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OSU FOOTBALL

OSU's sixth-year offensive linemen swim against the tide of college football​

• Aug 18, 2024 Updated 1 hr ago

Berry Tramel​

Sports Columnist

STILLWATER — Preston Wilson was the last holdout. He was waiting for the Lord to tell him what to do, but like a lot of us who go to a divine sounding board, Wilson already seemed to know the right thing to do.

How could he leave Cole Birmingham? Or Joe Michalski? Or Taylor Miterko? Or Jake Springfield? They had been Cowboy offensive linemen together since signing in December 2018, and they all had a season of eligibility remaining, courtesy of the extra year granted by the pandemic.

“Just didn’t seem right for any of us to bounce out,” Wilson said. “I was the last one to decide if I was coming back. I had to wait for the Lord to tell me what I was supposed to do, and I felt like he told me to come back. And I was like, ‘Man, this is exciting.’”



Exciting for Mike Gundy. Exciting for O-line coach Charlie Dickey. Exciting for Alan Bowman and Ollie Gordon and Brennan Presley and all the Cowboys who make their living being protected by ultra-experienced blockers.

Those five Cowboy linemen are joined by yet another sixth-year senior, Dalton Cooper, who transferred in from Texas State a year ago. Plus fifth-year senior Jason Brooks, who transferred in from Vanderbilt in 2022, and fourth-year junior Isaia Glass, a 2024 transfer from Arizona State.

This OSU offensive line might be older than some O-lines in National Football League training camps. Those eight veterans will average 23.3 years old on August 31, when the Cowboys host South Dakota State in their season opener. That’s ancient in college football. Space Cowboys, if you will.

These guys blocked Gordon to the 2023 Doak Walker Award and the Cowboys to the 2023 Big 12 Championship Game. Now college football guru Phil Steele ranks OSU’s offensive line the nation’s fourth best.
This line is good. This line is deep. This line is cohesive. And this line is rare.

In the transfer portal era, who has an offensive line with this many guys who showed up so long ago and never left?
“We love it here,” Birmingham said. “We’re all really good friends on the field and off the field. We hang out all the time. None of us want to leave. We just want to keep having fun, keep playing football together.”

Here’s the rundown of OSU’s offensive line experience.



Oklahoma State’s Joe Michalski said his decision to return for a sixth year was easy. “Just made sense to come back and have one more year,” said the Cowboy center. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World


Michalski, the center, has 23 career starts, 14 in 2023.

Springfield, a right tackle recruited to OSU without a scholarship, has 40 career starts, 11 last season.

Wilson, a right guard who also has played center, has 34 career starts, 12 last season.

Birmingham, a guard, has 26 career starts, 10 last season.

Miterko, a tackle, has 16 career starts, three last season.

Cooper, a left tackle, has 49 career starts, 36 of them at Texas State and 13 last season at OSU.

Brooks, a left guard, has 12 career starts, one of them at Vanderbilt in 2021 and the rest at OSU, including seven last season.

Glass, a tackle, has 15 career starts, all at Arizona State the previous three years.

That’s an abundance of experience and the ultimate testimony for OSU football. In this age of rampant roster change, when players can skip town at the slightest slight, when playing time easily can be found elsewhere when things go well, the Cowboys have found incredible stability.

“I feel like it’s just the relationships we’ve all built with each other,” Springfield said. “Everyone who stayed, those guys are my brothers. I’ll do anything for them, at any time. They’ll do the same thing for me … some of my best friends that I’ll carry lifetime memories.”


Oklahoma State's Jake Springfield speaks during an interview in the Gallagher-Iba Arena auxiliary gym at a media day event on Saturday, August 3, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla.
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World

This quite likely is the most experienced offensive line in college football history. Those eight Cowboys have combined for 215 major-college starts. Florida State’s O-line went into the 2023 season with 214 career starts, which was then believed to be the most in this super-senior era.

Gundy is thrilled with the depth. He is quick to note that OSU’s offensive linemen and wide receivers have been plagued by injuries in recent years, and the Cowboys often have played short-handed. Particularly on the line, that has crippled the OSU offense.

