‘We’re As Good as We Want To Be’: Wesloski Sets the Bar for OSU’s New-Look Defense

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STILLWATER — It would certainly be difficult for the Cowboys to be any worse than they were last season. In fact, much of the offseason talk was about just how good this group made up of 90+ newcomers could be.

Few are questioning how good Oklahoma State’s offense is with Eric Morris and Drew Mestemaker running the show, but what could take OSU’s season from solid to good (or perhaps from good to great) is the Cowboys’ defense.

There isn’t much of an expectation on OSU’s defense entering the year. Not that they’re expected to be bad, it’s just hard to know what to expect. But star linebacker Ethan Wesloski says the group can be as good as it wants to be.

“We gotta go play after play and just execute,” Wesloski said Tuesday. “We can go back through scrimmage tape and practice tape where it’s the one offense against the one defense. Everyone knows how good that offense is over there. There’s days when we execute where they can’t gain a yard on the run, we’re defending passes.

“Really, we’re as good as we want to be. There’s plays where all we have to do is line up, get vertical in our gaps and play fast. I believe there’s nobody we can’t play with in this country.”

It’s been a rocky road for Oklahoma State defenses since Jim Knowles left Stillwater after the Cowboys’ magical 2021 season.

Including 2021, OSU has now had six defensive coordinators in six seasons: Knowles (2021), Derek Mason (2022), Bryan Nardo (2023-24), Todd Grantham (2025), Clint Bowen (2025), Skyler Cassity (2026).

That stretch has included perhaps the best (2021) and worst (2024) defenses in program history.

Given not only the change in staff, but also the drastic change in personnel, it’s unfair to associate the defensive struggles of the past few seasons with this current group. But if you were to be concerned about something, it’d probably be that many of the key cogs in Cassity’s defense haven’t done it at the Big 12 level before.

There were 17 players listed as starters on OSU’s first depth chart (including ORs). Of those, six were on Group of Five teams last season, including Wesloski at linebacker and all three starting safeties. Just because they haven’t played Power Conference football to this point doesn’t mean they can’t, but it is an unknown.

It sounds like Wesloski, who made 233 tackles across the past three seasons, welcomes that challenge.

“Obviously you’re excited to play football again,” Wesloski said. “I’m excited to play against Tulsa, being that they’re a good football team. Got a lot of good matchups in front of us, but I’m excited for this season personally because it’s gonna test my abilities. It’s gonna show me how good at football I really am. Just every day, show up and keep working.”