Latest Oklahoma State Football Transfer Features Untapped Potential

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have an incoming transfer who should be given every chance to find a role in the secondary.

Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris calls a time out during a spring football game. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have reportedly bolstered their secondary for the second time in a handful of days with the impending transfer of former Miami defensive back Markeith Williams.

On Saturday Oklahoma State secured a reported commitment from former Youngstown State defensive back Jeremiah Piper. The Cowboys have not announced his signing. Williams’ commitment was reported by 247Sports and has not been formally announced.

Assuming both sign, they would be the latest part of a massive transfer haul by first-year head coach Eric Morris.

Unlike Piper, Williams comes with some bona fides from a power conference program but plenty of untapped potential.

Markeith Williams’ Oklahoma State Fit

Miami Hurricanes defensive back Markeith Williams (15) holds his hands in the air. | Mark Smith-Imagn Images

Williams was not with Miami for its run to the national championship game last season. He was already removed from the program's roster early in the campaign. Most of his playing time with the Hurricanes was during the 2023 and 2024 seasons after a true freshman season in 2022 in which he played in four games and used his redshirt.

In 2023 he played in 11 games and finished with 15 total tackles, including one tackle for loss. He broke up a pass and did most of his damage that season in the season-ending Pinstripe Bowl against Rutgers in which he had a career-high eight tackles.

He followed that in 2024 with 13 games, which included one start. He finished the season with 13 tackles and one pass breakup, including three tackles in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Iowa State.

He landed with Miami as a four-star prospect out of Evans High School in Orlando, Fla. At 6-2 and 175 pounds, Williams has the measurables to be a solid cornerback in Oklahoma State’s 3-3-5 base scheme. The problem has been getting regular playing time. The fact that he only made one start at Miami shows that there was plenty of talent in front of him and that he was unable to regularly crack the lineup.

At Oklahoma State there will be plenty of opportunity. Most of the starting positions are going to go to transfer players. The biggest issue for Williams will be getting the attention of the coaching staff, which imported nearly 20 players from North Texas, where many of them worked for Morris last season. That includes several of the Mean Green’s top defensive stars from a year ago.

The Cowboys are likely to rotate at least 10 players through their secondary early in the season. That gives Williams the summer and fall workouts to impress the coaching staff and work his way into the rotation. Once his signing becomes official, the work begins.