Five Questions for Oklahoma State’s Spring Game

STILLWATER — On Saturday, coach Eric Morris and the Cowboys will get their first chance to deliver on the offseason hype that has been building over the past five months.

Some of our biggest questions heading into spring, namely who is even going to play on this team of mostly newcomers, have been answered over the last month of spring practices.

But there’s still plenty of unknowns surrounding the new-look Cowboys, and many of them should get some kind of answer during Saturday’s spring game when the offense and the defense face off at 4 p.m. inside Boone Pickens Stadium.

Here are five questions we want to see answered on Saturday:

1. How good is the offensive line?

Poor quarterback play and an ineffective offensive line have stifled Oklahoma State’s offense for most of the last two seasons. There’s no question the Cowboys have fixed things at quarterback with the addition of Drew Mestemaker.

The offensive line remains a bit of a mystery.

Oklahoma transfer Jacob Sexton has been seen at both left tackle and left guard this spring. He played 220-plus snaps at both positions for the Sooners in 2024, the last season he was healthy.

Desmond Magiya has also seen time at both spots this spring after playing 116 snaps at left guard and 251 at left tackle for North Texas last season.

It would be surprising to see anyone besides Kansas transfer Tyler Mercer at center after he played 565 snaps in that role for Morris in 2024.

The Cowboys made a huge investment in Mestemaker this offseason. Protecting him must be paramount this fall. Given that the defense won’t be trying to put the quarterbacks on their backs during Saturday’s scrimmage, it might be hard to tell exactly how good the offensive line will be this fall, but if there are major issues, those should still be apparent.

2. Can Oklahoma State bring the pressure in 2026?

Oklahoma State’s inability to score during the last two seasons forced the defenses to play with essentially one arm behind their backs at times. That shouldn’t be the case this season, so does that mean the Cowboys will get back to chasing quarterbacks all over BPS?

Things certainly sound promising, considering Morris recently praised the defensive ends as one of the most impressive units this spring.

“Having the speed on the edge — it might be the deepest room we have at the time,” Morris said. “Defensive end in particular, more so than the interior.”

Oklahoma State averaged 17.9 pressures per 100 plays last season, according to Pro Football Focus. North Texas averaged 19.2 pressures per 100 plays last season and recorded a sack on 15% of their pressures.

For context, Oklahoma State averaged a sack on 14.6% of pressures last season and 13.1% in 2024. The defense the Cowboys run this season should mirror what UNT did last season, so the improvement might not be drastic, but even a slight increase in pressures and sacks should be more than enough when paired with what figures to be a much higher scoring offense.

3. Who is RB2?

There’s no question that the nation’s leading touchdown scorer, Caleb Hawkins, will lead the way on the ground in 2026 after toting the ball 231 times last season to go along with 35 targets.

But spring practice has yet to reveal a clear-cut option behind him. Last season, UNT’s other backs carried the ball 212 times with a handful of receptions added in.

The second-most used back, Mackenzie McGill, played 206 snaps on offense (Hawkins played 537), carried the ball 75 times and saw six targets. The next back in line, Kiefer Sibley, finished the season with 45 carries and four targets on 138 snaps.

Here’s a reminder of who is in the mix for that spot:
Dennis Moody (UNT transfer)
KD Jones (freshman)
William Mason (Central Oklahoma)
Tre Page (Tarleton State)
Ayo Adeyi (James Madison, but UNT before that)

Oklahoma State running backs coach Patrick Cobbs might know which guy will receive that No. 2 workload this fall, but it doesn’t seem like one guy has emerged in practice yet. Perhaps that will change on Saturday.

4. Is the tight end finally back?

Oklahoma State spent most of the last decade largely ignoring the tight end position, treating it as simply another blocker or worse, a decoy receiver.

In three seasons coaching tight ends, including the last two under Morris, tight end coach Drew Svoboda has produced four tight ends with equal or better numbers than anyone the Cowboys have fielded in the last decade.

Donovan Green, a transfer with experience at LSU and Texas A&M, seems the early favorite to lead the way for the Cowboys in 2026. Green and other tight ends seem to factor in during practice, but Saturday could reveal if any of those guys will actually get meaningful attention when things begin to breakdown in game-like settings.

5. Who will win?

Most of the offseason hype revolved around the addition of offensive superstars like Mestemaker, Hawkins, receiver Wyatt Young and, of course, Morris’ proven knack for building an offense that excelled.

But following the first day of practice, all of the coaches said the defense won the day. The offense seemed to make up for that around the midpoint when the first string scored with ease on the defense, thanks to a few well-executed plays between Mestemaker and receiver Chris Barnes.

But earlier this week, the first-string defense broke up Mestemaker’s pass attempt on 3rd-and-3 to force a three-and-out.

Then the second-string defense seemed to give the second-string offense just as much trouble. The scoring system might end up favoring one side or the other depending on how much time the reserves see, but recent weeks suggest this could be a pretty competitive scrimmage on Saturday.