scheduling conflicts), but we’re still keeping ourselves, and you, up to date on the diamond.

We have two reporters (and a photographer) based in Stillwater working our tails off to get you OSU coverage. In terms of sheer content, I don’t think there’s a better place to get your news from than PFB.

We pride ourselves on hard work and showing up, and if that’s something you’re able to support, we’d greatly appreciate it.

Subscribe to PFB+ (Giveaway!!)

A major way you can help support what we do is through subscribing to PFB+.

The big benefit of PFB+ is access to our premium forum (here), a place with like-minded OSU fans talking year round about their favorite team. I’m readily available in there. If there’s ever a question you have, @ me in a thread or shoot me a direct message and I’ll get back to you. We recently had a lot of fun in there watching OSU basketball’s games in Puerto Rico in there, a place full of OSU sickos.

As part of this new era, we’re running a sale on yearly subscriptions for $50 (click here for the yearly sale), which I believe is the cheapest we’ve ever had a yearly subscription. Don’t want to commit long term? You can also get a monthly sub for $8 (available here), a price that hasn’t changed at least since I’ve taken over the site about six years ago.

And for an extra bit of fun, we’ll do a giveaway with three winners. All you have to do is get a subscription and vote on a poll in our premium forum as to how many games you think OSU will win this season (POLL HERE). You don’t even have to be right, as we’ll announce the winner of the giveaways at the end of the month. One winner will get a $50 gift card to Chris’ University Spirit. The others will win some PFB merch. Good luck!

Advertise with PFB

Own a business or know someone who does? One of the best ways to support what we do is advertising your business with us.

We’re currently looking for advertisements for the following pieces of content. If it’s something you or your business would be interested in, shoot me an email at pistolsfiringblog@gmail.com and we can discuss pricing and reach.

10 Thoughts: After each football game, I list 10 things that stood out most to me about the Cowboys’ game, whether that be a notable moment, an eye-popping stat or what that result means for the rest of the Cowboys’ season. This is almost always our most-read article of each week, and we can plug your business at the top of the story as well as place your company logo on the article’s photo.

The Pistols Firing Podcast: Carson and Colby have hit their stride with these, and it’s a must-listen for OSU fans (I might be slightly biased). The guys usually go twice a week during football season and once a week outside of football, sharing thoughts and insights on all that’s happening at OSU. The guys can do a read about your company in each pod.

Daily Bullets: This, to me, is the most underrated sponsorship opportunity we have available. Steven Mandeville handles bullets Monday through Saturday, and Kyle Cox takes the Sunday shift. It’s a daily recap on OSU news that gets posted here on the site and is shared with more than 1,000 people each morning. The sponsorship would again be at the top of each edition of Daily Bullets with your company’s logo on the photo.

The Reload: We’re a smaller podcast (which means cheaper advertising), but we’re full of heart. I started this last football season (not an ideal season to start a podcast about) alongside former OSU walk-ons Justin Southwell and Nathan Gilsleider. We record twice a week during football season and once a week outside of it.

Keep Reading/Listening

We get it, money is tight. If you’re unable to contribute to the cause monetarily, we hope you continue reading and listening (and sharing with others!) as we try to keep as much of our coverage as possible free in this world of paywalls.

It’s been one of the great joys of my life to follow around various OSU teams, a true dream come true for a kid who had the walls of his high school bedroom painted bright orange. Let’s have another fun year.

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As always, we appreciate our sponsor Chris’ University Spirit and Echo Contracting.

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OSU Bullets

• OKC Dave’s annual Cowboy fan survey is out, weigh in when you have a minute – fascinated to quantify the Eric Morris effect on fans (PFB)

• ICYMI – a Colorado judge made a ruling that could impact Parsa Fallah and other OSU athletes (247 Sports)

• In a “dream Big 12 road trip”, this crew has two games featuring the Pokes, OSU vs. Tech in Stillwater, and then hitting the road for a Halloween game in Ames, Iowa: 

It’s an old-school Big 12 matchup between these two (teams), and being in Ames on Halloween just seems like a fun time in general. The Cyclones might be out of the mix by then, but the Pokes could be surprising some folks… [HCS] 

• Drew Mestemaker – honorable mention as one of the most evasive quarterbacks in college football (CBS Sports)

•  High likelihood of fireworks this fall in Stillwater:

Most explosive offenses in CFB 2021-2025, per @PFF_College and @DaireCarragher

1. Ole Miss
2. Oregon
3. Georgia
4. North Texas
5. Ohio State

Notice anything? pic.twitter.com/dZXU3oidra

— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) July 30, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• What’s cheaper for weekly groceries – Costco or Trader Joe’s?

• This felt low – 91 percent of new parents experienced significant conflict in the baby’s first year  

Hudson’s survey is live now (click here) and will be for the next few weeks.

For the uninitiated, the survey asks for your confidence level for each of Oklahoma State’s games as well as your favorite players and which players you expect to have a breakout year. The survey also gets into approval ratings for various OSU coaches and figureheads and what you think about the future of OSU’s different sports.

With the Eric Morris Era getting rolling, Dave also poses questions about your patience level for the turnaround, what constitutes as success in 2026 and more.

Of late, the fanbase has been more optimistic than what the past few seasons have entailed. But what fanbase is going to predict its team to go 1-11? Last season, the fans predicted 6.4 regular season wins, which obviously didn’t happen. In fact, that fanbase gave OSU just a 0.1% chance of finishing with just one win. Perhaps the most painful thing looking back now, the 54% of the fanbase predicted Hauss Hejny would play more snaps than Zane Flores last season. We all know how that went.

So, be sure to take Dave’s 2026 survey today as we prep ourselves for another fall.

OSU Bullets

• The Cowboys kick off training camp on Tuesday. Before you know it, football will be here. 

• @Grok replace the green in this video with orange. 

If life allows it I’ll be watching every single Drew Mestemaker throw this season

You wouldn’t miss your favorite TV show, right? pic.twitter.com/ud5jMRRz5M

— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) August 1, 2026

Give me more…

If he declares, I think Oklahoma State Quarterback Drew Mestemaker has the opportunity to be QB1 in the 2027 NFL Draft Class

If he declares after another strong season (now against better competition) where would you rank him in the class?
pic.twitter.com/IMNgb6OlWw

— The Draft Hub (@TheNFLDraftHub) July 31, 2026

• Speaking of more: How a Colorado judge’s ruling might impact some Pokes that we thought had exhausted their eligibility. [GoPokes]

• On former four-star recruit and Washington transfer Vincent Holmes and an opportunity that starts this week. 

After three years of college football Holmes needed a fresh start. He’ll get it with a brand-new coaching staff in Stillwater where nearly every position is in competition going into fall camp. [SI.com]

• Chuba breaking down film. 

