What Will Be Oklahoma State’s Deepest Position Groups in 2025?

The Cowboys’ 2025 roster has relatively little resemblance to the Pokes’ 2024 roster.

Oklahoma State hit the portal hard this offseason. That combined with traditional high school and junior college recruiting means that more than 50 players will suit up as Cowboys for the first time this fall.

With the roster being so different, here is what I think will be the deepest offensive position group and deepest defensive position group for OSU in 2025.

Offense: Running Back

It feels odd in saying that in a year where the Cowboys lost a Doak Walker winner to the NFL that running back is probably their deepest position on offense.

I would’ve felt good about the position if all that happened was Trent Howland, Rodney Fields Jr. and Sesi Vailahi came back. Well, those three came back, and the Pokes did well in the portal, bringing in OU transfer Kalib Hicks and 1,000-yard rusher Freddie Brock.

Collectively, that group of five backs have ran for a combined 1,992 yards and 16 touchdowns across their respective careers with call five finding paydirt at some point. But while that group has experience, it also doesn’t have a ton of tread on its proverbial tires, which can be key for running backs. Brock (181) and Howland (124) are the only players in the room who have carried more than 50 times in their career. For reference, Ollie Gordon had 190 carries last season and 285 the year before.

It makes sense why OSU would be deep at this position because given recent history, why wouldn’t you want to play running back for the Cowboys? Even thinking past Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas, OSU has been putting backs in the league of late. There will be four former Cowboys taking handoffs in the NFL in 2025: Justice Hill, Chuba Hubbard, Jaylen Warren and Ollie Gordon. An eighth of all NFL teams have an OSU running back on their roster.

Who emerges from this group to earn carries in the fall remains to be seen. If I had to guess right now, I’d pin Howland and Fields as 1A and 1B with Hicks filling in where needed. It feels similar to the Cowboys’ 2018 room that had Hill and Hubbard leading the way and LD Brown and J.D. King picking up what’s left.

However it plays out, it’s hard to imagine OSU’s running back room being an area that holds the team back in 2025.

Defense: Defensive Backs

It’s not even necessary to split safeties and corners — the defensive back room as a whole feels like it’s in good spot.

Firstly, the Cowboys brought in a lot of secondary talent via the portal. Last week I broke down the nine players who transferred to OSU this offseason who were considered four-star prospects coming out of high school. Well, five of those guys are defensive back in JK Johnson (corner), Zaquan Patterson (safety), Jaylin Davies (corner), DeAndre Boykins (safety) and Mordecai McDaniel (safety). Will all of those guys climb to the potential those evaluators saw in them as high schoolers? Who knows, but you’d think at least two or three of those guys are good enough to make an impact for the Cowboys in 2025.

But as fun as it is to look at what’s new, OSU is also returning talent that has developed in house over recent seasons.

Cam Smith, Kale Smith, Dylan Smith and Cameron Epps are all upper classmen now and all have played at least 600 snaps as Cowboys. Cam Smith leads the way with 1,472, and Kale Smith has the fewest among that group of four with 626.

Then there are guys like David Kabongo and Landyn Cleveland, who both enter 2025 as true sophomores after impressing as freshmen last season.

Somewhere in all of that, surely there are seven or eight guys who can hold things down on the back end of the Cowboys’ defense this upcoming season.