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OSU FOOTBALL
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.
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 ColumnistSTILLWATER — 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.
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