Chuba Hubbard breaks down the complexity of the Panthers rushing attack🧠⬇️

Full video available 7/28 on my YouTube! pic.twitter.com/35tgbsnahy

— Film Watchers (@Filmwatchers1) July 27, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Scientists have found a potential way to test for CTE while someone is alive. [ScienceNews]

• Maybe they should try it on this guy.

Will pay any nfl player $1 million dollars if you can box me better than I run routes against you

Internet is judge

Will send my jet to pick you up who’s down?

— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) August 1, 2026

Three Thoughts

• It’s hard to imagine being a blueblood in college football – but looking at college golf, OSU having the top amateur in college golf in Preston Stout and the top amateur with Oklahoma ties in Collin Bond is what a blueblood looks like (OKState.com)

• Peeking ahead to baseball season, where the Cowboys lose serious offense in Aidan Meola, Collin Bruggeman, and Alex Conover – the argument appears to be strength in numbers to replace them as the roster settles in. 

The offense may be deeper even if it isn’t as top-heavy. [O’Colly]

• Nine months ago, OSU had one of the worst offenses in college football. It’s fun to read lines like the below with that experience close by in the rear view: 

The Cowboys have the best collection of skill talent in the Big 12. Drew Mestemaker is a legitimate first-round talent. Caleb Hawkins was the best running back in the G-5 last year for North Texas. At receiver the Cowboys have one of the deepest rooms in the country with Wyatt Young, Chris Barnes, Israel Polk, Justin Bowick and Miles Coleman. Are there some questions about the o-line? A few.

But Eric Morris’ offenses come with an incredibly high floors, and it’s hard for that combination of skill talent not to produce, especially in a league like the Big 12 where the defensive lines aren’t overwhelming.  [CBS Sports]

Two Quotes

• It’s not a bad thing if Eric Morris is uber-successful and leaves in five years. 

And (if Eric Morris wins a lot) at OSU that’s a good thing. It means success has returned to Stillwater. [TulsaWorld]

• Updated odds on the Pokes’ first two games:

Live Vegas Betting Odds Oklahoma State.

Week 1: OSU (-13.5) @ Tulsa
Week 2: Oregon @ OSU (-18.5) pic.twitter.com/Zsh0iAoFUm

— OKSTProbs (@OKSTProbs) July 31, 2026

One Question

• Berry Tramel has Drew Mestemaker as a top-three quarterback in the Big 12 – does that generally lead to a finish in the top half of the league?

Most explosive offenses in CFB 2021-2025, per @PFF_College and @DaireCarragher

1. Ole Miss
2. Oregon
3. Georgia
4. North Texas
5. Ohio State

Notice anything? pic.twitter.com/dZXU3oidra

— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) July 30, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Medicocrity at scale

• Fascinating look into the political dynamics around the most recent college sports legislation

With the calendar about to flip to August, I thought it a good time to do a bit of a refresher on the Cowboys’ 2027 class to this point before football starts going. Here’s a quick look at all 11 guys committed to be Cowboys.

Israel Hammons

Position: Linebacker
High School: Choctaw (Oklahoma)
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 230 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 4⭐, No. 160 nationally
Rivals Ranking: 4⭐, No. 163 nationally
ESPN Ranking: 4⭐, No. 271 nationally
Highlights:

All of the recruiting services consider Hammons the top guy in the Cowboys’ class, and it’s easy to see why with his blend of size and physicality. North Texas (under Eric Morris) was actually Hammons’ first college offer, coming in January of 2025, but by the time he committed to the Cowboys, there was plenty of competition with the likes of Texas, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn, Missouri and others also after Hammons’ services.

Carson White

Position: Quarterback
High School: Hightower (Texas)
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 205 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

The Cowboys survived a late push from Georgia to keep White in the class a few months ago, and now we’ll see if there are any other major programs that try to swoop him away in the dash to signing day. White is a multisport prospect, also excelling on the baseball diamond. After throwing for 1,963 yards and 32 touchdowns last season at Iowa Colony High School, White is making the move to Hightower for his senior season, where his father will be the offensive coordinator.

TJ Lewis

Position: Running Back
High School: Bolingbrook (IL)
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 225 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

With those measurables, size shouldn’t be an issue for Lewis at the next level. He was a First Team All-State selection as a junior, finishing with 1,808 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns.

Chayce Davis

Position: Safety
High School: Euless Trinity (TX)
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 173 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

From the same high school that produced Ollie Gordon, Davis brings track athleticism with him to Stillwater, as he has recorded a 10.59 100-meter dash to go with a 6-foot-6 high jump.

Talan Scott

Position: Tight End
High School: American Leadership Academy (AZ)
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 225 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

Scott stars on both sides of the ball in Arizona. As a tight end, he caught 45 passes for 468 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior, and as an outside linebacker, he made 44 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. He chose the Cowboys over offers from SMU, Stanford, Utah, Auburn and others.

Sonny Mullen

Position: Offensive Line
High School: Troy (TX)
Height: 6-foot-7
Weight: 284 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

Mullen certainly has the frame to develop into a quality Power Five lineman. He chose OSU over offers from Houston, TCU, Baylor, Kansas State and others.

Ake O’Neal

Position: Wide Receiver
High School: Argyle (TX)
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 195 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

O’Neal has a nice blend of size and speed at 6-foot-3 with a 11.4 100-meter dash. O’Neal chose OSU over Utah, Duke, Texas Tech, Wisconsin and others.

Jake Baker

Position: Offensive Line
High School: Ensworth (TN)
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 290 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

Baker is a relatively under-the-radar guy. He committed to OSU in June over offers from Tulsa, Memphis, East Carolina, UConn and others.

Cooper Hooker

Position: Wide Receiver 
High School: Pryor (OK)
Height: 5-foot-9
Weight: 165 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

A smalltown, undersized receiver is someone after Morris’ own heart. Hooker is moving up divisions for his senior season of high school ball, going from 2A Salina up to 5A Pryor. He caught 50 passes for 850 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior.

Bryson Brown

Position: Defensive Back
High School: Broken Arrow (OK)
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 190 pounds
247Sports Ranking: 3⭐
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: 3⭐
Highlights:

The Cowboys new staff didn’t waste time pursuing Bryson Brown. Brown had offers to Miami, Ohio State, Penn State, OU and others, so he could make a big impact in Stillwater. He also brings the speed element with a 10.9 100 meters.

Jayden Vessell

Position: Edge Rusher
High School: Baton Rouge Catholic (LA)
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 230 pounds
247Sports Ranking: Unranked
Rivals Ranking: 3⭐
ESPN Ranking: Unranked
Highlights:

The latest pledge, Vessell made his commitment to OSU on Wednesday. Although he’s unranked by a few of the major recruiting services, that will likely be amended within the next few weeks.

