Graduate Transfer Offensive Tackle Visits Stillwater This Weekend

After Arlington Hambright announced his decision to enter his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal, I wrote about what the Oklahoma State left tackle position might look like in 2019. In this post, I mentioned the possibility of the Cowboys adding a graduate transfer offensive lineman, one of these names being former Tennessee Volunteer Drew Richmond.

Yesterday, Chris Nee of Noles247.com broke the news that Richmond is likely to take two more visits before making his decision, and those visits would be NC State and Oklahoma State. Richmond’s recruitment process has been relatively quiet as of late, but he recently took visits to both Florida State and USC. Well, it looks as though Nee’s prediction was correct as Richmond is on campus in Stillwater this weekend according to GoPokes.com

The 6-5, 316 pound offensive lineman was originally recruited by the Pokes and held and offer from them before he ultimately committed to Tennessee in February 2015. He would be a welcome addition to the Cowboy offensive line as he has plenty of experience playing against high-caliber opponents at the college level. Even though he primarily played right tackle for the Vols, he has shown throughout his career that he can play tackle on both sides of the line, as he lined up on the left side earlier in his UT tenure.

Richmond is an excellent blocker in the run game. The former four-star recruit is very physical and uses his hands well to move defensive linemen out of the way and open up big holes for his running backs, as shown below.

In the next clip, you see him run blocking from the left side. On this split zone run, Richmond is able to block the defensive end to the sideline, opening up a hole for former Tennessee Vol and current New Orleans Saint running back Alvin Kamara. Additionally, since Richmond is able to block the end by himself, the left guard is able to move up to the second level and block the linebacker. This, in turn, springs Kamara for a touchdown.

Richmond has had some inconsistencies in pass protection during his UT career, but he showed last season that he has continued to improve his footwork and overall technique and was solid for the Vols.

OSU has experience with graduate transfer offensive tackles as they started Aaron Cochran in 2017 after he transferred from Cal. Cochran had some struggles early on, but eventually became a nice piece at left tackle. As I mentioned above, Richmond mainly played on the right side last season, and if OSU offensive line coach Charlie Dickey decided to keep him there, maybe this allows Teven Jenkins to move to the left tackle spot. On the other hand, Jenkins could stay at right tackle, where he absolutely dominates, and Richmond could be part of the rotation at left tackle.

Whatever the Pokes’ plans are for Richmond, I think this would be a great pickup for the Cowboys heading into the 2019 season. He’s been one of my favorite players in the transfer portal and I was really excited when I heard about this visit. I’d love to see this bow celebration, shown below, in Boone Pickens Stadium next year.