Big 12 Portal Rankings: Cowboys Top the Big 12, Fall in Traditional Recruiting Ranks

The Cowboys that we see on the field this fall will look at lot different than the Cowboys we saw in 2025. Mainly because most of them will be transplants from the transfer portal.

Oklahoma State leads the nation with 53 incoming transfers, a good chunk of which followed Eric Morris from North Texas. After going 4-20 the last two seasons, a roster overhaul to go along with a new coaching staff was not to be unexpected.

Now that the portal window is closed for 2026, I thought it would be interesting to look at where the Cowboys rank among portal players, as well as what that means for traditional recruiting.

Here are Big 12 teams ranked by their national team transfer portal ranking (via 247Sports) along with their team recruiting rankings (high school) and last year’s record.

A Shift in Philosophy

The obvious takeaway is how lopsided the Cowboys are in terms of the two rankings. OSU has never been a powerhouse when it comes to landing incoming 5-star preps, but that ranking obviously fell as the Pokes loaded up on transfers this offseason. Their 69th ranking is down from 52nd last year, 53rd in 2024 and 54th in 2023. OSU was 29th in 2022.

It’s important to point out that there was a give-and-take with Mike Gundy’s mid-year firing. From what Chad Weiberg said, it helped OSU land the hiring firm that led to them landing Morris. But it also, no doubt, had an effect on the Cowboys’ prep recruiting with Morris and Co. not having a normal recruiting cycle leading into Signing Day.

Morris recently emphasized that he doesn’t like to lean too portal-heavy when it comes to QB development, so it shouldn’t be this lopsided for OSU every year. But as long as there’s an opportunity to bring in move proven players, schools will have to take advantage of the portal to stay competitive.

I think we will continue to see shifting priorities between the portal and traditional recruiting, especially based on need. Schools like OSU and Colorado that need to bounce back in a big way are more likely to go for wholesale roster changes with somewhat known commodities (transfers over high school). They were first and second nationally with 53 and 43 incoming transfers, respectively.

On the other hand, schools with a more established culture and more recent success, might lean toward a mix of both. Hopefully, the Pokes don’t need a full roster reset going into 2027.

It’s no shock that the teams returning after double-digit win seasons are the most consistent from transfers to preps. Texas Tech is ranked 10th and 18th in each category after the Red Raiders won 12 games and their first Big 12 title. BYU also won 12 games though they were a little more successful with high school prospects than through the portal.

Of course, one of the biggest factors for recruiting on either side is money when it comes to NIL budgets. I’m sure West Virginia would like to be ranked higher than 53 in the portal rankings. And we saw what a big-time donor helped facilitate in Lubbock.

While the curmudgeon in me can find plenty to gripe about within this new, wild, wild west of the portal era, we can see how teams like Indiana and Texas Tech (and potentially OSU) can bounce back or even as ascend to new heights in a short amount of time.