Markius “MJ” Woods, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound defensive lineman, announced an Oklahoma State offer on Thursday. Out of The Lawrenceville School New Jersey, Woods made a commitment to Boston College on June 19 and also has offers to Missouri, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Miami, Ole Miss and others.

Blessed to be Offered by OKSU! @CoachMikeOG @coach_ikeDL @CoachPoeWins @CoachSchorr2500 @LvilleBigRedFB @AllenTrieu#GoPokes🤠
🖤🧡 pic.twitter.com/SG73JGo8OQ

— Markius ”MJ” Woods 3⭐️ (@WoodsMarkius) July 30, 2026

Woods is the No. 513 player in the Rivals Industry ranking for the 2027 recruiting class, making him a Top 60 defensive lineman in the cycle. He was initially a member of the 2026 recruiting class, playing at Whitney Young High School in Chicago, before reclassifying.

That Whitney Young squad, nicknamed the Dolphins, went 9-3 with Woods on the defensive and offensive lines last season. Woods finished the year with 54 total tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. Woods also forced four fumbles, recovered one and was credited with a 5-yard touchdown run last season, per MaxPreps.

The Cowboys added an edge rusher to its 2027 class this week when Jayden Vessell (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) pledged his commitment to the Cowboys, but to this point, he’s the only defensive line commit in the class.

As things stand the Cowboys have 11 total commits in their class with four of those guys being defenders.

OSU’s 2027 Commits

OSU Bullets

• OSU announced “themes” for the home football games this fall (PFB)

• Rickie Fowler is on the heels of the leader at the Rocket Open, trailing by two strokes, tied for second (CBS Sports)

• Love this line on OSU football from an ESPN writer:

“As with Virginia Tech, improvement is all but guaranteed in Stillwater, but the potential magnitude of the rebound really interests me. New head coach Eric Morris is grafting half of the best offense in the country onto what was the worst roster in the Big 12; his transfer haul is easily my favorite…” [ESPN]

• The Athletic rated Oklahoma State the fifth-most valuable football program in the conference (HCS)

• Lots of Pokes going pro in the last decade under Josh Holliday.

𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬 Making it happen #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/jTQNrF1iSc

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) July 29, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• There are four types of thinkers • Looking forward to this book coming out in November given this line – What if OKC had kept Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden?

I’m in love with this sentence:

“Discipline is when your identity is so clear, you stop negotiating with your feelings.” — Reads with Ravi (@readswithravi) July 30, 2026

“It just wasn’t like hitting me at the time because at the time I was in spring workouts, doing spring workouts by myself, dying,” Heard said. “So I didn’t really have any time to process it.”

Both Heard and coach Jacie Hoyt had some laughs at what it was like for the last Cowgirl standing to run through the spring by herself.

“Well, I mean, it was awesome,” Hoyt said. “She got all the attention from everyone, right? And sometimes I don’t know that she loved that, but I mean, she got it, and she worked hard, and it was really neat to see her understand that that was an opportunity for her to really grow her own personal game.”

Hoyt said 3-point shooting was a big point of emphasis for Heard in the spring, and it’s safe to say she had plenty of time to get shots up.

That area of Heard’s game regressed last season as she finished with a career-worst 30% from deep. Ahead of her sophomore year, that became a point of emphasis. Heard responded with a career-best 41% shooting performance, knocking down 59-of-143 shots behind the arc.

That was a huge jump in both attempts and percentage from her freshman season.

Heard from 3:
Freshman: 31-of-87 (35.8%)
Sophomore: 59-of-143 (41.3%)
Junior: 46-of-153 (30.1%)

“As good as it has been at some points, just trying to get more consistent,” Hoyt said of Heard’s progress as a 3-point shooter. “And I’ve seen that pay off this summer. She’s a knockdown 3-point shooter so far at this point. This spring was really good for her to grow in her confidence and just work on parts of her game that, you know, if she would have been with other teammates, maybe couldn’t have put as much attention on.”

As is usually the case, player and coach were in lockstep when it came to describing the spring.

“Going through my spring workouts, I was just focused on getting better myself, just because I knew I had all the talent coming to help me out,” Heard said.

Heard spent a lot of the spring working one-on-one with assistant coach Mandi Carver.

“All the managers and GAs they were helping out and rebounding and stuff,” Heard said. “But it was actually pretty fun. It was, you know, I got to know coach Mandi more just one-on-one. I got to know and have some fun with the managers and stuff, but it was a grind, but it was definitely very fun.”

At one point on Wednesday, someone hit Heard with THE question. Her loyalty to Hoyt and Oklahoma State has always seemed unshakable, but losing every other teammate is still an undeniable shift in the program’s foundation.

What kept her in Stillwater?

“I love this place, regardless of wins or losses,” Heard said. “I love the people I go to war with every day. I love being here, having the support staff that I have around here. There’s nothing really negative to say about this school, about this place. So, I don’t know why I would leave if there’s nothing negative.”

Here’s the full list:

Oregon (Sept. 12) — Roots & Boots
Murray State (Sept. 19) — Family Weekend
UCF (Oct. 10) — Stripe the Stadium
Colorado (Oct. 24) — America’s Greatest Homecoming
Texas Tech (Nov. 14) — Salute to Service
Kansas (No. 28) — Senior Day

Prepare yourselves! The 2026 game themes are here 🤠

Single game tickets go on sale tomorrow ⬇️https://t.co/3tUeLJ79me pic.twitter.com/5zQ4lrrx0t

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) July 30, 2026

Single-game tickets for the 2026 season go on sale Friday.

There’s no blackout, which drew the ire of some social media commentators, but for what it’s worth, the last blackout game resulted in OSU’s first home loss to Tulsa since the 1950s.

OSU hasn’t done a stadium striping since its last win against a Power Conference foe — back in 2024 when OSU beat Arkansas in OT. We’ll see if Eric Morris does a Mike Gundy impersonation and shows up in a ref shirt to help promote things like the ole ball coach did in 2018.

Here’s Mike Gundy’s comedic routine on stripe the stadium 😂 #Okstate pic.twitter.com/Ktt2rR1jod

— Carson Cunningham (@Carson_OKC) September 10, 2018

The “Roots & Boots” theme was used last year, and for a lot who frequent Boone Pickens Stadium, it’s everyday attire.

Sometimes the Salute to Service game comes with a fun uniform twist, but there was no sign of that in OSU’s graphic. The biggest of those twists came in 2019 when the Cowboys wore a one-time only gray uni:

At this point in the summer, I don’t care what anyone’s wearing, let’s play some football.