“We were fortunate to win as many games as we have with the injury situations we had at those two positions,” Gundy said. “Now, we’ve got a number of (linemen) who have played, and we can rotate those guys and keep some of them fresh. If we do have a guy who gets banged up a little bit and has to miss some time, we’re not going to hold our breath every play.”

When the 2023 Cowboys committed to a downhill running game four games into the season, the O-line responded with gusto and Gordon became a superstar. That’s now the prime reason OSU is picked by some as a College Football Playoff contender in ‘24.

And the Cowboys have swam against the tide of the 2020s, in remaining a developmental program. They’ve added a few key transfers, sure — Cooper and Glass are prime examples, just on the offensive line. But building up players and retaining them is not as easy as it once was.

Yet somehow, the Cowboys return 17 players who started at least 10 games last season, plus three more who started at least six. That’s 20 returning starters.

Including a bunch of beefy linemen who have grown old together.

“Really enjoy being around the guys,” Michalski said. “Got a good friend group. Really enjoy working with each other. No one has any problems with anyone. Just made sense to come back and have one more year. It’s a lot of fun. Everyone enjoys it.”

This is a charming college football story. You don’t like new-age college football? You prefer your team to have minimal mercenaries? You long for the days when you remembered who the players were?

These Cowboys are for you. They can’t all play at once. Only five starting slots available. But they went all musketeer; all for one and one for all.

“Getting to be back with all these guys, it felt like a family, you know?” Wilson said. “Felt wrong to go anywhere else or do anything else.

“We have one more year of eligibility; we’re going to all take it until they have to take it from us. We’re going to make them take this college football away from us.”

By season’s end, these Space Cowboys likely will have combined for at least 280 college starts and average 23½ years of age. The majority of them will have been together since the 2019 season. And they will ride off into the sunset as a bulwark against what you think college football has become.

Interesting tidbits in here... TT has never been ranked in a CFO poll, ASU has best winning percentage, etc..​

​

Big 12 football​

Joe Mussatto
The Oklahoman

Big 12 power rankings: Which program is best all-time in 16-team league?​

The new-look Big 12 is going to have what the old Big 12 was missing: parity.

OU won 14 conference championships in the league’s first 28 years of existence. Texas won four and Nebraska two. Among current members, only Baylor and Kansas State — with three each — have won multiple Big 12 championships.

The Sooners were on an every-other-year pace, and the Longhorns were good for one conference crown every seven years. With OU and Texas off to the SEC, more teams in the Big 12 are going to eat.

That’s good. The conference will be more competitive, more unpredictable.

It’s also bad. The Big 12 is now void of a blueblood program. OU and Texas are taking their 11 combined national championships with them to the SEC.

That leaves the Big 12 with only two national championships among its 16-team membership: BYU in 1984, and Colorado in 1990, when the Buffaloes shared the title with Georgia Tech.

Today we’re ranking the best football programs in the Big 12. We’re using these six factors: all-time winning percentage, bowl game appearances, consensus All-Americans, NFL draft picks, weeks ranked in the AP Poll and weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff poll.

All of those numbers have been pulled from sports-reference.com and winsipedia.com (a college football database I highly recommend).


We sorted each team one through 16 in each of those six categories, and then calculated the average place of where each team ranked across those categories.

Is this some ironclad formula? Of course not. Merely an exercise to try to remove as much bias as possible — other than picking the six categories, which quibble with those if you wish.

How each school ranked in each category is included at the bottom. Each team’s average rank across all categories is listed in parentheses.

Here are The Oklahoman’s rankings of Big 12 football programs from 16 to 1.

Tier 4​

16. Kansas Jayhawks (13.7)​

Kansas was the only program not to rank in the top half of the conference in any of the six categories.

The Jayhawks ranked highest (10th) in NFL draft picks with 171, one fewer than OSU.

Further proof that Lance Leipold is one of the best coaches in college football. The Jayhawks are a legitimate Big 12 title contender this season.

