Everyone knows the deal. The Oklahoma State Cowboys have been a bad football team the past two seasons.
The Cowboys went 3-9 in 2024, one year after reaching the Big 12 Championship game in 2023. They went 1-11 last year, a season that cost Mike Gundy his head-coaching job three games into the season. That led to the hiring of Eric Morris from North Texas and one of the biggest roster flips in college football.
With nearly 90 new transfers — nearly 20 of which came from his former school — Morris and his staff are, at minimum, trying to make the Cowboys respectable again. But there are longer term goals, too — and that includes the transfer portal.
There are two ways camp will impact what happens with the transfer portal — one is internal and one is external.
The internal impact is one few want to think about right now. But the Cowboys have more than 100 players in fall camp. Only 11 can be on the field at a particular time. Only so many can be on the gameday roster or travel. There are no redshirts for incoming freshmen anymore. While that’s great for competition, at some point Morris is going to have to tell players they’re not good enough to start yet.
In fact, he’s already started telling some that through their scout team reps last week.
“Some kids are sad because they’re finally over on scout teams and we’ve tried to them give a good look,” Morris said. “They there’s not redshirting anymore. Everybody’s five-for-five, so they can get that out of their head.”
That was Morris’ way of saying that those players can work their way off the scout team and into regular playing time. It was also his way of saying stay ready.
But what if players believe their path to playing time is cut off? A good example is quarterback. Drew Mestemaker is the starter. Grant Jordan and true freshman Broderick Vehrs are competing to be the backup. Another freshman, Luke Tepas, seems to have fallen behind. What if he sees no chance at playing time this year or next year? Does he opt for the portal when it opens in January.
Many players in a situation like that could consider it, even though the portal doesn’t open until January.
The external impact is what the Cowboys could bring to the program next cycle through the transfer portal. The transfer class is highly thought out, but that is also tied up in many of the players Morris was able to procure from his old job, including Mestemaker. But that’s not something he’ll be able to lean into after the season.
A strong, competitive camp could lead to a much more competitive season. He and the Cowboys need to show progress. Winning more games than the past two seasons combined would be a start. A better start would be a campaign that leads to a bowl game and flirts with the Big 12 Championship game.
That would lead to benefits in terms of luring above-average talent through the transfer portal. That’s what a great camp sets up for the Cowboys during the regular season and during portal season.
Those are the impacts, good and bad, when it comes to the portal. The Cowboys face an intriguing first season under Morris and a future that could be properly set up by a solid debut.
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