The Breakout Oklahoma State Defensive Player Everyone Keeps Talking About

It’s fall camp time so everyone is an All-Big 12 contender. Everyone is on every watch list (almost literally). Everyone is a superstar in somebody else’s mind. But there is one name I keep popping up everywhere I look. It’s a name Travis Haney of ESPN wrote about on Monday. It’s one of the players who will replace Emmanuel Ogbah.

It’s Jarrell Owens.

Here’s what Haney wrote about Owens on his top 50 breakout players for 2016 list.

Those close to the program, including coach Mike Gundy, do not expect Owens to resemble recently departed All-American Emmanuel Ogbah when the season begins, but watch for Owens to surge as the season progresses. He’ll only get better as the Cowboys enter the teeth of their Big 12 schedule late in the season.

Gundy said Owens, a prolific high school running back in Texas, always had speed; at 6-foot-3 and 270 pounds, the redshirt sophomore now has the size to stand against the push of opposing lines. “He’s a pure talent,” Gundy said. “He’s not where Ogbah was, not yet, but we’re hoping he can make progress.”

This is an ongoing theme though.

“Defensive player of the year? Let’s go with Jarrell Owens at defensive end,” QB1 Mason Rudolph told Go Pokes. “Big dude. Really hard worker in the weight room. Extremely athletic. I think it will be the year of ninety-three. We’ll see.”

D-Line doing d-line things. ??#okstate pic.twitter.com/XXljsehvbm

— Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 4, 2016

“I’d have to go with Jarrell Owens [to have a breakout season],” added center Brad Lundblade to Go Pokes. “He played quite a bit last year. As far as being a full-time starter, he hasn’t had that opportunity yet. In practice every single day, he works extremely hard and he’s always around making plays. I could see him having a really big year.”

Mike Gundy even got in on the action.

“It’s unfair to compare them early on, but as the season progresses, with Jarrell and Jordan and a couple of the other guys, I’m hoping that they will develop into becoming good college football players,” said Gundy earlier this year. “They’re young enough that they can develop into being really good college football players if they desire to, with hard work and effort.”

I have no idea if Owens is going to be good. This could all be just players randomly picking the same person to talk about in interviews. But it seems like No. 93 has made an impact as a redshirt sophomore. That could be a big deal as the season progresses.