15. Iowa State Cyclones (13.5)​

The Cyclones have been competitive in just about every season under Matt Campbell, making it easy to forget how bleak Iowa State football has historically been.

To that point, Iowa State’s best category was weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff. Fifteen weeks, eighth-most in the Big 12.

14. UCF Knights (12.7)​

The Knights have only been playing Division-I FBS since 1996. That they’re not ranked last, given their brief history, speaks to their quick rise to relevance.

UCF’s all-time winning percentage (.559) is sixth-best in the Big 12. Granted, the Knights have only spent one season in a power conference, but still impressive for a relatively new program.

On a sadder note, we regret to inform UCF that its 2017 national title claim is not recognized here.

13. Cincinnati Bearcats (12.2)​

Only two Big 12 programs have made the College Football Playoff: TCU and Cincinnati.

The 2021 Bearcats, then of the American Athletic Conference, became the first Group of Five program to make the four-team playoff.

Cincinnati has had some awfully good coaches this century, from Mark Dantonio, to Brian Kelly, to Luke Fickell.

Tier 3​

12. Texas Tech Red Raiders (9.7)​

Texas Tech has the dubious distinction of being the only Big 12 school that’s never appeared in the College Football Playoff rankings.

While the Red Raiders rank last in that category, they’re first in another: bowl games. Texas Tech has played in 41 bowl games — tops in the Big 12 and 21st among all programs.

11. Kansas State Wildcats (9.3)​

They don’t call it the Miracle in Manhattan for nothin’.

Kansas State was hopelessly bad before Bill Snyder came around. The Wildcats had played in one bowl game … ever. Snyder took them to 19 bowl games.

K-State’s ranking is weighed down, perhaps too harshly, from the pre-Snyder days.

10. Houston Cougars (9.0)​

Here’s a remarkable stat: Houston has had four coaches log a 10-win season this century.

In reverse chronological order: Dana Holgorsen, Tom Herman, Kevin Sumlin, Art Briles.

Houston has long been a stepping stone job and probably still is. At least the Cougars are now playing in a major conference, though.

9. Arizona Wildcats (8.5)​

The Wildcats rank no better than sixth and no worse than 12th across the six categories.

It’s a basketball school, but at least its football program is mediocre.

Arizona’s all-time winning percentage (.558) is in the top half of the Big 12.

Tier 2​

T7. BYU Cougars (7.0)​

BYU ranks second in bowl games, fourth in winning percentage and fifth in weeks ranked in the AP Poll.

The Cougars haven’t been a factor in the College Football Playoff era, though, and they surprisingly haven’t produced as many NFL draft picks as you might think.

They’ll always have 1984.

T7. Utah Utes (7.0)​

How perfect is this? It’s a tie in the Holy War!

Kyle Whittingham, entering Year 20, has turned Utah into a proud program.

Utah ranks No. 1 in weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff poll (44).

6. Baylor Bears (6.7)​

Baylor is buoyed by its recent success. The Bears have more or less been a mainstay in the College Football Playoff conversation. Not bad for a program with an all-time winning percentage just north of .500.

The Bears have also attracted talent. They rank third in NFL draft picks and tied for fourth in consensus All-Americans.

More:Big 12 football quarterback rankings: Where does Shedeur Sanders, Jalon Daniels land?

Tier 1​

5. Oklahoma State Cowboys (5.5)​

Mike Gundy. That’s the easy explanation for why OSU is a Tier 1 Big 12 program.

Only Utah has been present for more weeks (44) in the College Football Playoff poll than OSU (43).

OSU also stands out for having 21 consensus All-Americans. The Cowboys rank No. 2 in that category behind Colorado.

4. TCU Horned Frogs (5.2)​

TCU is a top-four Big 12 program in bowl games, consensus All-Americans, NFL draft picks and weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff.

What a wild ride it’s been for TCU recently. Gary Patterson, who has a statue outside the stadium, was fired. Then his replacement, Sonny Dykes, takes TCU to the national championship game in his first season as coach.

T2. Arizona State (4.8)​

Put this trivia question in your back pocket: Which current Big 12 school has the best all-time winning percentage?