Oklahoma State won all three of its games during its preseason trip to the Caribbean, and despite the unknown level of competition, the Cowboys did a lot to excite.

Having compiled the box scores from the three games, here are five takeaways I have from OSU’s Puerto Rico trip.

GAME 1 THOUGHTS | GAME 2 THOUGHTS | GAME 3 THOUGHTS

1. Burks Was Good and Efficient

Without even looking at stats, you could tell UCF transfer Jordan Burks was one of the more impactful players on the floor this week, but he was also uber efficient while making that impact.

Burks, listed at 6-foot-9, was the Cowboys’ leading scorer, averaging 14.3 points in about 16 minutes on the floor each game. To score close to a point a minute, you have to be efficient. He went 14-for-18 (78%) from the field, 6-for-9 (67%) from 3 and 9-for-9 (100%) from the foul line.

On top of all the scoring Burks did, he also joined Ben Ahmed as the only guys with multiple blocks across the two games, and his 1.7 steals a game also tied the team lead with Ryan Crotty.

It’s three games in July in Puerto Rico, but Burks is the current favorite to be considered the best player on the team.

Showtime! 🪄 pic.twitter.com/EBadpmbuWO

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 29, 2026

2. Felesi and Natt Are Stat-Sheet Stuffers

I’m trying to not have this mirror my five thoughts from the final game, but we’re sort of on track to do that.

OSU’s two leading rebounders this week were guards.

Freshman Anthony Felesi, at 6-foot-5, averaged a team-best six boards a game, grabbing five in the first, six in the second and seven in the finale. He also averaged 6.7 points and 1.3 steals a contest.

That’s so A.I. 🤨@AnthonyFelesi4 pic.twitter.com/pJWiWHGo3M

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 28, 2026

Sam Houston transfer Kashie Natt, at 6-foot-3, came second on the team in rebounds, averaging five a game. He also averaged 6.7 points to go with 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals and went 3-for-4 from deep this week.

KASHIE NATT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rzykluNcUN

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 27, 2026

Those two could be a wing tandem Sam Presti would be proud of, two guys who are tenacious defenders and all-out hustlers.

3. Luka Bogavac Can Do A Lot Offensively

They don’t often let bad basketball players play at North Carolina, so Luka Bogavac was one of the guys I was most excited about seeing this week. Although he didn’t necessarily have a breakout game in Puerto Rico, it’s evident he can play.

Bogavac didn’t have his best shooting week, going 7-for-25 (28%) from the floor and 4-for-17 (24%) from 3, but in watching how smooth his jumper was, you can tell those numbers won’t last.

What was more impressive looking back at his numbers was how he facilitated. Listed at 6-foot-6, Bogavac led the Cowboys with 3.7 assists a game, and that came despite the fact that I don’t remember many instances when he was being used as the primary ball-handler.

He totaled 11 assists and just one turnover. Of the five Cowboys who averaged at least two assists a game this week, Bogavac was the only one to average fewer than 1.7 turnovers a game. (Turnovers were an issue for the Cowboys in Puerto Rico. For now, I give it a pass considering it’s July.)

Luka’s feelin’ it 🔥

End of 3rd | OK State 69, Fuerza 63 pic.twitter.com/LavFsJEfx0

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 27, 2026

4. Mekhi Ragland Took A Big Step Forward

Entering his sophomore season, I think Mekhi Ragland will probably be third on the Cowboys’ center depth chart this season, but that doesn’t change the fact that he took a big step forward this offseason.

Ahead of the trip, Steve Lutz told reporters that Ragland went to Arizona to get his body right this summer.

“I give Mekhi a lot of credit — he went in the month of May and part of June to Phoenix to, I don’t know the word to use, maybe get healthy and to really learn the nutritional aspect of how he needs to function,” Lutz said. “He dropped some weight, and he came back and he looked slimmer and trimmer than he has. So, I’m really proud of him.”

Ragland has always had a soft touch, especially for a man of his size, but he was notably trimmer and ran the floor much better in Puerto Rico than he did in his freshman season.

There was one point in Wednesday’s game where he came up to provide some help defense on a ball screen and opened his hips and kept a guard in front of him for enough time for his help to get back into position. I don’t know that he would’ve done that so smoothly last season.

On top of that increased mobility, Ragland’s soft touch in the post was on display in Puerto Rico. He averaged 9.3 points across the three games, going 13-for-19 (68%) from the field.

With Benjamin Ahmed and Julius Halaifanua also on the roster, I’m not sure what Ragland’s role will be for this particular team, but there is no doubt he is getting better.

5. 3-Point Shooting Can Come From Many Places

There were two guys who had rough shooting weeks in the Caribbean, but outside of that, that, the Cowboys appear to have a lot of options to hurt opposing teams from the outside.

Bogavac went 4-for-17 from deep and Jalen Montonati went 0-for-7. Scoring is what both of those guys do, so I’m not super worried about it. But outside of those two, the rest of the 14 Cowboys combined to go 28-for-68 (41%) from deep. That’ll certainly play.

Here are all the guys who shot better than 35% from 3 this week:

Jordan Burks — 6-for-9 (67%)
Ryan Crotty — 5-for-14 (36%)
Parker Robinson — 5-for-8 (63%)
Jacob Walker — 4-for-10 (40%)
Andrija Grbovic — 4-for-9 (44%)
Kashie Natt — 3-for-4 (75%)

Again, the competition is the competition, but that’s a lot of dudes that defenses have to be mindful of on the perimeter.

Final Stats

OSU Bullets

• Eric Morris’ crew dropped into Louisiana and added an edge rusher for the 2027 class (PFB)

• Pokes wrapped up a 3-0 road trip to Puerto Rico – five thoughts from the game here (PFB)

• Cowboy defender Iman Oates saw an encouraging update for his eligibility appeal for a sixth year: 

Iman Oates was granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, according to a report by On3’s Pete Nakos. It could clear the way for him to receive another year of eligibility if things play out favorably in the courts. Or if the courts take too long to get to it. [PFB]

•  Five offensive performances from 2025 + five defensive performances from 2025 that show what the Pokes have coming (PFB)

• I know the ratings were earned at a lower level of football but it feels so good to have some real talent coming back in the receiving game:

Highest Graded Returning Big 12 Wide Receivers🔥 pic.twitter.com/zX5RTCKgHn

— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 28, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Super convicting (faith-based) take about losing my taste for God’s word • Enjoyed this novel, I’m a sucker for time travel and reflections around it  

Iman Oates was granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, according to a report by On3’s Pete Nakos. It could clear the way for him to receive another year of eligibility if things play out favorably in the courts. Or if the courts take too long to get to it.

