Porter’s Five Predictions for Oklahoma State in 2018: Golf Wins It All, Hill Leaves

My 2017 predictions were an atrocity (although I did correctly predict that Mike Gundy would be cashing $5 million a year) so take all of these with a few certificates of Morton stock, but here are my sure-to-be-wrong prognostications for 2018.

Note: I’m not making a Spencer Sanders prediction because A. Everyone else is and B. I’ve already made it known that I think he’s going to be the starter in 2018.

1. Justice Hill Leaves

Well we’re off to a flying start. I think this is Hill’s last season in Stillwater because he’ll have the opportunity to be a first or second round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. OSU has worn him out on offense, and running backs only have so many carries in them. Hill is smart enough to know this and good enough to make the leap after his third year in Stillwater.

Hopefully he doesn’t — can you imagine Year 2 of Sanders-Hill-King-Stoner? — but I think a monster 2018 will be the launching pad for a productive professional career for No. 5.

2. OSU Golf Wins it All

The No. 1-ranked team in Golfweek’s college rankings will be playing for the title on their home course in Stillwater. That didn’t go so well in 2011 when Patrick Reed committed an act of arson at Karsten Creek, but this team might be too young to know any better.

Their best player might be freshman Matthew Wolff, and this year’s squad likely won’t be hyped or heavily favored come the summer. Karsten Creek is a monster, but OSU will understand it better than anybody they face there in the NCAA Championships.

3. Mike Holder retires

This is probably the most likely of the five to come true. Holder is almost certainly going to retire in either 2018 or 2019. I think he secures what Mike Gundy needs in the way of future resources, makes sure his basketball coach actually sticks around for a second year and hands Chad Weiberg his divot fixer and cell phone contact list on the way out.

The logical passing of the torch would happen this summer at the end of OSU’s fiscal year and before the 2018 football season. Holder’s legacy will be unassailable as long as Gundy is still in office when he exits (and he will be).

4. Baseball finishes top three in B12

OSU is the fourth-highest ranked Big 12 team in preseason polls so I’m not really going out on a limb here. After last year’s dismal 8th-place finish in Big 12 play, OSU lost just five seniors (albeit some important ones in Trey Cobb, Ryan Sluder, Dustin Williams and Tyler Buffett as well as underclassmen like the Garrett Bros.) and was probably always playing for this year and beyond with last year’s bunch (although you would have expected better than 8th place in the Big 12).

It’s difficult for me to see any Josh Holliday-coached team having back-to-back poor outings, especially with how many close games the Pokes lost last year. With probably only a couple of teams to leapfrog to get into that top three in the Big 12, I’m confident they’ll do so.

5. Basketball Recruiting > Football Recruiting

Mike Boynton is obsessed with recruiting. Mike Gundy is not. A football class that will likely end up ranked around No. 30 is solid for Gundy. But I think Boynton is going to usurp him with his class. With two players in the fold already, OSU is currently ranked No. 80 in hoops crootin, but those numbers fluctuate more than football. If you can land one whale in basketball it can transform not only your recruiting rankings but your program, too.

As a coach, you sell different things. Right now, Boynton is selling a program that will be without its two best offensive players (Jeffrey Carroll and Kendall Smith) in 2018-19 to some four- and five-stars who can come in and be “the guy” immediately. He knows that. They know he knows that. The question now is whether he can seal the deal on some Big Daddy™ players during the final recruiting period from April 11 – May 16. I think he will. And he needs to.