See how many tries it takes for your friend to guess Arizona State.

The Sun Devils have a proud past, but they’ve been irrelevant for a long time.

T2. West Virginia (4.8)​

Second in all-time winning percentage, second in bowl appearances and second in most weeks ranked in the AP Poll.

There’s something to be said for West Virginia’s consistency. From Bobby Bowden in the 70’s, Don Nehlen in the ‘80s and ‘90s and Rich Rodriguez and Dana Holgorsen in the 2000s and 2010s, the Mountaineers have been well coached.

West Virginia might not have a lofty ceiling, but it’s proven to have a high floor.

1. Colorado (4.7)​

After 13 seasons in the Pac-12, the Buffaloes have wandered back to the Big 12.

As the No. 1 program, though? You have to do a lot of looking back to justify it.

Colorado has only spent eight weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff poll. That’s ahead of only Arizona State, Kansas and Texas Tech.

But the Buffaloes are the Big 12’s most recent national champion. And even though they’re bad now, they’re at least interesting with Deion Sanders at the helm.

Colorado ranked No. 1 in three categories: consensus All-Americans, NFL draft picks and weeks ranked in the AP Poll.

Don't know how long it will be up, but it's better than CNN.
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Got the W but should have scored more goals.

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This Arab puts it out there for all to see.
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What do you think? 😉

Points of interest:
1. Plane has no tail numbers - illegal in US
2. Camera shots from up close to mask the football fields of empty space.

Which version of Kamala Harris do you believe: The old San Francisco radical who has always been for the Green New Deal and against fracking or the new vote-hungry candidate eager to say whatever you need to hear to get your vote?

The people that are blaming Israel for all the hostilities might should listen to what this guy ahs to say. It's not like his opinions/beliefs were developed by reading Caitlyn propaganda pieces, he has first hand expereince.

"But, eventually, this war is not going to stop until Islamists are removed from power, and I'm afraid now that we are coming to realize, without removing ayatollah from power, the Middle East would never experience peace and prosperity," Yousef said.

Are we expecting any fireworks? Will Kamala's nomination go off without a hitch? Or obama gonna pull another coup?

Regardless, I am grateful the dems are set to show us how to properly do 'democracy'.

A mere 12.5 million illegals have entered the country under this administration.

Showing OU vs. OSU followed by BYU vs OSU today. After a steady diet of SEC, they finally get it right for their Top Games of '24
When Bowman was bad, he was really bad.

How can anyone support going soft on crimes like this? Democrats refuse to punish petty criminals and are then surprised the same criminals commit more serious crimes. SMFH

Before I head out for another day of hammering the trout in the Snake River & Dillon Reservoir I found a little ditty that took me back to my love of all things Peter Sellers. If you have not had the pleasure of seeing 'Being There', I urge you to do it soonest. See if you can pick out which character in the movie is now running for president. Since XX & XY no longer matter, you won't struggle to make the comparison.

Enjoy

Happy birthday to former OSU athletic director Mike Holder: A look back at his career​

• Stephen Pingry
• Aug 17, 2024

Happy birthday to former Oklahoma State athletic director and golf coach Mike Holder, who turned 76 years old on Saturday.

He retired in July 2021, handing the reigns to current OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg.

Take a look back at his career:


In 1987, former OSU golf coach Labron Harris (left) and then-OSU golf coach Mike Holder show off the hardware won by the OSU men's golf program. Holder took over the OSU golf program in 1973 and guided it for 32 years.
Tulsa World Archive


Pictured in 1987, Mike Holder coached the Oklahoma State golf program from 1973 through 2005. There were eight national titles, 25 conference titles and 38 first-team All-Americans.
Tulsa World Archive



During his OSU coaching career, Mike Holder (left) won eight national titles and coached marquee players such as Hunter Mahan (right), a current PGA Tour player.
Tulsa World Archive



In 1997, Mike Holder poses for a photo at Southern Hills.
Tulsa World Archive


Oklahoma State's Par Nilsson leans to see his approach shot as golf coach Mike Holder looks on at Karsten Creek in 2001. His final year of coaching golf would be 2005.
Tulsa World Archive



