Four Takeaways from the Transfer Portal Window

PORTAL TRACKER

The first transfer portal window of the offseason is closed, and the Cowboys will certainly have a new look in 2025.

The portal officially closed on Saturday, but there could be a few more names trickle into it over the coming days — whether that be paperwork being worked out, bowl teams’ season coming to an end, etc. And despite it being closed to new entrants, teams are still able to pull guys out of it, so the commitments probably aren’t done quite yet. The portal will open back up April 16 and close April 25.

But with this portal window closing, here are four takeaways I had as the portal pertains to Oklahoma State.

1. Enter, Hauss Hejny

The Cowboys were selective when assessing the quarterback position in the portal, but in the end, they added another promising, young quarterback to a promising, young quarterback room.

Hauss Hejny is reportedly set to transfer from TCU to Oklahoma State, following new OSU offensive coordinator Doug Meacham up I-35 from Fort Worth. Hejny was a player OSU was interested in coming out of Aledo High School, where he led the Bearcats to back-to-back state titles, throwing for 4,867 yards, running for 2,317 yards and contributing 75 total touchdowns combined through his junior and senior seasons.

The only other quarterback OSU, to a somewhat public extent, showed interest in in the portal was veteran Chandler Morris, who ended up committing to Virginia. Morris’ experience would’ve been a difference from the other guys in the room. With Hejny, none of the Cowboy QBs have a ton of experience, but each has a certain level of promise.

Garret Rangel showed promise in his BYU start this season. Maealiuaki Smith showed promise in his first start against Texas Tech. Zane Flores hasn’t played a college snap, but the Zane hype train has been rolling for a while now (and was fueled by comments like this). Hejny, who will be a redshirt freshman like Smith in 2025, comes in as probably the most heralded recruit among the group. Recruiting ratings and stars aren’t everything, but with not a ton of in-game experience among that quartet, there isn’t much else to go off of. And he has an ability to run that has worked in previous Meacham offenses.

OSU fans will be scarred because of previous QB battles, but this feels like one where there are positives with each guy. Just a matter of finding the right guy for this particular team. I would assume Hejny didn’t come to Stillwater to ride the pine. None of the returners have hit the portal, but it’s not like they weren’t already expecting competition among each other heading into 2025. So, I think all options are open for OSU’s quarterback in 2025.

2. Certain Position Groups Targeted

Whether it was through the portal or the junior college ranks, OSU made it a point to bolster four position groups specifically: tight end, offensive line, defensive line and defensive backs. Those four position groups account for 18 transfers into the program.

Tight End: The Cowboys added three tight ends — Jordan Owens (Central Arkansas), Oscar Hammond (North Texas) and Will Monney (Utah State). Those three enter a room that also features Josh Ford, who played 392 offensive snaps as a true freshman, according to PFF. The tight end position has been utilized little in the passing game lately in Stillwater. Would be tough to imagine OSU bringing in all these guys to not use them.

Offensive Line: The Cowboys, to this point, have also added four transfer offensive linemen — Kasen Carpenter (Tulsa), Lavaka Taukeiaho (Weber State), Louie Canepa (New Mexico State) and Tyler Brumfield (Snow). It was important to reload here, as every offensive lineman who started a game for the Cowboys this past season is now gone. OSU might not be done adding to the position. New Mexico State transfer Shiyazh Pete took a visit to Stillwater and announced an offer.

It’s tough to say who’s playing where come September, but I sort of latched onto Brumfield’s film. He was a junior college All-American, who has solid size and an ability to move. Only question will be how well that translates up to the Division-I level.

Defensive Line: Collin Clay, Kody Walterscheid, Obi Ezeigbo, Xavier Ross all finished out their eligibility in 2024 and combined to play 1,776 defensive snaps for the Cowboys last season. That doesn’t even include edge rusher Collin Oliver, who got hurt early in the year and is NFL bound. So, a reload along the defensive front was needed, and OSU jumped into that with two feet.

