Eric Morris Says Oklahoma State’s Season Mantra Fits His Transfer-Laden Roster

Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris spoke at media day on Saturday and revealed his mantra for the season. It fits his team.

Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Eric Morris and his Oklahoma State Cowboys are just a few days into fall workouts, and it' already time for them to face the media.

Saturday was Cowboys media day in Stillwater, where most of the players and Morris were available to speak to local media.

Morris took about 30 minutes of questions from reporters on a wide range of topics. Naturally, everyone is interested in how Morris’ approach to the offseason will translate into success on the field.

After all, the Cowboys went 1-11 last season, 4-20 the past two seasons and have lost 18 straight Big 12 games. That cumulative impact cost long time head coach Mike Gundy his job.

Morris brought in nearly 90 new transfers, recruited a solid freshman class and only has 13 letter winners returning from last year's team. There are lots of questions and lots of doubters. And Morris is OK with that. He even has a mantra for it.

Eric Morris and His 2026 Mantra

Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Morris talked about the change on his roster and found a way to develop a mantra that puts a chip on his team’s collective shoulder, especially for those players that weren’t in power conference situations last season.

“Our mantra this year is we call ourselves some misfits, right?” he said. “We have a bunch of people from different situations, [and] some are coming off really positive situations where there were great players that got recruited at a high level, [and others] that hadn't gone through that before. I mean, you have guys like Wyatt [Young], Caleb [Hawkins] and Drew [Mestemaker] and they don’t get recruited out of high school. Then all of a sudden, they have a great season, they produce at a high level, and they have blue bloods all over the country calling.”

All three of those players played for Morris at North Texas last season, where the Mean Green went 12-2 and reached the American Conference championship game before losing to Tulane. Nearly 20 of Morris’ former players followed him to Stillwater in the hope that their high production last season will translate at the power conference level.

What happens during Oklahoma State’s 25 fall practices will help build the foundation for what Morris hopes is a quick turnaround on the field. The Cowboys get some early motivation when they head to Tulsa on Sept. 5 to face the Golden Hurricane, which won in Stillwater for the first time since the 1950s last season.

After that, the Cowboys have two straight home games against Oregon on Sept. 12 and Murray State on Sept. 19 before they head to Morgantown to face West Virginia in their Big 12 opener on Sept. 26.