Eric Morris Shouts Out Some Defensive Standouts at Big 12 Media Days

FRISCO, Texas — Despite the team being almost entirely new, OSU fans know who this season’s offensive stars will be for the most part.

Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins will be pivotal pieces to Oklahoma State putting up points. But it’s a little harder at this point to know who will lead the defense.

Linebacker Ethan Wesloski led Morris’ North Texas D last season to the tune of 113 tackles, so he’ll obviously be a big piece, but Morris named dropped a handful of defenders Tuesday that might provide some insight as to which players to look out for come Sept. 5 when the Cowboys open against Tulsa.

“As a head coach, I’ve had to learn this over the course of time, how important playing good defense is,” Morris said. “When I think about it, like our defensive end, the position as a whole, we have one of them here today, Jaleel Johnson, who I think is an all-conference caliber player, I think has the size, the talent to play on Sundays. Really excited to watch the defensive end position.

“Our linebackers in Ethan Wesloski and Tate Romney, we have a nickel in Christian Bodner, who had a phenomenal spring. Quinton Hammonds is a safety we’re bringing over from North Texas that had an incredible year last year, has only played defense two years now. LaDainian Fields is a cornerback who played the last half of the season and had one the highest PFF ratings.”

If (because of all the roster turnover) you’re wondering, who are those guys Morris mentioned? Here’s a little bit about each.

Ethan Wesloski, LB: A UNT transfer, Wesloski is a redshirt senior who (as previously mentioned) had 113 tackles for the Mean Green last season before joining Morris in Stillwater. He’s had at least 55 tackles the past three seasons.

Out of Boyd High School in McKinney, Wesloski was a two-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite system with his only other reported offers being Air Force, Navy and Texas Southern.

Wesloski was an all-district baseball player in high school. It’s a sport that runs in the family, as Ethan’s brother, Nick, is a pitcher at OU and started the national final this past season.

Jaleel Johnson, DE: As of writing, it’s still early in the day, but Morris has been singing Johnson’s praises. After his time on the main stage, Morris went on ESPNU and said he thought Johnson was the most dominant defensive player of the spring.

Now a redshirt senior at OSU, Johnson is one of the few holdovers from the previous regime, and he’s a rarity in that his entire college career has been spent in one spot. Johnson committed to OSU as a three-star prospect out of Putnam City North. Across 26 games as a Cowboy, Johnson has made 49 tackles, six tackles for loss and a trio of sacks.

Listed at 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, Johnson played just four games last season before missing the remainder of the year with injury but had 16 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in that time.

LaDainian Fields, CB: Another rare returner, Fields broke onto the scene about halfway through last season as a redshirt freshman.

Out of Del City, Fields started the Cowboys’ final six games of 2025, finishing the year with 16 tackles, two tackles for loss and two picks. He housed one of those interceptions in the Cowboys’ game against Arizona.

Fields ranked in the Top 15 in PFF coverage grades among Big 12 corners. The outlet saw him targeted 13 times last season where he allowed just two catches, matching his two INTs.

Christian Bodnar, S: Playing at nickel, Bodnar transferred to Oklahoma State from Liberty this offseason.

He has a phenomenal story, recovering from a post-infectious encephalitis (brain inflammation) that saw him hospitalized for a week in 2024. The infection put his football future in jeopardy, but he returned to the field in 2025 and had his best season to date, finishing with 44 tackles, two sacks and two pass breakups.

Out of Tampa, Florida, Bodnar will be a redshirt junior in 2025.

Tate Romney, LB: Romney has spent the past three seasons at Arizona state and before that was at BYU during the 2022 season.

A 6-foot-1, 223-pound redshirt senior, Romney made 70 tackles across 29 games as a Sun Devil, with his best year in Tempe being his redshirt freshman season in 2023. That year, he made 52 tackles, including four tackles for loss and a sack. He played in 10 games last season, where he had 13 total tackles, a pass breakup and a forced fumble.

His playing time took a hit when he broke his arm during one of the final fall camp practices ahead of the 2024 season.

Quinton Hammonds, S: Another member of that UNT defense from last season, Hammonds will be a 6-foot-1, 206-pound true junior in his first season with the Cowboys.

He recorded 53 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack and two interceptions last season, which followed a strong freshman year that saw him make 52 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one interception.