What Will This Class Do for the Cowboys Next Season and Beyond?

The Oklahoma State recruiting class is nearly full and the question most fans want to know is how will it help a season that looks so promising?

STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State football is on a serious upward incline, so much so that head coach Mike Gundy was very receptive when associate athletic director for media relations Gavin Lang suggested a pep rally at the Student Union. Gundy's positive attitude started after the Texas Bowl loss to Texas A&M when shortly after the game ended, Gundy challenged himself, his coaching staff and his players to push themselves to work harder in the offseason and fulfill the promise this team has heading toward next fall. 

Gundy came home from Houston and solidified transfers Collin Clay and Josh Sills.

Across from left, University of Arkansas athletics, USA Today Sports Images, Sports Illustrated

The bulk of the new class of Cowboys was already recruited and signed before the team went to Houston, but Gundy did fulfill his promise to the team as he quickly added a pair of jumbo new Cowboys in West Virginia offensive lineman Josh Sills and former Putnam City High School defensive end Collin Clay that has transferred from Arkansas. 

"It was going on all through December, during bowl prep, while we were in Houston at the bowl game, and then when we got home," Gundy said. "I don't know if the fans, the public, anybody realize the hours, the non working hours, nine o'clock and night and seven in the morning with all these transfer players across the country and if you get behind, then you're in trouble and you miss out."

Sills and Clay join junior college defensive end Tyren Irby, and high school early enrollees quarterback Shane Illingworth, offensive linemen Monroe Mills and Eli Russ, safety Nic Session and cowboy back Quinton Stewart.  

You have to look at that group first. They are on campus and working in the weight room and in the Sherman Smith Training Center with Rob Glass and his staff. Soon they will be meeting with the coaching staff and will be working with the coaches on the field during spring football. 

Sills is a veteran that has earned second-team All-Big 12 honors and is a mature physically and competitively player that should compete for a starting role on the offensive line at either center or guard. The two other offensive linemen in are both freshmen and Monroe Mills is coming off of knee surgery and needs to finish his rehab. Eli Russ is perhaps, an exception to the rule of how freshmen rarely play without red-shirting. Russ is a very mature and physical young player that with the lead of the spring semester, could compete for a spot on the depth chart. Russ is from a smaller school (Class 3A), but he really is mature for a freshman.

Eli Russ is a very large and mature sized freshman offensive lineman.

On the defensive side, Clay will have to win his appeal to be eligible or he will have to sit out next season. In the spring, he needs to show what playing last season at Arkansas did for him. In high school, the couple of times I saw him play, I was not impressed, but his tape from playing last season shows a different player than what I saw. Irby is athletic and enthusiastic and the Mississippi Junior College league is a good proving ground. His time in the off season strength and conditioning program is important. His 235 pounds needs to work toward a stronger 245 pounds. 

For the rest of the players that have reported, the freshmen, they need to not be shy, embrace the off-season program and listen to the veterans and the coaching staff. 

Illingworth is a confident player with excellent talent and skills and because of the situation here, has a chance to earn the back-up role behind Spencer Sanders. He can become entrenched before new junior college signee Ethan Bullock arrives. That competition throughout the summer and fall camp will be interesting to watch. Bullock isn't showing up just to have a spot on the bench. He will be there to compete and he has talent based on his tape from City College in San Francisco. 

"We have a lot of young kids, but that position is so prominent that you need to have another mature guy," Gundy said. He came in on his visit and Coach Rattay liked him, Coach Dunn liked him, and I liked him. The word is coming from the West Coast where he played at a pretty prominent quarterback junior college that he has just scratched the surface with his abilities."

The other two early arrivals also interest me. Nic Session is a baller that makes big hits, is great at finding the ball in the passing game (seven interceptions) and is athletic enough to return two kickoffs for touchdowns. He is a safety, but looked at as a potential linebacker down the line, similar to Malcolm Rodriguez. The need is not as great there right now, but you won't turn down someone that proves they can help. 

