Oklahoma State Cowboys 2024 Preview | Full Depth Chart and Schedule Breakdowns

Intro/2023 Season Review what is up everybody welcome back here to the de Channel we're back with our top 25 series working our way down we did Utah now we're at Oklahoma State Cowboys we're talking a little number 24 ranked Cowboys here now before we get into the 24 ranked Cowboys go over everything impact players recruits notable losses incoming players and their schedule we got talk about last year overall not a bad year 10 and four finished pretty well down the stretch of the Season made the Big 12 championship game um and overall when you looking at their schedule you know really the big oops was at the beginning of the year and you're watch you know South Alabama Iowa State probably two losses that they wish they could have back but they turned it around um beat Oklahoma which is all you know Cowboy fans like to hear they beat Oklahoma before Oklahoma left out to the SEC played Texas in the Big 12 Championship lost there um and when you're looking at just what they brought to the table obviously Alan Bowman was there he's back again 345001 attempts 3400 yards uh 15 touchdowns 14 interceptions olly Gordon became one of the best players in college football last year that's really where they rode him down the stretch um but overall pretty good year for gundy's team 10 and four positions himself really well going into this year they finished 16th overall um in the final AP poll and based on their season pretty good success based on the first four games of the year now when we're flipping over the offense though me and Chris gonna be talking about and Chris's gonna kind of dive Us in there they got a lot of guys 2024 Offense coming back and they should be excited about all the veterans coming back littered all over this depth chart yeah the main one we always talk about how important trench play is they have all five starters returning um this year at least all five of these projected starters played at least 12 games last year so uh this was a really good pass blocking unit they obviously if you see on the on the screen here their their run block and grade per PFF was not very good but that doesn't necessarily matter when you have a guy like olly Gordon back there so because they were so good on pass protection um that gave Alan Bowman a chance back there um we we talked about Dison stribbling is is gonna be a big factor uh in this offense he didn't play a whole lot last year was battling injuries Brenan Presley stepped up huge for them last year he was a fantastic player um might have some NFL potential and Rashad Owens uh Loki was was pretty good last year as well so uh overall this offense when you talk about everything's gonna flow through Oly Gordon as it should but they've put pieces around Alan Bowman to where this there could be an extra Dynamic to this offense where I think think that they can be pretty good maybe one of the best in the Big 12 even yeah 100% And I think you hit a good point there with Rashad Owens I mean 895 yards five touchdowns last year kind of was that guy but DeShaun stribling is a guy he he came over from Washington State a couple years ago and I was kind of a Washington state truther a couple years ago so like I've watched him play a lot and in cff and fantasy and stuff stribling's one of those guys that you're like oh man he can go off if he's healthy he only played four games last year if he's healthy I think it elevates his offense and I think it puts the pressure off of Ole Gordon because you can see a lot more quick screens you can see a lot more Slants a lot of things where it's it out quick it's not a run but it is kind of a run like it's able to kind of get that ball out quickly into an athlete and stribling is that guy and this offense needs it I mean they were top 45 in offense points per game last year about 29.8 which wasn't you know isn't going to do it in the Big 12 that's just not we know that in terms of what this conference looks like yards per game they were you know 430 which was pretty good I think you hit on the head though with the rushing attack I mean the Run blocking wasn't great but even then you know Rush play percentage you know they were 117th they didn't run the ball very much last year yards per rush they were 25 though they were a top 25 unit there but rushes per game they ranked 103d and the reason why is because really they had nothing behind Ali Gordon um we're gonna kind of talk about AJ Green what happened to him reine all of that looking forward but this offense has room to grow and with that consistency coming back on the line you have to really like that from from these guys in this in this room now notable losses you know when you're Notable Losses looking at this not a lot of guys left that we are really saying notable right Leon Johnson had 539 yards in a touchdown but really if stribling's healthy boom bounces back that's not really a huge loss uh bla green again guys you know 102 yards nothing great there Jaden Bray 382 yards and two touchdowns solid guys good guys out there to be on your on your team but really no losses that you're like really have to recover from in terms of the portal or anything like that yeah I I think we talked about stribbling I think he comes in and replaces everything that Johnson to break gave you um I will say I think