Look, no one knew what the NCAA was going to do regarding the counting of super seniors this year. Although the initial ruling was that things were returning to the normal 85 man scholarship limit, coaches had to hedge their bets in terms of roster management. Teams had to recruit full classes of players with the knowledge that the NCAA might hold the line and not make super senior seasons exempt for the overall scholarship limit. So here is what that means for Oklahoma State.
To make room for the 2022 signing class as it is, there had to be 12 offensive players currently on scholarship move on, either to the NFL, graduation, or the transfer portal. The staff has positional targets, but the final one at each position group can be moved around based on overall team need. The Cowboys had 4 offensive players exhaust their eligibility: Tay Martin, Danny Godlevske, Jaylen Warren, and Logan Carter. This means that there has to be 8 additional names that leave the program just to fit in the current recruiting class, making no allowance for a portal addition (of which there will be at least 1 on offense-more on that later) That pushes the total to 10 names, but wiggle room that could move it 1 way or the other by 1 spot.
Desmon Jackson, Matt Polk, Hunter Anthony, and Monroe Mills brought the number to 8 departures. Cade Bennett and Josh Sills made it 10. This means that there are still another 2 that will be leaving to make room for the recruiting class that have not been publicly announced. I think you could guess who those are. For each portal player that we want to recruit would mean an additional player would move on. The offense has about two more spots to work with.
The offense will carry 15 offensive linemen next season. The announced departures today of Cade Bennett and Josh Sills mean that there will now officially be room to add one offensive lineman from the portal (something that has been a goal for quite some time). So at least three more offensive players will be announced to be departing before next offseason. (You have to keep in mind that sometimes a player who will be leaving may stay the spring to graduate first to help both them and the school via APR.) When it comes time to budget slots, the staff tends to dive into the receiver position for that 1 last spot.
Generally speaking you are looking at a distribution like this: QB (3); RB (5); TE/CWB (4); OL (15); WR (11). In years where we replace a starting quarterback or have lots of inexperience, an addition slot could go there to shore things up. Since only 1 player plays at that spot at a time, the staff feels good with three quality prospects and some walk on depth. The preference is to have a running back in every class, so moving off of five would require versatility at other positions, mature backs, and quality walkons. The other position groups are where there is some room to maneuver. TE-4, OL-15, WR-10 leaves one scholarship to move around based on biggest need.
Before taking into account portal additions and the last expected departures, here is where you with the offensive roster:
QB--4
RB--6
CWB--5
OL--13
WR--12
Moving SIlas Barr over to the offensive line would put the CWB at 4 and the OL at 14, indicating one portal addition is coming. Two spots elsewhere would be opened up from the other three position groups to make room for the freshmen. Any additional movement will have a correlated portal addition headed back this way.
To make room for the 2022 signing class as it is, there had to be 12 offensive players currently on scholarship move on, either to the NFL, graduation, or the transfer portal. The staff has positional targets, but the final one at each position group can be moved around based on overall team need. The Cowboys had 4 offensive players exhaust their eligibility: Tay Martin, Danny Godlevske, Jaylen Warren, and Logan Carter. This means that there has to be 8 additional names that leave the program just to fit in the current recruiting class, making no allowance for a portal addition (of which there will be at least 1 on offense-more on that later) That pushes the total to 10 names, but wiggle room that could move it 1 way or the other by 1 spot.
Desmon Jackson, Matt Polk, Hunter Anthony, and Monroe Mills brought the number to 8 departures. Cade Bennett and Josh Sills made it 10. This means that there are still another 2 that will be leaving to make room for the recruiting class that have not been publicly announced. I think you could guess who those are. For each portal player that we want to recruit would mean an additional player would move on. The offense has about two more spots to work with.
The offense will carry 15 offensive linemen next season. The announced departures today of Cade Bennett and Josh Sills mean that there will now officially be room to add one offensive lineman from the portal (something that has been a goal for quite some time). So at least three more offensive players will be announced to be departing before next offseason. (You have to keep in mind that sometimes a player who will be leaving may stay the spring to graduate first to help both them and the school via APR.) When it comes time to budget slots, the staff tends to dive into the receiver position for that 1 last spot.
Generally speaking you are looking at a distribution like this: QB (3); RB (5); TE/CWB (4); OL (15); WR (11). In years where we replace a starting quarterback or have lots of inexperience, an addition slot could go there to shore things up. Since only 1 player plays at that spot at a time, the staff feels good with three quality prospects and some walk on depth. The preference is to have a running back in every class, so moving off of five would require versatility at other positions, mature backs, and quality walkons. The other position groups are where there is some room to maneuver. TE-4, OL-15, WR-10 leaves one scholarship to move around based on biggest need.
Before taking into account portal additions and the last expected departures, here is where you with the offensive roster:
QB--4
RB--6
CWB--5
OL--13
WR--12
Moving SIlas Barr over to the offensive line would put the CWB at 4 and the OL at 14, indicating one portal addition is coming. Two spots elsewhere would be opened up from the other three position groups to make room for the freshmen. Any additional movement will have a correlated portal addition headed back this way.
