Eric Morris ‘Hopeful’ to Get Quinton Hammonds Back, Speaks Highly of Cameron Epps

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STILLWATER — The Cowboys have generally been healthier than a lot of teams they’ve gone up against this season, but a spot they are starting to get banged up at is on the back end of their secondary.

Starting safety Mose Phillips suffered a shoulder injury against UCF that is expected to keep him out for the rest of the season. Then this past Saturday, starter Quinton Hammonds was injured while recovering a crucial fumble and returned to the sideline in a sling.

The Cowboys travel to Ames this week for a game that kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday, but who will be at safety for the Pokes seems to still be in the air to a certain extent.

“Q, hoping to get him, I mean, hopefully, he can work back into it this week,” Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris said. “I mean, we’ll see kind of how the week goes right now as that stuff all comes out, but hopeful that we can get Q back.”

When Phillips went down, Evan Jackson returned to the starting lineup after starting the opener against Tulsa. Jackson has had some highs since getting an increased workload — like his scoop-and-score touchdown that turned the tide against UCF. But it hasn’t all been ups. He gave up a touchdown against Houston, and per PFF, missed three tackles against Colorado this past weekend.

On the play Hammonds got hurt on — the first play of the second half against Colorado — Cameron Epps was at safety alongside Hammonds.

Epps is a bit of a unicorn in that he has been at Oklahoma State for five seasons now.

He’s had his own ups and downs. He was an honorable mention for Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2023 — a year he started 10 games in as the Cowboys made a push to the Big 12 title game. He has played in just nine games across the past two seasons, though, battling through injuries.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, Epps initially came to OSU as a jumbo cornerback via Chaminade High School in St. Louis. You can see his corner background in his ball skills, as Epps has picked off four passes in his career — three in that redshirt freshman season and one this year late against UCF.

His most famous pick to this point was a pick-six he snagged off Will Howard in 2023.

We’re not gonna not talk about this @cameronepps7 pick six 🤧

The @cowboyfb defensive back turned on the jets to pad the Pokes’ lead before halftime.

📺 ESPN

https://t.co/Xj5stVL2nS

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) October 7, 2023

In his fifth season with the program, Epps is on his fifth defensive coordinator, having played under Derek Mason, Bryan Nardo, Todd Grantham, Clint Bowen and now Skyler Cassity.

“He’s got a ton of length, which I do love that,” Morris said. “He’s played a lot of football, multiple positions. Even with this defense, we kind of flirted back and forth with him at nickel or at safety. Any time we’ve been in live situations, think back, I think maybe first play of the spring game has the interception on the deep pass across the middle. A guy that definitely there’s video evidence of him out there making a lot of good plays for us.”

Hammonds has played 440 defensive snaps this season. Despite missing essentially half of the Colorado game, that’s still 28 more defensive snaps than anyone else on the team.

Not counting nickelback Christian Bodnar, Jackson has now played the second-most snaps among OSU safeties with 268. Aside from Phillips, who is out for the year, no other OSU safety has played more than 80 snaps — a number Washington transfer Vincent Holmes sits at. Epps has played 52 defensive snaps.

So, if the Cowboys are without Hammonds in Ames, they’ll need someone to step up.

“It’ll be next man up,” Morris said. “Listen, this is all over the country right now. It’s gonna be a thing in college football going forward. Building depth is super important. Injuries are a part of this thing, always will be.”