there's a little less depth in that wide receiver room if only because they've lost you know bodies but guys step up I I think a lot of those guys can't get you the 105 yards that that bla green gave you last year so uh to me this is a a net you know even there's there's not a whole lot of actual notable in these losses um obviously names that Oklahoma State fans will recognize because they were playing a lot but nothing that's super impactful to this offense in my opinion no the one guy that I still believe in man is ton shton uh the wide receiver he's a retro sophomore now he was big a couple years ago people loved him coming out of his recruiting class and he's sitting right there beside probably Rashad Owens and that X like if you're looking for some guy that could probably step up there um I know they like tyi Andrews as well like man but Shon come on man I still believe that you have the talent out there um as far as recruits go so this is the really the one thing with 2024 Offensive Recruits Oklahoma state that we don't see a ton of you know ranked overall 63rd in terms of 247 Sports 56 composite rank two um they really get guys to develop and then they kind of just go after kind of like the portal and they attack there the big guy that they got was Trey Griffith I mean when you're looking at him and you're talking about like what he is 63205 he fits their profile really well wide receiver 45 of the position out there of Keller Texas um Smith at quarterback again probably that you know when you're looking at him you're talking about just a project 641 195 um going through it Josh Ford Rodney fields Jay Allen Hendrick is an interesting one um when you're looking at him he's an athlete but you know he's probably playing running back and anytime you get a Oklahoma State guy that's gonna be playing running back he's one the not at 62225 he can kind of step in there um and when you talk about what he did in high school you know he ran for 2200 yards and 25 touchdowns as a um as a senior on 232 attempts and there's kind of a new opening in that running back room you know we're going to talk about AJ Green in the transfers but he looks like he's going to be banged up to start the year and he won't be able to be out there maybe a guy like Jaden Allen Hendricks comes in and surprises his coaching staff I mean he has the size already it's not like he's going to have to do that he's got the production too so he's an interesting guy to watch and if you if you play in any kind of fantasy league a deep League that would be a guy to really Target there uh Cale Caleb hackelman Chanty Johnson those kind of guys I mean big boys that they're going to develop there but what stood out to you about the recruiting class or you know you know ranked 63rd are we are we comfortable with that they're goingon to have to recruit a little bit better moving forward yeah I think that's gonna be true for Big 12 teams to be honest I think it's going to be a little tough to recruit to this conference but Trey Griffith's on film I think there's some translatable stuff he's he's got a frame that's ready to play um which you can't say about every High School recruit coming into a college program but 63205 big body um underrated a little bit after the catch but uh to me this is a guy that if they really get hit with injuries I think Trey Griffiths can can step up and play uh you mentioned it but Jaylen Allen Hendrick is fantastic player I think this is one of those gems uh of this class I think there's a chance they have to rely on him I know uh cesie vahi is is getting a lot of Buzz as that you know next guy up but a lot of things can happen if olly Gordon goes down it's not like they're giving Allie Gordon's work to one person that's not how that's gonna play out so uh some what between Jaden Allen Hendricks or or Rodney Fields I think we could see some of that work go to those two guys but overall this class is fine you know it's it's definitely an area they need to improve moving forward yeah I mean this coachi Dev know a got develop the the gun's been doing that while he's been at Oklahoma State I mean he's never had a top top recruiting class in there now what brings it to the you know front is Key Offensive Transfers you have transfers that can come in now so really what they've been able to do is kind of Target these guys you know AJ Green was the big one and you know he came over from Arkansas but he was talented and I know that they were really relying on him to be their their running back too really kind of take that usage away from Oly Gordon a little bit probably increase their rushing stats and their rushing numbers and their efficiency metrics too to put AJ Green out there and when you're watching Gundy in his press conference day talking about his injury which doesn't seem season ending but it definitely sounded like november-ish like it sounded like it's going to be kind of a late kind of injury hopefully he can bounce back it definitely hits this team because the depth is what they really needed attack at that running back room and without AJ Green the guys that we talked about are guys going to have to definitely Step Up you have Tren Howland as well so he's out there he came from Indiana could be possibly one of those guys that maybe we're just kind of not thinking about that could step up for them Dwayne Lofton