'A lot of good things going right now': How OSU signed one of its best recruiting classes under Mike Gundy
Scott WrightOklahoman
STILLWATER — Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy had to ask how many four-star prospects his program added on Wednesday, the opening of the early signing period for Division I football players.
Six is the answer, out of 17 signees, which is a significantly high number for the Cowboys.
“I should know that,” Gundy said. “Six? That’s good.”
Gundy also had to ask where his program’s recruiting class ranked nationally. The Cowboys came in at 30th according to Rivals.com and 30th on 247Sports.com after peaking in the mid-20s earlier in the day. And it was the Cowboys' best national ranking since 2014.
“We usually float around in the 40s somewhere,” Gundy said.
Logically, it would seem like OSU is cashing in on its best season in a decade, going 11-2 and reaching the Big 12 title game for the first time ever, plus the upcoming Fiesta Bowl meeting with Notre Dame. But 13 of the 17 signees were committed before the season even started, and two more came on before the Cowboys hit their peak.
So, in reality, the season and the recruiting class are two separate events that independently show the direction of Cowboy football. With OU and Texas set to leave the Big 12 in the coming years, OSU is in prime position to step into the role of standard bearer for the conference.
“We’ve got a chance, if we step up. If we step up and roll,” Gundy said. “We’re gonna do our part over here in this building, and everybody else has to step up and decide we want to be at the top.
“We’re recruiting at a high level… We won 11 games, we’re ninth in the country, we’re in the Fiesta Bowl. A lot of good things going right now. If you keep momentum going and you make good decisions in all the important areas, you’ve got a chance.”
The Cowboys’ class filled needs, like with junior-college linebacker Xavier Benson, who will get a chance to start in place of departing super-seniors Malcolm Rodriguez and Devin Harper. It added depth at already strong positions, like the trio of in-state receivers OSU signed in Edmond Santa Fe’s Talyn Shettron, Bixby’s Braylin Presley and Pawhuska’s Mason Gilkey.
You have to go back to 2018 to find an OSU recruiting class that included more than one four-star prospect, and that class had just three out of 24 signees.
“Quite honestly, I don’t even pay attention to four-stars,” Gundy said. “That’s why I didn’t know.
“What we’re looking for is young men that fit our culture and ones that we know will come in here, work hard, do all the things that I talk about, and stay here, unless they have a good reason to jump in the portal and go somewhere else.”
The Cowboys went head-to-head with blue-blood programs for top recruits and won. The last addition to OSU’s class — DeSean Brown, a four-star defensive end from Choctaw — got a late offer from OU that had recruiting analysts wondering if Brown might be heading to Norman.
Back in June, OSU flipped an OU commitment when Shettron — another four-star prospect — switched to the Cowboys after his brother, tight end Tabry Shettron, was offered an OSU scholarship.
Four-star running back Ollie Gordon was pursued hard in recent weeks by Texas, which had a successful signing day in terms of flipping recruits from other major programs. But Gordon stuck with the Pokes.
“We had… I don’t know, it could be five that were offered at some point, pursued heavily, or even late, by what people would call blue bloods,” Gundy said.
“We have a chance right now at Oklahoma State, if it’s handled correctly, to move to the top. If we do it right. Now I can’t control that. I’m not in charge of the overall concept of what we’re doing here. But we have a real chance if we’re willing to move forward and take that step right now, and this is a good example.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever signed four or five players that had traditional offers from schools we don’t beat.”