Oklahoma State DL Iman Oates has been granted a TRO against the NCAA in Payne County, Oklahoma, his attorney Ryan Downton of @TexasTrialGroup tells @On3.

An injunction hearing will need to be set, but it opens up the path to playing CFB this fall. Posted 5 TFLs last two… pic.twitter.com/1bs37RLHa4

— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) July 29, 2026

The issue with Oates’ eligibility stems from his playing his first year at junior college Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in 2022. The Tulsa native redshirted at OSU in 2023 before becoming a major part of the Cowboys’ defensive from the last two seasons.

In 2024, he started all 12 games for the Pokes and was second among defensive linemen with 25 tackles to go with three tackles for loss and two sacks. In 12 games last season, Oates earned an 81.2 tackling grade according to ProFootballFocus, good for fourth-best on the team. He logged 14 tackles, two TFLs, a forced fumble and a QB hurry.

It will be interesting to see how a judge rules in Oates’ case especially with the NCAA’s recent instatement of an age-based five-year eligibility, often referred to as “five-for-five.” It gives each athlete five years of to play with their high school graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever comes first, and eliminates the use of medical or traditional redshirt seasons. If things were to work out for Oates in earning that fifth year, he would likely be in competition for a starting role among OSU’s defensive interior.

This is a similar thing that happened with OSU basketball’s Kashie Natt. He was granted an ex parte order and was able to rejoin the basketball program.

Oklahoma State won again on Wednesday night, beating the LBP All Stars 100-92.

I’ll compile some box scores and probably provide some big-picture takes on Thursday, but for now, here are five thoughts from the final game.

GAME 1 | GAME 2

1. Jordan Burks Is Really Good

Jordan Burks was the last player added to this squad, and he might just be this team’s best player.

Burks’ late (relatively) commitment came as he was testing NBA Draft waters, so it’d make sense that he’d be in contention to be the team’s best guy.

He scored a team-high 18 points Wednesday, going 6-for-8 from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point range.

Burks is smooth yet rangy. He’s a guy you can’t leave open on the perimeter but if your close-out is bad, he’ll float by you, like he did in the second half before a smooth finger-roll.

Any time he felt the need to take over a game this week, he did. He also shot 6-for-9 from 3. I don’t care who the competition is, that’s impressive.

2. Kashie Natt and Anthony Felesi Give Dribblers Hell

OSU freshman Anthony Felesi knocked a ball away from a dribbler near the top of the key.

The ball was rolling toward the halfcourt line when Felesi went penguin style across the floor. After a brief exchange, it looked as if the Puerto Rican player was going to come away with the ball when he turned to a full-sprint Kashie Natt.

Natt ran through the ball, knocking to toward the Puerto Rican goal. He had a breakaway dunk waiting on him, but Natt instead leapt in the air and left the ball just in front of the rim for Felesi, who soared in and dunked it home.

They were like piranhas, which google tells me are unusual in Puerto Rico.

Those two on the perimeter are going to be a nightmare for offenses this year.

Felesi had eight points and seven rebounds Wednesday. That alley-oop from Natt was one of two Felesi was on the end of, with the other coming from Jacob Walker in the second quarter. Not long after that, Felesi stuffed a shot and scored again. He did foul out sort of early, so that’ll be something he’ll have to hone in on. But I leave this week being super impressed with the freshman.

Natt didn’t score Wednesday, but he was still quiet impactful. He had four rebounds, five assists and that steal. OSU fans know tough basketball, and Kashie Natt has OSU fan-favorite written all over him.

3. Jacob Walker Looks Better and Better

Sam Houston transfer Jacob Walker had another stellar day.

Only a sophomore and the reigning Conference-USA Sixth Man of the Year, Walker scored 14 points on Wednesday, going 6-for-11 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range. He also had six assists.

Trickeration 🥸@jacobwalkerrr pic.twitter.com/3sWq8akQV8

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 30, 2026

He was scoring at the rim, floating in the mid-range and scoring from 3.

Kanye Clary didn’t play a ton this week. Not sure if he’s dealing with a little injury or if Lutz just knows what he has with Clary, but with him not playing, Walker has looked really good.

4. Andrija Grbovic Has a Flamethrower

Arizona State transfer Andrija Grbovic played well in the first two games, but he put an exclamation point on his week Wednesday.

Listed at 6-foot-11, Grbovic had 12 points, going 2-for-3 from 3-point range.

He moves better than you’d think a 6-foot-11 guy should, as well, so he’s capable of more than just catching and shooting.

But he is certainly capable of catching and shooting. He went 4-for-9 (44%)  from 3 in the three games.

It’s just another weapon that teams will have to be weary of.

5. This Hailifanua Dunk Was Sick

Julius Hailifanua caught a ball in the short corner, turned and didn’t hesitate at all to throw it down over a smaller defender.

Juice is loose 🧃@HalaifonuaJ pic.twitter.com/L2g4JSoqGI

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 30, 2026

There have been quite a few fun dunks this week, but it was up there with them.

I think my favorite was still Kashie Natt jumping over Ben Ahmed in the first game.

KASHIE NATT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rzykluNcUN

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 27, 2026

But this Latrell Allmond dunk was cool, too. It was better from the broadcast angle, but still.

TRELL, THAT RIM HAD A FAMILY ‼️@_rxprell pic.twitter.com/uRDUzxrToE

— OSU Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) July 28, 2026

Jayden Vessell, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound defensive linemen announced his commitment to Oklahoma State. He pledged to the Cowboys over offers from North Texas, Arkansas State, UNLV, Tulane and others.

IM HOME 🤠!!! All Praise To God pic.twitter.com/h7CrpSZc7q

— Jayden Vessell (@JaydenVessell) July 29, 2026

Out of Baton Rouge Catholic High School, Vessell isn’t yet ranked by the major recruiting services, but he took a trip to Stillwater for the Cowboys’ spring game, announcing his OSU offer after the fact.

His Catholic Bears made it to the semifinals of the Louisiana Division-I Select playoffs this past season before losing to eventual state champs Edna Karr. Catholic finished the year 10-3. Vessell was a All-District First Team selection and Second Team All-State selection as a junior, and viewing his highlights, it’s easy to see why.

His quickness appears to be a problem for many right tackles in Louisiana, but even when they are able to get hands on him, there are highlights of him bull rushing a lineman to the ground before finding the ball carrier.

Vessell becomes the 11th commit in the Cowboys’ 2027 recruiting class and is just the fourth defender to join the fold along with linebacker Israel Hammons (Choctaw, OK), safety Bryson Brown (Broken Arrow, OK) and safety Chayce Davis (Euless, Texas).

