After a disastrous 2024, head coach Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys are riding high in the transfer portal. In typical Cowboys fashion, OSU is defying expectations in the most unusual of ways. How did they do it, and who are the names you need to know for 2025?
The Best of Oklahoma State’s Transfer Portal Wins
A Clean Slate for the Cowboys
Out of the entire state of Oklahoma, only two teams can claim that 2024 was a good year. One is the Owasso Rams and the other is the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos. The big three, however, just couldn’t compare.
The Oklahoma Sooners, under Brent Venables, narrowly avoided their worst season in twenty years. Tulsa’s Golden Hurricanes have been continuing their slide to the bottom of the AAC. The Oklahoma State Cowboys were no exception, facing their worst season since 2005.
It’s no surprise, then, that the staff room has been cleared out. Conditioning coach Rob Glass, special teams coach Sean Snyder, and Gundy are now the only ones remaining. Unlike the Sooners, the Cowboys quickly made replacements. Unsurprisingly, this dedication to a quick turnaround is paying off.
Transfers Must Earn Their Spot
Despite producing nearly the same amount of offensive yards as the Navy Midshipmen, the Cowboys football team has surprisingly little to show for it. Ollie Gordon’s struggles and Alan Bowman’s failure to make his third senior year worthwhile made massive changes inevitable. As Bowman and Gordon are both likely heading for the NFL, that change is coming from the transfer portal.
At running back, Kalib Hicks will likely be taking the top spot. The former Sooner hasn’t seen much of the field, but he’s the most experienced one on the depth chart currently. If he ends up in a position battle with redshirt freshman Sesi Vailahi, though, don’t be too surprised.
The area where we’re definitely going to see some intense competition is quarterback. Garrett Rangel has been passed over for the starting job time and time again. Unfortunately, that spot may still be out of reach. Hauss Hejny, transferring in from TCU, has four years of eligibility and comes in with a dual-threat, scrambling factor that Rangel just doesn’t have.
Rebuilding the Defense
Those position battles aren’t likely to carry over to the defense. This is because Oklahoma State had the second worst defense in the entire country. Even the formerly FCS Sam Houston Bearkats put together a better defense than the Cowboys football team did this year. This makes these defensive transfer portal wins even more important.
One of the best transfers is defensive back Mordecai McDaniel from Charlotte. McDaniel is arriving partly due to the hiring of new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who he played under at Florida. McDaniel comes in with 61 total tackles and one sack. Following behind him is Malik Charles from the FCS West Georgia Wolves. Charles is coming in with seven sacks, 33 tackles, and two deflected passes.
Perhaps the biggest defensive portal wins come from Akron linebacker Bryan McCoy and UTEP edge rusher Kyran Duhon. McCoy was one of the most sought-after players in the entire portal. A three-time state wrestling finalist, McCoy comes in with 239 total tackles, 120 of which came in 2024. Duhon, meanwhile, is the 17th-best rusher in the portal with seven sacks and 43 tackles under his belt.
Bedlam Lives on in These Oklahoma State Transfer Portal Wins
Gundy, however, isn’t recruiting a Top 25 class on defense alone. Part of his rapid rebuild strategy is one that’s setting the stage for the future of Cowboys football. It also, coincidentally, is keeping Bedlam alive and well.
As the Sooners struggle to repair their offense, the Cowboys are denying them wins at every turn. One of those wins is tight end Oscar Hammond. From Division II football at UCO to his time at North Texas, Hammond is clawing his way to the top. In 2024, Hammond racked up 238 receiving yards for North Texas.
Shamar Rigby is another recruit that Gundy is denying Venables. The wide receiver from Purdue is averaging 10.3 yards per catch and currently has 113 receiving yards under his belt. The final big get is Louis Canepa, who comes in as a badly needed offensive tackle.
Last Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s Transfer Portal Wins
At the end of 2024, it certainly looked like Oklahoma State was facing a rebuild. Many thought that the rebuild might even occur under a new head coach. Instead, Gundy has retaken the reigns and is riding into the future with, currently, the eighth-best transfer class in the Big 12 Conference.
Will this pan out with a path toward victory in 2025? That’s a little more difficult to predict. There’s plenty of time between now and August, and we all know the difference a year can make. All we know for sure is that Last Word On Sports will be there to provide you with the latest in all things Oklahoma State Cowboys and Oklahoma Sooners football.
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