10 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 2026 Spring Game

STILLWATER — After months of wondering what a new era of Cowboy football might look like, we got a little bit of a taste Saturday.

Oklahoma State closed its spring practice schedule with a spring game for fans to enjoy. The offense beat the defense 42-33 on a scoring system that was difficult to get a grasp of. Here are 10 thoughts on the day.

1. Chris Barnes Is Going To Be a Lot of Fun

It seems like most years the Player of the Spring Game is someone who doesn’t necessarily contribute a ton during the regular season, but Saturday just shoveled more coal into the steam engine that is the Chris Barnes hype train.

Barnes showcased his elite speed with a 97-yard catch and run on a go route from Drew Mestemaker. It was evident right when he caught the ball that no one was going to catch the 5-foot-7 Barnes, who recorded a 10.29 100-meters in high school.

Barnes finished the day with four catches for 141 yards and the touchdown. He had another big play before the long TD, where he caught an in-breaking route before cutting it back to the outside and outrunning a few more guys.

Tyler wrote a more in-depth piece on the speedster here.

2. Mestemaker’s Day Starts Poorly, Ends Solidly

Drew Mestemaker and Eric Morris drew up a shot play to christen their Boone Pickens Stadium debut … it didn’t go well.

Mestemaker heaved a deep post route — ala Mason Rudolph, who was in attendance Saturday — downfield on the opening play from scrimmage. Returning safety Cameron Epps jumped in front of the would-be receiver, though, and intercepted the pass.

But that was as rough as it got for the reigning national leader in passing yards. He finished the day 13-for-20 with 260 yards and three touchdowns. The three TDs went to who we’ll refer to as OSU’s Big 3 in the receiving room: Barnes, Justin Bowick and Wyatt Young.

“I think it went good,” Mestemaker said of his day. “Obviously, first play, not how you drew it up, but I mean, that’s just what happens when you got a good defense on the other side — they’ll make plays, too. I’m glad they’re on our team, but I think it went pretty good today.”

3. The Other QBs

The three quarterbacks not named Drew Mestemaker combined for 141 yards and a touchdown:

Broderick Vehrs (freshman) — 7-for-7, 70 yards
Grant Jordan (UMass) — 4-for-8, 57 yards
Luke Tepas (freshman) — 5-for-8, 14 yards, 1 TD

“I think Brodie has done a really nice job, just thinking the kid should still be in high school right now,” Morris said. “Probably has the strongest arm on our team. Can really whip it. Didn’t get a buncha great opportunities today to really showcase that, but really happy with where those guys are right now.”

4. RB2 Still a Mystery

With all the new bodies, there are points of intrigue up and down the roster, but who carries the rock behind Caleb Hawkins seems to be up in the air.

Hawkins scored the days’ lone rushing touchdown, finishing with five carries for 18 yards, including the 1-yard scoring run. Here’s how the rest of the running backs finished:

Tre Page III (Tarleton State) — five carries, 45 yards
William Mason (UCO) — six carries, 21 yards
Dennis Moody III (North Texas) — six carries, 18 yards
Ayo Adeyi (James Madison) — five carries, nine yards
KD Jones (Jenks) — one carry, eight yards

Page was the standout of Saturday, breaking off a big run and nearly beating everyone to the corner and going all the way. That speed could play well off the downhill style of Hawkins, but it sounds like this is a battle that will continue into the summer and fall.

“Running backs been a little bit by a committee,” Morris said. “We’re trying to figure out, ‘Hey, who’s gonna help carry the load with Caleb. So, it’s been fun to watch Moody come out and have some really good practices. It’s been good to see William Mason out there getting some tough yards. Tre Page is super explosive.”

5. Mestemaker and Young Connect for their First Boone Pickens Stadium Touchdown

Mestemaker and Wyatt Young were a combination that struck fear into defenses in the American last season, and on Saturday they connected for their first touchdown in Boone Pickens Stadium.