wide receiver out of Virginia Tech Gavin Freeman is there out of Oklahoma Tyler fosta and then Isaiah glass it does seem like he's someone that they might be looking at from Arizona State you know he's coming in 65 245 big kid there H what stood out to you about the transfers Gavin Freeman's an interesting one he's he's popped a little bit uh for Oklahoma he's not a great receiver to be completely honest but I think this is a big special teams help um Oklahoma state has been a good special teams unit for the most part over the the course of Mike gundy's time at Oklahoma State uh but Freeman gives you something there if that's where you know they choose to play him or deploy him but I also think you can get some decent backup uh slot snaps from him uh it's a bummer that AJ Green is is missing time uh a November return is is that's a serious injury that it's five months away um so it's uh you're hoping that he can come back be a factor down the stretch because like you said I think their whole goal was to run the football a little bit more control games a little bit better um maybe they still have that goal maybe they're going to Patchwork it like we we've kind of alluded to but to me um losing him is pretty big uh considering he was our top key transfer uh and then Tyler Foster coming over I kind of like that one as well I think he can be an impact player um but overall this is when we talk about the defense they went hard on offense in the transfer portal defense not so much but I I think this is the right way to do it when you have a a 97th year quarterback uh and you're kind of playoffs are bust at this point yeah let's talk about him let's talk about Impact Players - Offense impact players here you know Alan Bowman seven season of college football last year and and and I know that he kind of like he solidified that room for them because they definitely needed someone to come in there I think I even made some Alan Bowman jokes last year I was like man he's there for a long time he's back for his seventh year um and when you're looking at this like when you're going over all these guys like there are six basically super seniors and a red shirt senior in this offense that's probably starting and Bowman's really got to step up like you I'll let you talk about oi Gordon how great he is and all that but really you know stribbling being there is great Pressley Owens but you know he's got to take care of the football he's got to make better decisions when you're looking at that 15 touchdown 14 interceptions can happen because really this defense has got to step up and improve and you don't want to put this defense out there more than it needs to be like your offense needs to be efficient you need to score some points in the Big 12 and really what's going to come down to is Health like and there are negative with AJ Green being gone because really the Big 12 is just going to be who stays the healthiest is it cam rising from Utah is of these guys out there and really Bowman's got to kind of write this ship a little bit you'd like to see his percentage get up there from 60 to probably like 65 to 70% if they could um but really that's to me he's got to write that ship now he just got to hand it off too just hand off to our guy Al olly Gordon and do that but stop turning the ball over I think that's the biggest key for Allen yeah some of their losses I mean it's tough to put a loss on one player but he he threw some Clunkers out there um in a couple of those losses so I think that's critical taking care of the football is the main thing to to Wing every game which you and you don't have to do necessarily in in the uh current nature of the college football playoff uh but I I think when you're coming from the Big 12 you have to win the Big 12 at least uh yeah so Alan Boba needs to be a lot better like you said he just needs to turn the ball uh turn and hand the ball off to olly Gordon I think that everything has to run through Oly Gordon um this is a very talented running back I you know I have my reservations about him as an NFL player U but this is a fantastic college football uh running back that I think can carry this offense especially say your offensive line which struggled in run blocking last year improves even marginally I think you're looking at a much more efficient attack I think they will you know incorporate some of those other guys but that's going to keep Oly fresh I want to see him more involved in the passing game I know had 50 targets last year but even more would be good getting the ball in your best players hands is critical and then this wide receiver core uh I think brenon Presley is a really good player I think stribling's a really good player as well so uh to me as long as Alan Bowman doesn't throw the ball to the other team I think this offense is gonna be pretty efficient yeah 2,000 yards um from from scrimmage you when you're looking at what he was able to do last year with Gordon 22 touchdowns overall um and then the name that keeps just popping up right is sesi vahi vahi he just he he's that guy and we didn't put him on the impact um players but Gundy keeps talking about him and if gundy's talking about you you know that's one of those things that kind of taken the fruition of like hey maybe this is a guy that really can step up for them in that room as well but all's their guy I think