With Vessell not yet appearing in the rankings, his commitment doesn’t boost the Cowboys’ standing in the team rankings, but usually it’s only a matter of time between when an unranked guy commits to a Power Conference program and when he gets a ranking.

As for now, the Cowboys’ class ranks 82nd nationally and last in the Big 12, but some of that has to do more with quantity instead of quality. All 81 teams above the Cowboys in the national rankings have more pledges than the Pokes.

OSU’s 2027 Commits

Plus, many of these guys will be playing meaningful snaps at the power conference level for the first time.

The Cowboys offense is filled with players who put up eye-popping numbers last season. The defense doesn’t have quite as many guys who just went crazy in any one game last season, but most of the ones who did have familiarity with OSU’s defensive assistants since they followed them from North Texas.

Here are the five best individual performances by defensive players last season and what these guys might mean for the Cowboys this fall.

LB Jack Puckett

2025 vs Fort Hays State: 11 tackles, eight solo, three for loss and two sacks

Advanced stat: No PFF numbers for Puckett.

Last time an OSU player recorded double-digit tackles and multiple sacks: Malcolm Rodriguez vs Oklahoma on Nov. 27, 2021.

Based on media sessions during spring practices, the transfer from Central Oklahoma isn’t in the mix for serious reps this fall. However, he was one of 10 Cowboys to get three-plus tackles in the spring game, a stat which looks much better considering only four guys tied for first place with four tackles. Although there’s a lot of competition at linebacker, depending on how OSU handles its secondary rotation, this could be the best spot on the defense for a guy trying to crack the rotation.

LB Ethan Wesloski

2025 at Rice: 17 tackles, 10 solo

Advanced stat: Wesloski led the team in both total pressures (three, all hurries) and stops (six) defined by PFF as “tackles that constitute a ‘failure’ for the offense”

Last time an OSU player recorded 10-plus solo tackles: Trey Rucker vs Arkansas on Sept. 7, 2024.

Wesloski is a tackling machine, and that figures to remain true this fall. Even last season’s struggling defense had those. What the Cowboys lacked from the true linebacker position was a pass rush.

Against Rice, Wesloski rushed four times and hurried the quarterback three times. He also finished the season third on UNT with 19 total pressures (sacks, hits and hurries), which would have put him seven ahead of second place on last year’s Cowboy team.

LB Isaiah Chisom

2025 vs Utah: 17 tackles, five solo

Advanced stat: Chisom finished the game with a 79.9 grade as a tackler, his fifth-highest mark of the season.

Last time an OSU player recorded 17-plus total tackles: Trey Rucker vs Arkansas on Sept. 7, 2024.

Chisom could be the guy on this list with the largest range of outcomes this fall, as he might be one of the main guys or find himself a bit lost in the rotation. PFF didn’t love his tape against Utah despite the fact that 17 is just a silly amount of tackles.

Although not historically someone who impacts the game as a pass rusher, he was the only Bruin to record two pressures (both hurries) against Utah last season. He is also one of the few defenders with significant power conference experience after playing 546 snaps last season at UCLA. His season-long tackling grade of 80.5 would have put him sixth on last year’s Cowboy team overall but second among defenders who played at least 300 snaps.

DT Saadiq Clements

2025 vs South Florida: 7 tackles, two for loss and 1 sack

Advanced stat: Team-high four stops

Last time an OSU lineman recorded 7-plus tackles and 1 sack: Collin Oliver vs Kansas on Oct. 14, 2023.

PFF has Clements as North Texas’ highest-graded defensive tackle last season (66.4) by nearly five points. He also led the position in total pressures (11) and stops on the season (17) and ranked ninth or higher on the team in both stats. It also helps his case that arguably his best game of the season came during one of the team’s two losses.

DT Fatafehi Vailea

2025 vs Army: 10 tackles, forced fumble

Advanced stat: Vailea played 60 of his 155 snaps last season (39%).

Last time an OSU lineman recorded 10-plus total tackles: Obi Ezeigbo vs Utah on Sept. 21, 2024.

Vailea started the first four games for UNT before getting injured against Army. He’s a name that is starting to come up more within the program as a guy the Cowboys could lean on this fall.

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OSU Bullets

(Tre) Page has speed that can help stretch the field. His height and cutting ability will make him elusive. The question is durability, especially coming off last season. But with Hawkins as the lead back the Cowboys can use him like a Darren Sproles-type of back, getting him touches in offensive packages that help him do what he does best. [SI]

Highest Graded Returning Big 12 Running Backs🔥 pic.twitter.com/12XILKvsNh

— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 24, 2026

Insane: Texas A&M unveils its brand new gameday suites that are just minutes away from the stadium. One of the best ideas we’ve ever seen. 🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/f7AQ8eR3ba

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 28, 2026

“[Head coach Todd Monken] said he thinks he has two starting-level quarterbacks on this roster.”@DanielOyefusi with the latest surrounding the Browns’ QB competition ✍️ pic.twitter.com/bmkSHIz8DV

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 28, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

The new trailer for ‘TED LASSO’ Season 4 has been released.

The new season follows Ted Lasso as he returns to coach a women’s football team. Releasing August 5 on Apple TV. pic.twitter.com/f9RKadJXmO — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) July 28, 2026

With kickoff just over a month away, here is a look at OSU’s schedule through the lens of opposing starting quarterbacks.

Tulsa: Baylor Hayes

2025 Stats: 186-for-316 (59%), 2,158 passing yards, 12 passing TDs, 6 INTs, 190 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 2

Hayes made the move from East Tennessee State to Tulsa along with coach Tre Lamb entering last season before the then redshirt freshman was able to win the Tulsa job and provide a solid foundation entering his second year with the program.

He ranked fifth in the American last season in big time throws with 17, per PFF, which is categorized as “a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.” For reference, Drew Mestemaker led the American with 24 big time throws.

Hayes led the Golden Hurricane to a win in Boone Pickens Stadium last season, Tulsa’s first win in Stillwater since 1951 and a game that will be remembered as Mike Gundy’s last as OSU’s coach. Hayes threw for 219 yards and a touchdown that day and also ran for another 23 yards on seven carries.

Oregon: Dante Moore

2025 Stats: 296-fot-412 (72%), 3,565 passing yards, 30 passing TDs, 10 INTs, 156 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 3

No matter where you look, Moore is in the running to be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL Draft.

Moore was a blue-chip prospect coming out of Detroit, with 247Sports listing him as the No. 4 overall prospect in the 2023 class. H was committed to Oregon for about five months before flipping to UCLA ahead of signing day.

After appearing in nine games for the Bruins in 2023 where he threw for 1,610 yards and 11 touchdowns, Moore made the move up to Eugene and the rest is history.