It came on a post route late in the day in what might’ve been Mestemaker’s best pass of the afternoon over the heads of a pair of defenders.

if perfect perfect was a pass @DrewMestemaker ➡️ @wyatttyoung pic.twitter.com/YDBMdoXu4z

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) April 18, 2026

It wasn’t the cleanest of days for North Texas’ transfer receiver, as he had a few drops and finished with two catches for 45 yards. The other catch came shortly before the touchdown. But while it might’ve not been his best day, the fact that he caught 70 balls for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns last season with the same quarterback and play-caller means he’ll probably be alright.

6. The O-Line

The Cowboys are dealing with some injuries along the offensive line this spring, which was the major reason this wasn’t a traditional game.

The starting group Saturday was the following:

LT — Desmond Magiya (North Texas)
LG — Johnny Dickson III (North Texas)
C — Tyler Mercer (Kansas)
RG — Joseph Hanson (Coastal Carolina)
RT — Jacob Sexton (Oklahoma)

I’d expect Braydon Nelson to play a role come the fall, as he was North Texas’ starting left tackle last season. OSU has also been without Michigan State transfer Ashton Lepo this spring.

7. Jaleel Johnson Looked Good

Sacks are tricky in a spring game because you get one by breathing moderately hard on a quarterback, but we credited returning edge rusher Jaleel Johnson with a pair on Saturday, finishing tied for the lead with four tackles.

Johnson is one of (if not the) most productive returners, having made 49 tackles and three sacks in a Cowboy uniform. He enters his redshirt senior season listed at 6-foot-4, 270 pounds after playing in just four games last season before injury.

It felt like he was due for a big breakout year last season before literally everything went wrong for he and the Cowboys. Paired back up with Greg Richmond, who recruited Johnson to Stillwater, perhaps he is set up to have a big senior season.

8. The Format Was Messy, but Competitive

This is a total first-world problem, but the media was left to its own devices in terms of keeping stats. That paired with the funky format made for a hectic press box.

When the scrimmage ended, the offense won 42-33. Getting to that point was quite a journey.

The defense jumped out to an early lead thanks to that Epps pick. Then after the second-string offense had its opening possession, the defense led 8-2 and you got the feeling that the scoring numbers could’ve been weighed in the defense’s favor.

From there, though, the offense started to roll. After Mestemaker completed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Justin Bowick that tied it at 8, the offense didn’t look back aside from when the Cowboys did a few two-minute drills in which they took away some of the offenses points to make them have to play catch up.

It sort of felt like I was a British person watching American football for the first time with everything being worth a seemingly random allotment of points, but it was fun nonetheless.

All that is to say the format was hard to keep up with, but it was one of the more competitive OSU spring games I can remember in that there was a score being kept and contact was happening.

9. This Reserve Linebacker Was Laying the Lumber

I didn’t know the name Tom Watts coming into Saturday, but late in the festivities, the sophomore NEO transfer linebacker was flying around.

He finished with four tackles, tying for the lead with the likes of Ethan Wesloski, LaDainian Fields and Jaleel Johnson, all guys who ought to contribute come the fall.

There was one tackle in particular late where he flew down and flicked the hit stick on a ball carrier in what was the biggest piece of contact of the day.

Watts is a walk-on who played his high school ball at Bishop McGuinness. With NEO last season, he played in 10 games and recorded 14 tackles.

10. Fresh Energy

The sun has set on the first spring of the Eric Morris Era, and it was a breath of fresh air.

This isn’t a knock on the previous regime, one that brought successes to Oklahoma State that the program could’ve never imagined. But all spring — whether it was the portions of practices media were allowed into or Saturday’s spring game — there was a sense of renewed energy that was much needed. Especially after the last two years.

It was hard to tell how stale things had gotten until you could see the fresh energy.

None of this means anything unless the Cowboys are better on the field, but at the very least, this doesn’t feel like the same program that struggled so mightily the past two seasons.

Unofficial Stats