Olie has a chance if he repeats what he does to be a day two guy next year um and that's just really moving forward 2024 Defensive Breakdown now as far as the defense goes so when we're diving into the defense I'm gonna give some numbers and Christian canana talk about the players out there you know the number one thing they have to improve on and the one thing that they did not do last year stopping opponents on third down third down conversion they ranked 97th last year they just couldn't get off the field a lot of Bin bin on first and second and they broke on third down and teams were able to extend drives which is number one for me when you're looking at just their defensive metrics they couldn't get off the field and you got to get off the field in the Big 12 you have to give your offense opportunities especially when you have Gordon these guys on the um on the other side that was really their big like red flag and in sack percentage 96 last year so you know not getting after qub back and in that probably attributed to that third down conversion rate um they have to get off the quarterback this year and they got to improve the third down defense yeah they they weren't a big sack team I I think they have some players now uh we'll talk about it in the transfers but Obi zigo was coming over from Ganon division 2 transfer but had some really fantastic production really good film um people overstate the difference between division two and division one to be completely honest I think um this transition might not be as difficult as many project I think he can come in and start right away and maybe get you even a better sack production than what you you had last year uh Nick Martin and Colin Oliver is is two of your main linebackers Colin Oliver is one of those do-it-all players he flies all over the field I think he's good when he drops back into coverage he's a main uh contributor to your sack total so you need him to be able to get to the to the passer um and then you've got you know Cory black at corners and an intriguing name I I really like what he did last year um cam Smith coming in as well I I think that this secondary can be um you know kind of the staple but like you said they need to get off the field on third down which means they need to put teams in in more strenua circumstances right they the the third Downs can't be third and twos because those are a lot easy to convert so they need to hold up against the Run um and and they need to get more sack production so I like what they've done and they didn't add a whole lot on this side of the ball but I think they're relying on that development they're returning a ton of starters I think experience is huge is critical but uh to me this is definitely the weaker unit when you look at it just player for player uh but this unit can be better than last year yeah their safeties um have a ton of starts 56 career starts between all of them um and they have you know have many they have 20 safeties listed on their roster by the way on their spring Rost they're loaded at the position it's all to that that out there it's at it's at 335 but they definitely have experience back there now when Notable Losses you're talking about not notable losses again when we say notable you know these are good players you know Anthony goodlow you know 42 tackles last year you know three sacks again Xavier Benson same thing you know 65 tackles one and a half sacks latu you know when you're looking at him he had you know three sacks fine players rotational guys but nothing that stands out is like oh my gosh how are we going to recover from this because they able to keep the guys that you talked about there's really no big notable losses on this on this defensive side yeah quite frankly lot to had a few sacks but like the film's bad man he he misses a lot of tackles so this could be in that positive honestly um so I I think I think good low had some good film last year but uh overall like same thing with the offense there's not a whole lot of notable losses if only because there weren't that many notably good players on that defense last year to lose and feel like you're you're missing out on something yeah 100% And when you're look at the recruits you 2024 Defensive Recruits know they really targeted some more recruits here um again they love their safeties Landing Cleveland 6' 185 um he's probably the bigger guy there um when you're going through it uh you know tamaric Johnson could be a guy 63205 he's definitely got to put on some weight uh he's probably going to get Red Shed based on that weight there um Armstrong again um when you're looking at him 61250 bigger kid there overall a solid class the problem is is like how many of these guys are G get on the field Jonathan AUM AUM I think is out of Mckenna Texas 62220 already um and when you're looking at where he played you know you're like hey maybe you can get on the field a little bit that Edge guy um gunar Wilson is another one if you Google his name right now go find him he looks like an Oklahoma State linebacker come on Oklahoma State fans go Google him on any any recruiting service you like yep that dude plays for Oklahoma State but overall pretty good you know pretty good class but again who's going to be out on the field is is the biggest question with the transfer portal yeah I mean I think this is a group where