Chandavian Bradley (Hutchinson), Rashod Bradley (East Mississippi), Malik Charles (West Georgia), Kyran Duhon (UTEP), Demerick Morris (Temple) and Michael Diatta (Virginia) all committed to OSU. That group joins the likes of Justin Kirkland, DeSean Brown and Jaleel Johnson, who have contributed over the past two seasons. Who knows how this ends up looking come September, but that’s a lot of bodies to compete over the next eight months or so. I really liked the Duhon pickup. He had seven sacks as a true freshman this past season.

Defensive Backs: Five defensive backs enter the fold — JK Johnson (LSU), Mordecai McDaniel (Charlotte), Chase Pinkston (Jones), Carrington Pierce (Chaffey) and Jeremy Cook (East Mississippi). The biggest losses OSU took from the defensive backfield were Korie Black and Trey Rucker running out of eligibility.

There are some interesting stories coming from that group of newcomers. Johnson was once considered a Top 50 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class but has struggled with injuries. McDaniel was also a high-level recruit, playing under new OSU defensive coordinator Todd Grantham at Florida before bouncing down to the JUCO level just to pop back up and have a good year at Charlotte before returning to power conference football. Pierce didn’t even start playing football until he got the Chaffey, and he ended up announcing offers to UCLA, Nebraska and others.

3. OSU Did a Good Job Keeping Young Guys

The 2025 season will certainly mark a new era in Stillwater, but the Cowboys managed to navigate this portal window without losing much of its up-and-coming talent. Given the poor season and all of the drama that this early part of the offseason brought, keeping those guys is a good sign.

The guys who did hop in the portal were more established — guys who in 10 years we’re going to associate with the Alan Bowman years of OSU football (for those who, like myself, often associate teams with who the quarterback was). Guys like De’Zhaun Stribling, Kendal Daniels, Jason Brooks, etc.

But OSU kept ahold of guys like Rodney Fields, Talyn Shettron, Jaleel Johnson, DeSean Brown, Armstrong Nnodim, Josh Ford, David Kabongo, Landyn Cleveland, Austin Kawecki, the quarterbacks — the list goes on and on, honestly. Those guys have all at some point showed a little something but maybe weren’t quite ready to take over as a full-time contributor. Keeping those types of guys is a promising sign.

4. Should Make for an Exciting Spring

So, with that influx of transfers and keeping ahold of a lot of young talent, this should make for an exciting spring.

Last spring was fairly uneventful because we all knew who was going to play with all the Cowboys had returning. There should be position battles all over the place this spring as a new staff has fresh eyes on new and returning players. And the spring feels like it has some extra juice to it after what Mike Gundy said after the Cowboys’ season-ending loss in Boulder.

“The new age of college football the challenge is once you get your new guys, determining who you are by the end of spring ball because that gives us the best chance to move forward in August to get prepared for the first game in next September,” Gundy said. “And that is one area we will need to make an adjustment because we haven’t had to do that in the past. We knew who our guys were coming back. And then a couple years ago, we went through spring, went through half August just trying to find out who we were going to put on the field. I think we are going to try and avoid that now.”

So, if the Cowboys want to figure out who they are by the end of spring ball, there’s a lot to work out.

As we’ve already discussed, OSU has four young quarterbacks with somewhat similar levels of experience (or lack there of). At running back, Rodney Fields, Trent Howland and Sesi Vailahi return, and OSU added OU transfer Kalib Hicks. Receiver is filled with promise — probably led by Shettron, Gavin Freeman and Da’Wain Lofton, but Shemar Rigby or developing young guys are also there. Tight ends, offensive line, defensive line, defensive back — ton of competition.

There is a sense of renewed freshness that all these offseason changes have brought. That sense of hope is important for a fanbase that didn’t have a ton of fun this past season. That freshness feels like it could also be important for the building, as this feels like the first time OSU has truly had to hit the portal this hard in this new era of college athletics.