How Transfer Jeremiah Piper Can Help Oklahoma State Football’s Defense

The commitment of an FCS star who hasn’t played since 2024 end up be a boost to the Oklahoma State defense in 2026.

Western Michigan Broncos cornerback Jeremiah Piper (in white) tries to intercept pass. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma State Cowboys reportedly pulled a late transfer for its defense as former Youngstown State defensive back committed to the program on Saturday.

The commitment was first reported by 247Sports. Piper is a graduate transfer who only played one game in 2025 due to an injury and is playing this season on a waiver. Interest in landing him as a transfer percolated once he got the waiver.

The Cowboys, already lauded with having a Top 10 transfer class, gets another potential defensive star with experience at both FBS and FCS programs, but not at a power conference program.

How Jeremiah Piper Might Fit at OSU

His previous season at Western Illinois in 2024 is the best opportunity to see what he’s capable of doing, since he didn’t play last year for YSU due to injury. With the FCS program he played in every game. He finished with 28 tackles, including 12 solos, broke up four passes and had one interception.

Before that, he spent four seasons at Western Michigan (2020-23), where he only played 14 games, most of which came in 2021 when he played in 10 games.

He benefited from more playing time at Western Illinois, but last year’s injury robbed him of the chance to carry that momentum into a final season. Now he gets a chance to make a move to Oklahoma State where there should be plenty of competition at defensive back.

Piper hit the portal at a time when there aren’t many options for teams to tap into. Given his speed and size (he’s 5-foot-10), he figures to be a nickel corner in the Cowboys’ defensive scheme. OSU plays to run a 3-3-5 base scheme and Quinton Hammonds and Christian Bodnar, both transfers, figure to be the most prominent competitors at the nickel position. It’s not unreasonable to see Piper as a competitor for the two-deep, especially since most of the talent on the roster is new.

New OSU coach Eric Morris is managing a complete flip of the roster after last year’s 1-11 season cost long-time head coach Mike Gundy his job. It’s possible that nearly every starting spot on the team will be made up of transfers as only a handful of players returned from last year’s team. The Cowboys haven’t won a Big 12 regular season game since the end of the 2023 season.

The Cowboys start the season at Tulsa on Sept. 5. After that they’ll host Oregon on Sept. 12 and Murray State on Sept. 19. The Big 12 opener is at West Virginia on Sept. 26.