What Defines a Skyler Cassity Defense at Oklahoma State?

STILLWATER — It feels like Oklahoma State finally has a quarterback that can really put fear into opposing defenses this season. Add in his top receiver (who finished third nationally in receiving yards) and his running back (who paced the country with 29 touchdowns), and it’s easy to see why Oklahoma State’s offense has gotten so much press.

And yet, for all of that talent, the defense won the first day of practice.

“It’s taken me a while to learn how to deal with that, to be honest with you,” head coach and offensive playcaller Eric Morris said. “So it was really good for me to go to Washington State and work for a defensive head coach like Jake Dickert. And sometimes practice was scripted for the defense, really, to have success.”

That’s not how Morris came up in the coaching world under guys like Mike Leach. The offense was almost always the star of the show, and if the defense won the day, Morris used to go home frustrated.

Although he still didn’t seem thrilled by that development on Monday, he spoke of matching the defense as an opportunity for his offense. Morris made it clear he isn’t going to hold back defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity for the sake of his side of the ball.

“I allow Skyler to do whatever he wants and install it at his own pace,” Morris said. “I think you get a bunch of places, and the head coach doesn’t want you to blitz for the first two days, and it’s a progression in that way.

“I’m a big believer where I want to see the blitzes because I can teach off of them. We’re gonna have to face that during the course of the season, so he needs to get good at what he’s going to do on defense and vice versa on offense.”

Although fans will have to wait until April 18 to get their first glimpse of what Cassity’s defense looks like, players took a stab at filling in the blanks during recent weeks.

“It’s simple,” Malik Charles said. “It’s a lot like (former DC) Coach (Todd) Grantham’s in a way, just a lot more simplistic, and it’s set up for us to make plays.”

“I really liked Coach Grantham’s defense,” Jaleel Johnson said. “I feel like it was great for me. He put me in position to make plays. … Coach Cass, it’s the same thing. He puts us D-linemen in position to make plays. He doesn’t want us taking on double-teams. It’s a one-on-one block for all of us, and I really do like that.”

“I think he’s aggressive,” North Texas transfer linebacker Ethan Wesloski said. “He’s gonna be simple in that fact that he’s gonna get after you, and he’s not gonna shy away from you, he’s not gonna shy away from a team, a scheme, a competition. So, being able to pin your ears back and go get somebody is something I like.”

Wesloski spent the last year leading Cassity’s defense, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he started in the same place his defensive coordinator did.

“I think we’re just an aggressive, attacking style of defense,” Cassity said. “We’re very, very multiple from a front and coverage standpoint, but our identity is always going to be about playing fast, playing aggressive and trying to play physical.”

The quotes could be a bit muddied, considering the media spoke with two of OSU’s top pass rushers last year and a UNT linebacker. Those guys certainly paint a picture of a defense that racks up sacks and tackles for loss.

But statistically, that’s not where Cassity’s defense separates itself.

Last season, North Texas finished fifth nationally in turnovers gained (28). In 2024, his Sam Houston defense finished seventh (27) in the same category.

Individually, turnovers are often viewed as something of a fluky, hard-to-predict stat, but they can be more reliably expected from a big-picture season perspective because it’s common for certain defenses to generate them at a much higher rate.

Having a good offense put pressure on opponents to score certainly helps.

That’s one category Oklahoma State should do better in after forcing only 15 turnovers last season, but the hallmark of Cassity’s defense might be something a little more, well, boring.

Pro Football Focus graded UNT out as the nation’s best-tackling defense and 18th in coverage. His Sam Houston group ranked 45th in tackling and 37th in coverage, though that unit did have the advantage of finishing 35th in pass rush.

“At the end of the day, it’s a violent game, and you’ve got to play violent defense, but you’ve got to do it sound,” Cassity said. “You’ve got to do it from a discipline standpoint, and you’ve got to play as a unit. As soon as you start playing 10 guys doing things right and one is not, then things don’t go very good. So, we’re always going to be disciplined.”

“Discipline” certainly lacks some of the pop you get when throwing the word “aggressive” around. Although there isn’t an official stat for missed tackles, yards per play allowed likely comes the closest since good defenses typically position themselves to limit big plays, or gains at all.

In his lone season at UNT, the Mean Green ranked 51st in yards per play, giving up 5.37. Quite the improvement from 2024, when UNT ranked among the worst teams in the nation, allowing 6.17 yards per play.

That same season, Sam Houston ranked 13th nationally, holding opponents to 4.78 yards per play under Cassity’s leadership.

Again, for context, Oklahoma State’s 2025 defense allowed 6.81 yards per play after giving up 6.48 in 2024.

Although Wesloski experienced a tremendous amount of success last season in the form of a team-high 113 tackles, including nine for loss, the linebacker said Cassity isn’t going to call the defense around any one player serving as the headliner.

“On the sideline, like he doesn’t have a call sheet in front of him,” Wesloski said. “He’s not looking down at something. He’s very, very smart. He’s gonna get us in the right spot more often than not, and if he doesn’t, then that’s on me to make him right, and it’s on the other guys around me to make him right.”