How Oklahoma State Players Navigate 2026 ‘Free Agency’ During Final Two Weeks

STILLWATER — The Cowboys have nothing left to play for but each other, school pride and the chance to impress a future coach in or outside of Stillwater.

Interim coach Doug Meacham thinks that last bit is doing a lot of work when it comes to the motivation of the 1-9 Cowboys, but he doesn’t mind.

“If you want to be totally transparent with the thing, they’re playing right now for that moment,” Meacham said. “It’s like free agency in the NFL. What you put on tape, you’re gonna get you what you want out of it, at this point.”

Oklahoma State is one of the few schools in the country with players in the transfer portal right now as midseason rule changes prevented most schools who fired their head coaches from entering the portal this fall.

Instead all players who want to transfer, including Cowboys who didn’t enter the portal in the 30-day period following Mike Gundy’s dismissal, will have to wait until either the portal opens for everyone on Jan. 2 or until five days after the school announces a new head coach.

That puts all the Cowboys in a rather unique spot staring down the final two weeks of the season as big decisions loom for all who have eligibility past this season.

“Just kind of focus on what you can do each day. … It is not my decision to make the head coaching job decision like I don’t know anything about that,” right tackle Grant Seagren said. “So it is like if I can’t worry about it, or if I can’t change the outcome, of it why would I let it occupy my mind.”

Seagren told PFB on Monday why he entered the portal, even though he hopes to remain a Cowboy next fall. But even having a preference for where he plays in 2026 doesn’t make it easy to ignore what’s coming.

“This game is already hard enough and then you throw in the position that we are in and it just gets harder to focus and do what you need to do every week,” Seagren said. “I think for a lot of guys its just reminding themself if I can make it through this, I can make it thorugh any college season or anything else after this in life.”

Linebacker Ike Esonwune is approaching the last few weeks with the same I have a job to do mentality that he maintained earlier in the season as he fought his way to a larger role on the field.

“It is all about just facing adversity just continously to know you have a job to do and get it done,” Esonwune said. “But we are all in this game, we’re all in this business for winning, so I feel like everyone wants to win and come into work everyday. We go through a lot of things, we go through a lot of ups and downs, but keeping your head on steady will keep you right.”

When asked about his future, Esonwune said he’s not thinking much past the Nov. 29th finale against Iowa State.

“I am continously just to keep on grinding and do what I can do to be in the best position I can be,” he said. “Whether I stay or whether I go, I don’t really know yet, but I am continuing to focus on just the last two games we have and then worry about that after.”

Defensive lineman Armstrong Nnodim said the most important factor in his upcoming decision will be culture.

“Just providing a place to feel home and everything,” Nnodim said. “And I feel like Oklahoma State has been really big on that and has brought me a very close place to home.”

When Seagren was wrapping up high school he had legitimate concerns that he wouldn’t be able to continue his football career. That’s why this opportunity to play for the Cowboys this fall means so much and it’s why forging his path to the next level will be one of the most important factors in Seagren’s decision for 2026.

“Just being able to remind yourself I didn’t even think I was going to get to play. … Now it is how far can I go with this?” Seagren said. “How much can I do on my own, and with my team, to get ready to hopefully go to the next level?”

Both Nnodim and Seagren said they drew a lot of motivation from the other Cowboys who chose to stick it out and finish the season out as strong as possible on the field.

“It is in a weird way, it is motivating,” Seagren said. “To see somebody else who is in the same boat as me that they aren’t sure what is going to happen. … To see like those guys still take every single day and do what they need to do and do what they’re supposed to do to the best of their ability, it is like why can’t I do that for them then.”