Moore feasted on the Cowboys in that game in Eugene last season, throwing for 266 yards and three touchdowns on only 21 attempts.

Murray State: Jim Ogle/Baxter Wright

Ogle’s 2025 Stats: 165-for-276 (60%), 1,767 passing yards, 9 passing TDs, 13 INTs, 30 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs
Ogle’s Year at Current School: 3

Wright’s 2025 Stats: 69-for-92 (75%), 577 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, 1 INT, 150 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs
Wright’s Year at Current School: 3

A 6-foot-2, 220-pound redshirt sophomore, Ogle got the Racers starting nod last season, but Wright also managed to play in nine games, including three starts to close the year with Ogle injured.

Ogle’s college career started in the FBS ranks, as he signed with Louisianan-Monroe as part of the 2023 recruiting class over offers from Troy, UAB, New Mexico and others. He is the son of Murray State Co-OC/running backs coach Jimmy Ogle.

Wright is more mobile than his counterpart, as he finished as the Racers’ third-leading rusher last season with 150 yards and two touchdowns.

West Virginia: Michael Hawkins

2025 Stats (Oklahoma): 15-for-27 (56%), 167 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, 0 INTs, 58 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD
Year at Current School: 1

A winner in West Virginia’s Michael Hawkins/Scotty Fox quarterback battle hasn’t officially been named, but signs would point to Hawkins, an OU transfer, winning the job.

Hawkins took part in nine games across his two seasons in Norman, where he completed 62% of his 147 attempts for 950 yards, six touchdowns and two picks while running for another 262 yards and two scores.

He was a four-star prospect in the 2024 class and committed to OU over an offer list that also included Alabama, Michigan, Penn State, Texas Tech and others.

Hawkins was thrown into the fire during that 2024 true freshman season, with the Sooners’ quarterback room being in as rough a shape as it had been in during some time. In the seven games Hawkins played as a freshman, the Sooners went 3-4, including a 1-4 mark in games he threw at least 10 passes in. It’s hard to pin all of those woes on a true freshman quarterback in the SEC, but it led OSU to going out and getting John Mateer going into 2025, displacing Hawkins. Perhaps a change of scenery was needed.

UCF: Alonza Barnett

2025 Stats (James Madison): 216-for-370 (58%), 2,806 passing yards, 23 passing TDs, 8 INTs, 589 rushing yards, 15 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 1

Barnett is one of many star lower-level quarterbacks making the move up to the Big 12 this season.

Listed at 5-foot-11, 210 pounds, Barnett spent his first four seasons of college ball at James Madison, meaning he was with the Dukes during the Curt Cignetti Era.

Barnett’s last two seasons at JMU were outstanding, throwing for a combined 5,404 yards, running for a combined 1,031 yards and being responsible for a combined 71 touchdowns.

He was the Sun Belt’s Player of the Year last season as he led the Dukes to the College Football Playoff. Although JMU lost that playoff game to Oregon, Barnett still threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns while running for 45 yards and another score. He also had a performance against Old Dominion last season where he threw for 295 yards, ran for 153 yards and accounted for six total TDs.

Houston: Conner Weigman

2025 Stats: 232-for-356 (65%), 2,705 passing yards, 25 passing TDs, 9 INTs, 700 rushing yards, 11 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 2

Weigman’s situation wasn’t too dissimilar to Hawkins’, but Weigman is a year further ahead.

Weigman was a blue-chip recruit coming out of the Lone Star State, being tabbed as a Top 25 player in the 2022 recruiting class. He signed with Texas A&M over offers from OSU, OU, TCU, Ole Miss, Florida and others.

He took part in 15 games across three seasons as an Aggie, throwing for 2,694 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions before hitting the portal and re-emerging at Houston last season, where he potential was almost immediately realized.

Weigman threw for 2,705 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine picks in his first year as a Cougar, leading the program to 10 wins for the first time since 2021. In their previous two seasons in the Big 12, Houston had won eight games combined before Weigman got to H-Town.

Colorado: Julian Lewis

2025 Stats: 52-for-94 (55%), 589 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 0 INTs
Year at Current School: 2

Speaking of former blue-chip recruits, Lewis is entering his second season of college ball after being considered a Top 50 recruit in the 2025 class.

He took part in four games and made two starts as a true freshman, throwing for 589 yards and four touchdowns to no picks. All but eight of those passing yards came in November, as he started getting more run late in the season.

Lewis had his pick of the litter when it came to college programs, choosing Deion Sanders over offers to USC, Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Notre Dame and many others.

Iowa State: Jaylen Raynor

2025 Stats (Arkansas State): 333-for-420 (66%), 3,361 passing yards, 19 passing TDs, 11 INTs, 423 rushing yards, 7 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 1

Raynor is another guy making the move up from the Group of Five ranks after a successful career at Arkansas State.

He threw for at least 2,500 yards in all three of his seasons with the Red Wolves, including a Sun Belt-leading 3,361 yards this past season.

And it’s not just his arm you have to worry about. Raynor forced 41 missed tackles last season, which led all non-running backs in the Sun Belt, as he ran for 423 yards and seven scores.

Kansas State: Avery Johnson

2025 Stats: 204-for-341 (60%), 2,385 passing yards, 18 passing TDs, 6 INTs, 477 rushing yards, 8 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 4

Johnson took a small step back in his third year with the program, but he’s been reunited with Collin Klein and is still one of the more dangerous runners at the position in the country.

Johnson was a true freshman the last time he worked under Klein. Johnson took part in eight games that season, making two starts while also being used as a dual-threat option. That season saw Johnson complete 37 passes for 479 yards, five touchdowns and no picks and run for 296 yards and another seven scores.

He started for the Wildcats the past two seasons. That experience gained plus getting back with Klein could mean Johnson is up for a big year.

Texas Tech: Will Hammond

2025 Stats: 69-for-109 (63%), 680 passing yards, 7 passing TDs, 3 INT, 299 rushing yards, 5 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 3

It’s been an interesting offseason for the Red Raiders’ quarterback room to say the least, but after Brendan Sorsby’s exit, redshirt sophomore Will Hammond is set to run the show.

Hammond played in eight games last season before tearing his ACL, relieving an injured Behren Morton. He also got on the field in four games as a true freshman while redshirting.

He was a four-star quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class after a successful career at Hutto (TX). He ended up picking Tech over offers from Oregon, OSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Pen State and others.

Arizona State: Cutter Boley/Mikey Keene

Boley’s 2025 Stats (Kentucky): 198-for-301 (66%), 2,160 passing yards, 15 passing TDs, 12 INTs, 85 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs
Year at Current School: 1

Keene’s 2025 Stats (Michigan): DNP
Year at Current School: 1

Kenny Dillingham still hasn’t named a starter, though sifting through some things, it sounds as if Boley is the favorite to win the job.

