How Eric Morris Celebrated His First Class at Oklahoma State

STILLWATER — Last week, Eric Morris signed what should be the undisputed best class Oklahoma State has seen in the last four offseasons.

247Sports ranked the Cowboys’ portal class seventh in the nation. That ranking hovered between 22 and 63 in the last three years of the Mike Gundy era. While not as high, On3 and 247Sports’ overall grade (including high school prospects) also had this as OSU’s best class in that time period. Morris celebrated his haul by heading to Texas, looking to bag a different kind of game, Axis Deer to be specific.

“The offensive line coach at Texas Tech (Clay McGuire) is one of my best friends,” Morris said. “We were teammates and have worked together. So we go with his dad, after signing day, for the last three years. So this has become an annual trip.”

The trip was a rare reprieve for Morris, who had the daunting task of hiring a coaching staff, bringing in 80-plus new players and handling all the other logistics that come with taking over a football program over the last two months.

“Monday (Feb. 2nd) was the first time I was really able to relax and breathe,” Morris said.

When asked what he looked forward to both during his brief trip away from everything and in general, it became clear Morris likes to keep his time off simple.

“I love to grill,” he said. “I just love to be outside. Love to hunt and fish and do things outdoors. I’ll be grilling steaks tonight, building a fire and turn my phone off for the next two days, be with some buddies.”

Oh yeah, and there was one more thing Morris was looking forward to right after his hunting trip.

“Then Friday I’m going to go see my kids and play dad,” Morris said.

For Morris, and what sounds like perhaps all of his coaches except for OSU alum Greg Richmond, the move to Stillwater requires a little time away from family as kids finish out school and houses are packed up.

Oklahoma State’s new coach plans to make the most of that time, focusing on setting the Cowboys up for a successful year one.

“Come into the office and focus on what’s next, and that’s building the culture in these walls,” Morris said. “In this building, in our locker room. And that starts with building relationships and spending time with one another.”

By design, Morris doesn’t have a lot of incentive to hang out at his new house, which he technically moved into two weeks ago.

“I have a mattress,” he said. “I have one towel that I took from here so that I can shower there. And I went by and bought a case of water, and I have a TV that’s on the floor. So, like, that’s all that I have in my house right now. So there’s nothing to go home to.”

So if you’re an Oklahoma State player, get ready to see a lot of Morris in the weeks and months to come. He quite literally doesn’t have much else to do for the time being.

“This is a great opportunity for me to spend just a ton of time up here and find these times for me to get around these kids,” Morris said. “And like, there’s nothing, I don’t have a special way, or a magic way, to build relationships. The only way I know how to do it is to spend quality time with these kids. And so that’s one thing that I’m committed to right now, and it’ll continue to be that way throughout the course of this spring.”