you're hoping you develop them jacobe olon is an intriguing one to me 64 175 uh super lengthy but super lanky as well so going to need to get in that weight program and and put a couple pounds on but I think three years down the road that could be a player that we're talking about is is a legit force on that defense um not a lot of opportunity for most of these guys I I will say I think the The Edge and defensive lineman could work their way onto the field this year if only because like we talked about we just didn't have a whole lot of production so I think there's opportunity there but we we know what recruiting is at this point in college football and it's it's going to be tough for really any of these guys to see the field yeah jacobe olant just a you know fun fact about him his size really does disrupt passes though because in high school I think he had over 20 pass blocks or um pass breakups you like that you like that from your from your big Corner out there especially going into this new league now with new teams are definitely going to be throwing the ball over the place you need guys like him as Key Defensive Transfers far as transfers go they're really just two right when you were talking about him here um who do you stands out I know Kobe H you talked about Obie uh Kobe um hon hon from utap um where where are you at with these two guys I think they can be player you know with this secondary like like we talked about the 335 I think Hilton's gonna get on the field um I think he's gonna be a rotational player um same thing with isigo I I think that he can be more than that um but we don't know I mean he's coming over from Ganon University that is up in my neck of the woods I can tell you not a whole lot of football players are coming out of there so um obviously the the level of competition is going to go up uh for him I'm excited to see if he can do it because I think there's there's a lot of opportunity for both of these guys to get on the field I think eigo is probably on the field a little quicker yeah and ebo is an old guy you know this is like you know he spent five years there so like when we're talking about like the you know hey he's coming there to play this year um that's it he's going to be in that rotation there um but he's he's experienced right these guys are all experience that are coming out of there um all right so when we're Impact Players - Defense looking at just overall impact players um guys that we really like in terms of just hey can really set that tone for them um where are you at with the impact players how do you feel about them um and you know is it Colin Alva is it Nick Martin Nick Martin seems to be that guy everybody's kind of pinning as possibly being that big 12 you know player maybe player of the year but at least Big 12 all defense first team yeah I mean I think Martin's stats are inflated if only because he's got a lot of the mop-up tackling Duty and and so his tackle numbers go crazy which I think he's a good player don't get me wrong he's definitely got to be an impact player for this defense to succeed Colin Oliver is the the linebacker I'm most intrigued by though I think because of his versatility because he there's really not a whole lot of weaknesses to his game I'm curious to see if they up his uh you know pass rush percentage because of the success that he found in doing that last year but overall I I and Cory black like I mentioned I mean good in coverage last year I think um there were times where you know he could get a little flat footed but uh you're gonna have that I think uh all three of these guys can take a step forward and like we've talked about experience experience experience these guys are all uh getting some valuable reps and I don't think all really all three of these players should be on the field almost every snap this year provided they stay healthy yeah I mean the big thing for me just diving into this team and this defense they got to get someone that comes after the football they got to get pressure and if they can do that they're going to be fine I think that's the big the number one area of improvement that they need and if these guys can do that or you know we looking at some of those other guys we talked about on the defensive end spot they got to go after the football like and they got to go get there and get off the field I think Cory black is that one guy for me uh you know will he be able to kind of translate maybe make some turnovers get some takeaways like those are the areas for the impact players and when you look at the schedule you know their schedule 2024 Schedule works out pretty well now they in true Oklahoma State fashion they scheduled a very very good FCS opponent in South Dakota state who's won two straight I think championships out there um at that level at the FCS level that's a big game like and you know Oklahoma State fans know they've lost some games beginning of the year to some teams they shouldn't have even last year right to South Alabama those type of things Arkansas at home that's a tough one too right but then you get Tulsa and really the big game to me because when you look at their schedule you know Kansas State yeah that's gonna be kind of a tough game but West Virginia no BYU no Baylor maybe Arizona State not probably not TCU maybe uh Texas Tech and in Colorado I would rather play Colorado