Oklahoma State Football Has the Strongest Returning Core Four in the Country

PORTAL TRACKER

STILLWATER — When Pro Football Focus announced its top 101 players from the 2025 season on Friday, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Indiana was one of three teams leading the way with eight players.

Ohio State and Texas Tech also put eight guys on the final list, while national runner-up Miami finished with six. Again, most casual fans could have blindly guessed the two teams in the national championship, Ohio State and the spending-spree Red Raiders topped the list.

The rest of the top 10 was filled with most of the usual suspects, except for one outlier.

PFF’s top 101 players by school:

Indiana- 8

Texas Tech- 8

Ohio State- 8

Miami- 6

Alabama- 4

Oregon- 4

Texas A&M- 4

Notre Dame- 4

Texas- 4

North Texas- 4

Whether you want to give Eric Morris and his staff credit for recruiting those guys, developing them, or both, it bodes well for the Cowboys’ future.

But this list isn’t a sign that Morris can rebuild Oklahoma State in the years to come. It’s proof he might have already done so.

Most of PFF’s top players are off to the NFL or exhausted their eligibility this season. Of the top 85, only 37 are even still considering playing college ball next season.

Four of those guys coming back have decided to play for the Cowboys, more than any other program in the nation.

PFF top 85 players in 2025, who might return in 2026 by school:

Oklahoma State- 4

Texas Tech- 3

Notre Dame- 3

Texas- 3

Indiana- 2 OR 3 (pending NFL Draft decision)

Miami- 2 OR 3 (pending Draft/portal decisions)

Iowa- 2

Rutgers- 2

If Oklahoma State’s quartet can continue producing at the power conference level, OSU is well positioned, considering only two teams produced four top 101 players and missed the CFP, and both of them (Notre Dame and Texas) were in the at-large conversation.

Most of these four guys have been heavily discussed already as high-ranking transfers, but let’s look at how they stack up against the top returners in college football.

RB Caleb Hawkins

PFF 101 returnees rank: 12th-15th (pending others’ decisions)

Position rank: Third

Hawkins ranked 39th overall on the PFF 101 and is the highest-rated offensive player set to play in the Big 12 in 2026. New Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby (No. 45th) was the only other Big 12 offensive returner (excluding another Cowboy) ranked in the top 75.

The Cowboy back was particularly effective at forcing missed tackles in 2025.

WR Wyatt Young

PFF 101 returnees rank: 20th-23rd

Position rank: 3rd OR 4th

Young ranked 64th overall on the list and might be one of the better-known receivers in the country by the time the season starts. His big-play tendencies are exactly what the Cowboys need and should give him plenty of chances to pad his career highlight reel early and often in 2026.

QB Drew Mestemaker

PFF 101 returnees rank: 33rd-36th

Position rank: Seventh OR Eighth

Mestemaker currently projects as the No. 2 quarterback in the conference behind only Sorsby. He will have two chances to duel with some of the best quarterbacks in the country against Oregon’s Dante Moore (returning QB No. 2) and Texas Tech’s Sorsby (QB No. 3 or 4), both at home in Boone Pickens.

Mestemaker likes to go deep, but has a nice midrange throw as well.

LB Ethan Wesloski

PFF 101 returnees rank: 34th-37th

Position rank: Third

Wesloski ranked fourth overall among players filling the traditional linebacker role (as opposed to edge guys). He seems like a safe bet to lead the Cowboys in tackles, but as PFF notes, he was one of six linebackers to earn an 85-plus grade in both coverage and run defense.