I was less than enthusiastic about Grayson Boomer last year. He was from an offense that threw the ball seldom. He was big and showed he could block, but he was raw in running routes and lacked in ball skills. Quinton Stewart may not be a four-star, but he is physical, tough, can block, but is athletic and my bet is he is at least two-tenths faster than Boomer, likely a little more than two-tenths. I don't say that to criticize Boomer, but I say it to show that being from Salina Central in Kansas isn't going to get you as much star consideration as a player that shows up at combines and is from a state championship contender in Oklahoma. I'm anxious to see how Stewart progresses. 

Transfers don't count until they are on your campus, but Gundy and the recruiting and coaching staff are working hard. Missouri cornerback Christian Holmes made an official visit and star running back Chuba Hubbard was right to recruit Holmes to come back. The Cowboys need some veteran help at corner and Holmes would be perfect. 

I know less about Dee Anderson, although he made an official visit that was completely off the radar until our own LSU expert Marshall Levenson discovered the pictures on his Twitter account. He is from DeSoto, Texas and he would basically come in looking similar to the situation from last season when Jordan McCray arrived from South Alabama. This time, the Cowboys have seen four receivers, two serious players that were on the depth chart, depart. So, adding a grad transfer looks very appropriate. Although, Kasey Dunn told me he has enough if the cast is Wallace, Stoner, Wolf, Johnson, Anderson, Shepherd and the others coming in like Rashod Owens, Brennan Presley, and Matt Polk. 

Owens, who has a mature physical frame for a receiver and the toughness that comes from playing running back and the electric energy that is Presley both look to me like they can contribute right away. 

Lamont Bishop looks the part and plays like he can help. 

Lamont Bishop may be one of the most important signees in the class, at least immediately. Bishop is an inside linebacker that runs like an outside linebacker and the Cowboys need some depth there and an older player to give the position some maturity heading into the 2021 season when Amen Ogbongbemiga, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Devin Harper are worried about playing in the Senior Bowl, the Combine, and their Pro Day. Bishop looks to be a really good late find for the position that may have been under the radar because of his injury in the middle of last season. 

"He's a south side Chicago kid and sometimes those kids get lost in the recruiting process," Gundy said of Bishop. "We like his attitude and we believe he will fit in our culture."

I am a big believer that it takes time for freshmen, most freshmen to be ready to play and contribute in a significant way. There is a reason that it is a next level from high school football. 

I like Cade Bennett, Trent Pullen and Monroe Mills, but they will need to do their time in the transition to Division I. On the defensive side, Grant Mahon had a huge year for Denton Guyer, but he too will need to put in the work to prepare for this level.

I believe that Mason Cobb will have a chance to immediately help some at linebacker. The Utah Defensive Player of the Year is talented enough to see the field. The other freshmen linebackers in Jeff Roberson and Cole Thompson fall into the category of work hard and learn. 

That leaves corners Jabbar Muhammad of DeSoto, Korie Black of Waco Connally and Jordan Reagan from Bixby. They will have an opportunity because the numbers at the position are somewhat slim. They will have to prove they are ready to play at this level, but the opportunity is there for them. 

"Muhammad has been committed to us for like nine years," Gundy joked. "He hung with us and hung with us and he falls in that same category as A.J. Green. He can run, has good hips, is tough, and loves to play the game. Somebody asked me today if he is an impact player for us and I don't know. It is hard to tell if he will., I know we like his future. He is going to step on campus in June with an associate's degree. He already has like 50 hours."

Finally, one of my favorite signees is Zach Middleton. He will have time to watch and learn coming off an injury that cost him most of his senior season, but Middleton is a baller and has a chance to be really good. I'm just not sure where he will be, running back, slot receiver or in the secondary. 

It is a very solid class that has the ability to fill some gaps and help immediately and other players that will be ready in 2021, 2022, and beyond.