the end of the year than the beginning because of depth issues hey you know what you know you saw it happen last year at the beginning of year it's like oh my gosh maybe these guys got some dudes and then they all get hurt Travis Hunter goes out and then okay really it comes down that Utah game for me and when you're looking at it like that is a huge game in the Big 12 in terms of this um where where are you leaning with their schedule I know they got Arkansas South Dakota State there they're at seven and a half was their win total over under two so if we want to talk about that we can yeah I think really the the tough the toughest games are four the first five I think at Tulsa is very winnable uh I think home against Arkansas is also very winnable uh I think South Dakota State at home is winnable but I'm not calling those guaranteed wins uh and and that's the problem I think with that group I I added Kansas State in there because I I think that team is going to be pretty efficient offensively and so if this team can't really figure out the defense in that first month I think that could be one of those Barn burners where you know the last team that has the football might win that game um so that one makes me a little bit nervous especially on the road but if they can get through those first five I think they're hitting the over because even if they come out of that four in one maybe they lose to Utah um they come out four- one I think there's a chance they can sweep the rest of their schedule I think the Texas Tech game's a little sneaky hard uh sneaky difficult there but um overall I mean this is a a very favorable schedule I think that allows them to have their toughest tests early uh kind of rack up some wins down the stretch and recency bias matters when it comes to playoff birth as well so I think we could see uh an over I'm gonna pick the over here well I'm gonna pick the over as well um but really you know those first few games that's what I'm talking about when I'm talking about Bowman like Bowman's got to really set the tone early in those games not make mistakes especially versus Arkansas if he has a very good game they're going to win that game like if he comes out and does not turn the ball over it's going to be hard for me to see them losing that game because AR got some you know issues they got some issues over there and I think that they can definitely exploit those but it really comes down to him like how is he going to do here and the one thing to also know if you're an Oklahoma State fan or just in the Big 12 you guys are all the same all your teams are the damn same thing when I was going through it like Utah you guys are all experienced you got old guys like and if you want parody in college football it's the big 12 it's it's parody all over the place because really I could see five other five different teams trying to win this conference like I really could like it's really one of those things so really when you're Outro - Overall Outlook looking at the final outlook here I think the ceiling for them is Big 12 championship in a playoff appearance I think they could do that if they win a big 12 I think whoever wins the Big 12 is going to get in the playoff obviously but after that like I can't see a second team getting in probably unless two teams really outside themselves but they're going to kind of cannibalize each other I believe and I really think the winner of the Big 12 is gonna have three losses probably I would really kind of bet my money on that I know some Utah fans out there think they're going undefeated but I have a hard time seeing that with the parody in the league so for oklah you know Oklahoma State I think their ceiling is a big 12 Championship I think that their floor eight wins um but I still think they hit their over on their on their win total yeah I think they're in good shape I mean we kind of know what this is from a a long-term Outlook I think you know winning the Big 12 should be their goal every year I do think that this is the year though we we've talked about how old this team is uh those guys are running out of Eligibility at least we hope so uh I think maybe some Oklahoma State fans might wish that Alan Bowman will get uh redacted and he has to leave but no I think I think this team's in good shape I think they're gonna be a playoff Contender I think they're going to be a big 12 Championship Contender so I'm excited to see what they do uh hopefully they stay healthy hopefully they uh just give the ball to olly Gordon and I think they're in good shape give the ball Olie Gordon Gundy that's all you got to do uh but I think your point is you know a good one next year they're going to be a little bit hurting a little bit with all these Dept pieces out there and recruiting on the nil is going to be a little difficult in the non- power four conferences out there got just the way the rules are now so this is their year go go out there and try to attain that big 12 championship and go out there with Gundy because I Gundy might leave at some point there there's a time when Gundy is going to go and I think maybe in the next few years but appreciate you guys hit that like And subscribe button we'll be back with number 23 on our next episode here as always comment below what do you guys think about Oklahoma State and their season coming up [Music] nah [Music]