Breaking Down Oklahoma State’s Defensive Position Groups by Classification

With a revamped roster and a veteran coordinator taking the reigns, the Cowboy defense will hope to have a much better year in 2025.

After breaking down the Oklahoma State offense by class on Wednesday, it’s time to take a look at that OSU defense.

PFB+ Sale: PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link

*Has a redshirt available

Defensive Ends

Senior — 0
Junior — 4 (Rashod Bradley*, DeSean Brown, Landon Dean, Jaleel Johnson)
Sophomore — 1 (Kyran Duhon*)
Freshmen — 2 (Armstrong Nnodim, Michael Riles*)
Committed — 2 (Landen Anderson*, Landon Bland*)

This is a strong group of defensive ends and all can return next season should they choose to.

Jaleel Johnson and DeSean Brown have gotten some run the past two seasons and should see increased roles in 2025. Kyran Duhon joined the program after a true freshman season at UTEP where he had seven sacks. Armstrong Nnodim keeps picking up praise for his freakish strength, and Michael Riles was one of the higher-rated signees of the Cowboys’ 2025 recruiting class.

Defensive Tackles

Senior — 4 (Michael Diatta, Sitiveni Havili Kaufusi, Aden Kelley, Iman Oates)
Junior — 1 (De’Marion Thomas*)
Sophomore — 0
Freshmen — 2 (Luke Webb, Austin Young)
Committed — 2 (Danny Beale*, Tajh Overton*)

This was a great recruiting class for the Cowboys to land a pair of four-star interior defensive linemen in considering 57% of the current room are seniors. OSU could still hit the portal in the offseason to help bolster this group, but the future is bright with the upcoming additions of Danny Beale and Tajh Overton.

Outside Linebackers

Senior — 0
Junior — 1 (Malik Charles)
Sophomore — 3 (Chandavian Bradley, Taje McCoy, Poasa Utu)
Freshmen — 2 (Wendell Gregory, Temerrick Johnson)

This is a new listed position group for the Cowboys under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. It includes players who have previously been listed at defensive end or linebacker.

Malik Charles has been a major talking point of the offseason for how he’s transformed his body since getting to work with Rob Glass. OSU brought Taje McCoy back to his home state after the former Putnam City Pirate had four sacks at Colorado last season. Wendell Gregory was a blue-chip recruit in the 2024 recruiting class and appeared in two games with South Carolina last season.

Linebackers

Senior — 2 (Bryan McCoy Jr.*, Brandon Rawls)
Junior — 2 (Darius Thomas, Trip White)
Sophomore — 1 (Ike Esonwune)
Freshmen — 2 (Gunnar Wilson, Carl’veon Young*)
Committed — 1 (Trey McGlothlin*)

The addition of the outside linebacker position doesn’t help this, but there were 17 linebackers listed on OSU’s 2024 roster to the eight listed on the 2025 roster.

The four upperclassmen all transferred in this year, with Bryan McCoy Jr. (Akron), Brandon Rawls (Saginaw Valley) and Trip White (Ole Miss) taking part in spring ball before Darius Thomas (Western Kentucky/Louisville) committed in April. True freshman Carl’veon Young was the highest-ranked player in OSU’s 2025 recruiting class, with 247Sports listing him as the No. 232 player in the country.

Cornerbacks

Senior — 6 (Jaylin Davies, Raymond Gay II, Kenneth Harris, JK Johnson, Cam Smith, Kale Smith)
Junior — 0
Sophomore — 1 (Carrington Pierce*)
Freshmen — 5 (LaDainian Fields, Eric Fletcher, Kobi Foreman*, Draden Fullbright*, Jacobi Oliphant Jr.)
Committed — 3 (Braeden Presley*, Brandon Ford*, Josiah Vilmael*)

The Cowboys are old at corner, entering the year with six seniors. With that said, five freshmen and three committed high school players is a nice way to rebuild what will be lost going into 2026, but this still could be an area OSU looks into in the transfer portal next offseason.

Safeties

Senior — 3 (DeAndre Boykins, Mordecai McDaniel, Parker Robertson)
Junior — 2 (Cameron Epps, Dylan Smith*)
Sophomore — 5 (Landyn Cleveland*, Jeremy Cook Jr.*, David Kabongo*, Cooper Lai, Zaquan Patterson*)
Freshmen — 2 (Jo Pierce*, Ayden Webb*)
Committed — 1 (Carter Langenderfer*)

Safety is one of the more balanced positions on the team in terms of classification. OSU’s sophomore group of safeties looks to be a good one with David Kabongo and Landyn Cleveland both showing enough last season to not redshirt. OSU picked up Zaquan Patterson from Miami. Patterson was the No. 63 recruit in the 2024 class and played in a dozen games for the Hurricanes last season. That could be a core group for the Cowboys for years to come if they stick together.