On Sept. 16, 2005, Mike Holder was introduced as Oklahoma State’s new athletic director. “I want to find out how good we can be at Oklahoma State University,“ he said.
Tulsa World Archive



Mike Holder, football coach Mike Gundy and T. Boone Pickens talk during a media event to showcase OSU's new locker rooms and other training facilities on Aug. 17, 2009.
Stephen Pingry


Mike Holder, T. Boone Pickens and Burns Hargis talk during a press conference in August 2009. Holder says Pickens’ overall donations to the athletic department exceed $300 million.

Photo by Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World Archive



Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder, OSU president Burns Hargis his wife, Ann, Gov. Mary Fallin and T. Boone Pickens (sitting a row up) and others stand as family members leave after the memorial service for Kurt Budke, Miranda Serna, Olin and Paula Branstetter on Nov. 21, 2011 at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Tulsa World Archive




Specific to OSU’s stadium renovation, T. Boone Pickens donated $20 million in 2003 and $63 million in 2008. The project was taken to a much higher level, however, when Mike Holder persuaded Pickens to give $165 million. It was the largest single donation ever made to any American university’s athletic department, and it was announced in January 2006.
Tulsa World Archive



Together for T. Boone Pickens' 90th birthday party were four Oklahoma State leadership figures: from left, football coach Mike Gundy, athletic director Mike Holder, Gundy and university President Burns Hargis.
Photo by Bill Haisten, Tulsa World Archive



Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder (left), stands next to Cowboys strength coach Rob Glass on June 19, 2018.
Tulsa World Archive


OSU AD Mike Holder introduces new men's basketball head coach Mike Boynton at press conference in Stillwater, OK, Mar. 27, 2017.
Photo by Stephen Pingry, Tulsa World Archive



OSU basketball player Davon Dillard speaks with Cowboys athletic director Mike Holder on March 27.
Photo by Bill Haisten, Tulsa World Archive


Oklahoma State University head golf coach Mike Holder stands in the Hall of Trophies at Karsten Creek on April 23, 2003.
Tulsa World Archive


Oklahoma State Athletic Director Mike Holder wipes a tear from his eye while Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy speaks to the crowd during The Celebration of Life of businessman and Oklahoma State Alumni T. Boone Pickens at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019.
Tulsa World Archive

OSU's Lyrik Rawls had his 2023 season snatched away. Expect "tears of joy" in his return to Boone Pickens Stadium​

• Aug 17, 2024 Updated 8 hrs ago

Tyler Waldrep​

OSU Sports Writer

STILLWATER — Some moments stay with you.
Such a moment came for Oklahoma State safety Lyrik Rawls when he got the diagnosis of a partially torn ACL that would end his breakout season after only three games in 2023.
“I wanted to break down right then and there,” Rawls said.

After spending most of his first two years on the sidelines, Rawls finally earned the first three starts of his career. And he was more than making the most of his chance.
Rawls was third on the team with 20 total tackles, including 10 solo stops. Against South Alabama, he led all of the secondary with a Pro Football Focus grade of 73.

Then Rawls, who had never suffered such a serious injury before, was given two choices. Continue playing and put himself at high risk of tearing his ACL all the way, which would lead to season-ending surgery in the best of circumstances. Or he could go ahead and have season-ending surgery.

“Basically, I would still need to get surgery,” Rawls said. “So I felt like the best option for me was to go ahead and get it now and be back for the next season.”



Oklahoma State safety Lyrik Rawls started three games before missing the rest of the season due to a torn ACL.
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World

​

Returning to the football field was always the destination, but Rawls’ “tough journey” through rehabilitation forced him to take stock of an even bigger picture.

“This injury really took a toll on me,” Rawls said. “Got me closer to myself, closer to God having to pray more because this has been a tough time. But through the process of it I feel like it made me visualize a lot of things outside of football. Get closer to just the outside world. Not being in the mix anymore, so I feel like I’ve gotten closer to being a better person.”
When asked about the healing process and the time missed, the Oklahoma State defensive back can’t keep the smile off his face these days.