Boley was a four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, electing to stay in his home state with Kentucky over offers from Oregon (when Dillingham was the Ducks’ OC), Alabama, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Texas A&M and others.

He played in 15 games across two seasons with the Wildcats, completing 63% of his passes for 2,498 yards, 17 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

Keene is a college football journeyman at this point. He spent last season sitting behind Bryce Underwood at Michigan but previously played at UCF (2021-22) and Fresno State (2023-24).

His best season to this point was his first year at Fresno, where he threw for 2,976 yards and 24 TDs.

Kansas: Cole Ballard/Isaiah Marshall

Ballard’s 2025 Stats: 10-for-22 (46%), 108 passing yards, 1 passing TD, 1 INT, 92 rushing yards
Year at Current School: 4

Marshall’s 2025 Stats: 3-for-3 (100%), 28 passing yards, 160 rushing yards
Year at Current School: 3

The Kansas job is still open, as well, and appears to be coming down to two returners who got a little bit of run last season.

Ballard walked on at KU and has gotten in 15 games across his first three seasons in Lawrence, with his best performance to date being a 162-yard game in a loss to K-State.

Marshall got in nine games last season but was primarily used as a runner, running five times more than he threw. He was a three-star prospect in the 2024 class and also had offers to Michigan, Ole Miss, Kentucky and others.

He put North Texas at or near the top of several offensive stats, and many of his core pieces followed him to Stillwater. At some point, the numbers all run together a bit, but some of the individual game numbers seem mind-boggling, especially compared to a Cowboys program that saw the starting quarterback top 200 passing yards only four times last season.

Here are five individual performances by offensive skill players last season that highlight what Morris could accomplish with both former UNT players and new players alike this fall.

QB Drew Mestemaker

2025 at Rice: 19-of-23 for 469 yards (82.6%), three touchdowns and no interceptions; two carries for one yard and a touchdown

Advanced stat: 9-of-11 on passes 10-plus yards downfield

Last time an OSU player threw for 400+ yards without an interception: Spencer Sanders vs Central Michigan on Sept. 1, 2022.

Mestemaker topped 600 yards against Charlotte, but the win over Rice stands out as his best performance from 2025 because of the yardage total, the lack of interceptions and a near-season-high accuracy.

It helps that Rice is a much better team on paper than Charlotte, plus Mestemaker made the Owls pay when he went for the big play. That’s something he thinks he can do a better job of in his second season as a starter. If true, his game against Rice could be a warning to the rest of the Big 12 for what is coming this fall.

RB Caleb Hawkins

2025 vs Navy: 33 carries for 197 yards and 4 touchdowns (6 YPC); 3 receptions for 9 yards (3 targets)

Advanced stat: Forced 10 missed tackles, the third-most by him on the season

Last time an OSU player scored four or more rushing touchdowns: Ollie Gordon vs BYU on Nov. 25, 2023.

Navy, of all teams, had no answer for Hawkins. Clinging to a 7-point lead with less than five minutes to play in the third, UNT again leaned on the then-freshman. Hawkins started the drive with a 6-yard reception. He added five more carries, two of which went for 9 and 10 yards, before putting the game just about out of reach with a 6-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the third quarter.

WR Wyatt Young

2025 at Rice: Eight receptions for 295 yards and two touchdowns

Advanced stat: 196 yards came after catch, and he forced 6 missed tackles

Last time an OSU player topped 250 receiving yards: James Washington vs Pittsburgh on Sept. 17, 2016.

Although OSU fans haven’t seen it in a while, it’s not that crazy to see modern quarterbacks throw for 400-plus yards. It’s still much stranger to see receivers topping 250, and Young was pushing for 300. Washington’s 296 yards against Pittsburgh and Adarius Bowman’s 300-yard performance back in 2006 are the only times a Cowboy has topped 250 yards receiving in one game.

WR Jani Weir

2025 vs Orange Coast: Seven receptions for 267 yards and three touchdowns

Advanced stat: No PFF numbers for Weir, but he did average 38.1 yards per catch against Orange Coast.

Last time an OSU player averaged 38 yards per catch with at least three receptions: James Washington vs Baylor on Oct. 14, 2017.

Weir still has to prove he can get things done at the highest level of the sport after dominating junior college ball last season, but the fact that the Cowboys could potentially have a guy with this kind of performance in him running with the 2s or the 3s has to excite Morris. It sounds like the Cowboys will continue to use more than one group of receivers under the new regime, which means this kind of playmaker could come off the bench against a potentially worn-out secondary.

Tre Page

2025 vs Southern Utah: 19 carries for 198 yards and two touchdowns

Advanced stat: 11 missed tackles forced. For context, his other 94 carries resulted in 24 missed tackles forced.

Last time an OSU running back forced double-digit missed tackles: Ollie Gordon vs South Dakota State on Aug. 31, 2024.

Like everyone on this list, Page will have to prove he can remain dynamic now that he’s in the Big 12. Assuming he can earn a spot in the rotation, he will have the benefit of playing behind Hawkins, who should have no issue wearing out defenses on his own. For further context, though Page didn’t hit 200 yards, it’s still worth pointing out that Cowboys have only ever hit that mark in one game 50 times, and seven of those belong to Barry Sanders.

OSU Bullets

• The Cowboys won game two in Puerto Rico last night – and a big lineup that’s intriguing saw some time: 

The live stream of this game was down for much of the first quarter, but when it finally ticked on, Jordan Burks (6-foot-9), Latrell Allmond (6-foot-8) and Julius Halaifonua (7-feet) were all on the floor together.

Lutz prefers to run a man-to-man defense, but if that trio is at the bottom of a 2-3 zone, they might cover the entire width of the floor. [PFB]

• CBS Sports has the Pokes as one of the teams “poised to improve win totals in 2026” (CBS Sports)

• Important for the Cowboys this fall will be taking advantage of the slower start to conference play:

OSU has a winnable league schedule, especially on the front end.

Four of the first five conference contests come against schools ranked among the bottom in the beat writers’ preseason poll. [TulsaWorld]

• Digging into the Cowboy linebacker room (SI)

• One of the most efficient in the country:

Drew Mestemaker was among the most efficient passers in the country at North Texas last year. Can he replicate that success at Oklahoma State? #cfbqbs26 pic.twitter.com/Jo6ASHIEgP

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) July 27, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Why reading matters • A statistical analysis of the most evil Disney villains

“Plenty of growth can be found in removing your vices, but the real leaps are unlocked when you stop clinging to your comforts.” James Clear