Quinton Hammonds’ Rise to Oklahoma State Starting Safety Started Decades Ago

The Oklahoma State Cowboys are trusting Quinton Hammonds with a starting safety spot and his hard work — and long-ago teammates — helped pave the way.

Oklahoma State’s Quinton Hammonds. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Quinton Hammonds’ path to becoming a starter at Oklahoma State didn't start a couple of years ago. It started nearly three decades ago.

Hammonds is the son of Nicki Hammonds and Patrick House, the latter of which played college football at Stephen F. Austin alongside Drew Svoboda, who is now the special teams coach for Oklahoma State. The pair played for SFA at a time when the program was nationally ranked in FCS.

On Tuesday, Cowboys head coach Eric Morris said the pair went into coaching and kept in touch. Svoboda landed on Morris’ first staff at North Texas in 2023. During that year’s recruiting cycle, he gave Quinton Hammonds a look, though it wasn’t easy. Injuries were making it hard for the Allen (Texas) High School product to prove himself.

So, he walked on at UNT and his talent took it from there. Now he’ll start at free safety for the Cowboys on Saturday against Tulsa.

Quinton Hammonds’ Rise Through the Ranks

North Texas Mean Green safety Quinton Hammonds. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hammonds wasn’t a safety at Allen. He was a wide receiver who had 700 all-purpose yards as a senior. But when you’re a walk-on, sometimes you’re thrust into a new role. For Hammonds, Morris said that was on special teams coverage.

He really hadn’t worked that much on special teams. One of the natural questions was whether he could tackle well. The defensive coaches kept a close eye on him as he proved he could. As he did, they kept giving him more.

“We saw it live football games early on in his career as a freshman on punt team, running down making tackles, and he starts moving his way up the depth chart because we trusted him more,” Morris said.

That freshman season ended with Hammonds making five starts in 13 games as he finished with 52 total tackles, a pass breakup and an interception. He had 10 tackles in two different games, as he became the first UNT true freshman since 2000 with multiple games of at least 10 tackles.

By then, the coaching staff had trust in Hammonds and in 2025 he was a full-time starter who 53 tackles, including five tackles for loss and a sack. He was named the Bronco Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week and American Conference Defensive Player of the Week after a two-interception game against Navy.

Last year Hammonds played more nickel for the Mean Green. But with the transfer of Liberty’s Christian Bodnar to the Cowboys he's taken over that role, which allows Hammonds to move into a free safety position that Morris believes he's better suited for.

Special teams opened Morris and his staff’s eyes to a hidden gem three years ago. But SFA teammates nearly 30 years ago laid the groundwork. Now all Hammonds has to do is prepare and perform.

“Q works extremely hard,” Morris said. “He's smart. He grasps what we're asking to do on the defensive side of the ball. He's tough. He's really worked on his body. He’s gained weight, really good weight this offseason, so he has all the physical tools.”