Oklahoma State's football program is undergoing a massive transformation under new head coach Eric Morris. In just seven weeks, Morris and his staff have constructed one of the biggest and swiftest roster overhauls in college football history, bringing in 87 new players and tying Deion Sanders' 2023 Colorado squad for the most newcomers in the transfer portal era.
The goal is to turn a team that cratered in the final years of the Mike Gundy era into a legitimate Big 12 championship contender. With a clean slate, Morris has brought in a new coaching staff and a star quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, who was never a full-time varsity starting quarterback at Vandegrift High in Austin, Texas. He walked on at North Texas after a recommendation from Jeff Christensen, a longtime private quarterback coach.
Mestemaker's production, frame and arm talent drew plenty of suitors in the portal, and he committed to Morris on January 3, a day after the portal opened. He signed a two-year deal expected to pay him $7.5 million.
The Cowboys also brought in Caleb Hawkins, the No. 1 running back in the transfer portal, and Wyatt Young, who finished third nationally with 1,264 receiving yards. Both players turned down a lot of money to come to Oklahoma State.
The process to land the other 84 newcomers was no less frenetic. Morris and his staff held individual meetings with each of the players who attended his first team meeting, offering new contracts to some and telling others the harsh reality of their futures in Stillwater.
The timing of the new winter transfer portal window allowed the staff to quickly assemble a board of transfer portal targets. Between transfers and high school recruits, Oklahoma State hosted 88 official visitors over 18 days in January. At one point, more than 140 players had scheduled official visits, but as players committed, roughly 60 of those visits were canceled.
The roster turnover and star power at quarterback will be a challenge, but Mestemaker believes it’s an advantage. He says the team has the players to go play well and that they might surprise some people with how good they are.
However, Morris and Murti don’t want to do this again. The clean slate is meant to serve as a foundation for a more sustainable roster-building process that leads the Cowboys back to national relevance. But what does Morris think of potentially having the record for most newcomers? He says, 'I don’t know if I’m proud of that or not. I’ll let you know after the first season.'
