Eight OSU Players I Was Looking Forward to Watching in Spring Practice

Oklahoma State got a single spring practice in before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them into quarantine and Mike Gundy to a mountain in Montana (literally).

That’s unfortunate for myriad reasons (obviously), but one of those is that players don’t get to emerge during spring practice and put themselves in a position to do some damage in the fall. We often overstate (or overvalue) success during spring practice, but it’s still a time for young players to emerge and for veterans to potentially backfill spots where other guys have moved on (ahem, Amen Ogbongbemiga).

So with that in mind, here are the eight guys I was most looking forward to watching during Oklahoma State’s rendition of spring practice.

1. Thomas Harper (CB) — People are buzzing. There is much buzz. He probably won’t start (see below), but he would have at least gotten an opportunity to make a run at the job and life miserable on Sanders, Illingworth and Associates this spring.

2. Jason Taylor II (S) — With Jarrick Bernard moving to corner, it’s easy to envision Taylor getting the nod at safety. He’s in that tweener range where you’re not resting him (like you might with KHP) in the spring but he knows more of what he’s doing than a true freshman. I am fully subscribed here and think moving Bernard and sliding Taylor (or one of the other youngsters) into the safety spot will help OSU not miss a beat on defense. This is the value of recruiting a bunch of DBs you can move around at CB, LB and safety.

3. Dez Jackson/Deondrick Glass (RB) — I’m not sure Chuba Hubbard was going to be allowed on the property even if there wasn’t a pandemic so these two are obvious. After weird first years for both Glass and Jackson, both had a chance to show out this spring and find part of the rota in the fall, especially with Gundy’s desire to decrease Chuba’s carries. Glass is certainly the bigger talent so that would have been fun to watch unfold, but Jackson seemed like the surer bet. Now we have to wait until August (or September) to see them (hopefully).

4. Shane Illingworth (QB) — You could make the argument that this pandemic had hurt Illingworth more than anybody at OSU. Without those spring practices and with the rest of the summer and fall camp up in the air, it seems improbable (impossible?) that he would be able to sniff the No. 2 spot behind Spencer Sanders unless his talent is just completely off the charts.

5. Na’drian Dizadare (LB) — Kyle Boone is higher on him than I am on Cade Cunningham (not really but kind of). OSU doesn’t need more talent at LB, but with all the vets they have returning, he was likely going to get some run in the spring. Might be a stud.

6. Langston Anderson (WR) — He’s not an x-factor because OSU doesn’t need any at wide receiver, but he’s a four-star guy at a position where none of the vets needed any spring practice. We were likely going to see him a lot and get a glimpse at what he’s capable of at this level. Getting him and Glass involved in this year’s offense would make whatever the transition looks like in 2021 more smooth than it’s going to be.

7. Isreal Isuman-Hundley (DE) — It’s not often that you see a 33-year-old redshirt freshman who’s built like an 18-wheeler.

8. Collin Clay (DT) — I don’t think there’s been any official word yet on him getting a waiver, but that doesn’t preclude him from participating. It would have been awesome to see him jump in the mix with Israel Antwine and Jayden Jernigan (among many others) to see what the DT talent level looked like (spoiler: it’s quite high).