However, he didn’t always have such a positive outlook. Even as recently as June, Rawls sometimes fought through a sea of negative thoughts and emotions.

“I’m not back in my normal self just yet,” Rawls said, describing what kept him down. “I just can’t do everything like I used to. It is a process. It takes time being hurt. So, I feel like as the process goes on, it gets better and better. But there are still some days you take a step back. So those days, I have to keep lifting myself up to go attack the day.”


Oklahoma State safety Lyrik Rawls, left, started the first three games of his college career in 2023.
Ross D. Franklin, AP file photo

Although Rawls said he feels 100% healthy now, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy hasn’t yet seen the player he lost last season.
“He’s much better now than he was two weeks ago,” Gundy said. “I would say that, that should continue on. Two weeks from now, he should even be better. Middle of October, (if) he stays healthy, he should be somewhere where he was before he was injured.


Oklahoma State has a bye ahead of its seventh game this season at BYU on Oct. 18th. If the coaching staff prefers to limit his involvement until he’s back to his old self, that could be their target date.
Last year, then-freshman Cameron Epps started in Rawls’ place in 10 of the final 11 games, with Dylan Smith taking the other. Rawls will likely have to beat both of those guys and potentially UTEP transfer Kobe Hylton, who earned honorable mention All-Conference USA honors in 2022 and 2023.
“We’ll play a considerable number of guys,” Gundy said of the safety position. “That’s what we want to be able to get accomplished, keep guys fresh. We’re expecting that the depth we have allows us to grow and let guys stay healthy. Some of the issues that we deal with is that if a young player plays too much in his career early, then he gets tired, and that works against him. Right now, we have some depth there and some guys can rotate through, and that should help us.”

Tears of joy​

The 2024 season is only two weeks away, but Rawls can’t fully imagine what it will be like the first time he steps foot on the field for a game inside Boone Pickens Stadium.
“Oh man, I’ll probably just cry,” Rawls said. “Tears of joy because having the season took away from me like that. It was really hard for me. I was feeling isolated. … I feel like I’m gonna be so just happy to be back out there.”


OSU safety Lyrik Rawls, right, is fighting for a spot in the lineup during fall camp.
Victor Lopez, Tulsa World
His inability to be out there with his teammates might have left Rawls feeling disconnected from the Cowboys at times, but that feeling appears to be anything but mutual.
“Even when he was battling his injury, he was still around,” Oklahoma State cornerback Cam Smith said. “Still being a vocal leader, and I feel like that made him a better all-around player. Because even when he’s not in the game, he’s still coaching from the sideline.”


That made an impression on Smith.
“I think that just speaks volumes about who he is as a person,” the corner said. “He’s selfless.”

Of course, staying active in meetings and the film room didn’t just help Oklahoma State. Smith watched Rawls push himself to gain a better understanding of the defense even though he couldn’t put his knowledge to the test on the field.
“It’s been good having him back,” Oklahoma State cornerback Korie Black said. “Giving us more depth than we’ve had after losing him last year. He’s a good player, a good playmaker. He’s big and physical. A lot of people didn’t get to see him because he got hurt early in the season, but he’s doing great.”

But we are told it is those on the right who are the ones to be concerned about. SMFH

Sorry if all of this has already been discussed:

Bowman has completely reshaped his body. Does not look like the same person and has improved in every athletic metric with Glass and the S&C team.

Rangel continues to improve and is a good QB, who ultimately may just be a victim of circumstance at OSU with respects to playing time.

@BluegrassPoke

Flores is a completely different QB than he was at the end of spring camp. Worked hard both in Stillwater and with a private coach over the summer and it appears everything has clicked for him. Does not rely on athleticism to carry him as much as he did and is much more cerebral in his approach. That, combined with his athleticism, has everyone VERY excited.

Prefer 100s and 200s between the 20yd lines.
Willing to pay market but if you want to make sure tickets don’t go to a piggy let me know.


Thanks