How Quinton Hammonds Turned a Walk-On Offer and a Position Change into a Starting Role at Oklahoma State

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STILLWATER — With Eric Morris running the ship, anyone on the roster could get a chance to play a starring role for the Cowboys this fall. The Oklahoma State head coach almost seems to disrespect prior experience and truly hones in on giving the best guy a shot, regardless of money, name recognition or anything else.

​“I mean, that’s why people love playing for coach Morris,” quarterback Drew Mestemaker said. “Because he doesn’t have any preset notions of like, all right, we’re paying this guy, he’s going to play. Like he’s going to play the best guy for the opportunity. So I think that makes everyone play that much harder for him.”

​Mestemaker knows the truth of that all too well, considering his well-documented story of never starting a game in high school at quarterback before walking on and winning the QB2 job as a true freshman then the top job in 2025.

Last season, Morris also quickly turned things over to running back Caleb Hawkins, who was a complete afterthought, if anything, for everyone outside of UNT when it came to his recruitment.

Both of those guys more than delivered as they paced the nation in a couple key offensive stats before becoming four- and five-star portal prospects, but they’re not the only ones to overcome the odds under Morris. Oklahoma State safety Quinton Hammonds played his way into a starting role last season at North Texas as a sophomore despite not playing the position at all in high school.

“Really cool story,” Morris said. “I think Drew kind of overshadows his story a little bit because he came in also as a walk-on and played another position (in high school). … When he got to our place, it was something that I think special teams, as he kind of grew in that role and our defensive staff saw him run down on kickoff and tackle the football. Because that’s your thing, he never played it, so will he tackle, will he do this, will he do that?

“We saw it in live football games, early on in his career as a freshman, on punt teams, running down, making tackles. All of a sudden, he’s running down, making his way up the depth chart, because we trusted him more. As these rosters, when you put ‘em all together, guys are looking for guys they can trust on all three sides of the ball. And those are usually the guys that get the opportunity. Game 4 or 5 , we have an injury, all of a sudden, he’s out there playing the game, took the most of the opportunity, has just grown since then.”

According to Pro Football Focus records, Hammonds played 36 snaps on special teams and only one on defense during the first two games of his freshman season in 2024. He played 18-plus defensive snaps during his next three games and finished the year off with 445 plays on defense in addition to his special teams responsibilities.

Only 13 defenders saw the field more, and PFF graded Hammonds out with a 66.9 defensive rating, which put him fifth on the team. Over the weekend, he was named as one of Oklahoma State’s captains this season alongside linebacker Ethan Wesloski and others.

“I’m just really proud of his growth,” Wesloski said. “I’ve seen him develop from a kid that didn’t know he was going to play as a true freshman to being a captain in his third year at a Power Four school, it’s really incredible.”

When he arrived on campus at North Texas, the then-0-star receiver walked on with 700 all-purpose yards backing up his right to be there. As an Allen (Texas) senior, Hammonds caught 40 passes for 449 yards and also rushed 31 times for 130 yards and seven touchdowns.

Morris said injuries during high school limited Hammonds’ involvement then.

“Drew Svoboda, our special teams coordinator, played college football with his dad,” Morris said. “His dad’s a coach as well. That’s where the connection kind of started. … But Q works extremely hard, he’s smart, he grasps what we’re asking him to do on the defensive side of the ball.

“He’s tough. He’s really worked on his body, he’s gained weight, really good weight, this offseason. So he has all the physical tools, we knew that, but until we really saw it on special teams is really what opened our eyes, OK, this kid can handle more.”

When he chose to follow Morris to Stillwater, Hammonds earned three stars next to his name, and 247Sports ranked him as the No. 693 player in the portal and the 63rd best option at a position he was still relatively new to.

These days, Mestemaker, Hammonds’ roommate, said the safety can be seen smiling 95% of the time he’s not on the football field looking to make a tackle.

“It’s been awesome to see him grow this year and kind of you can tell whenever he’s confident on the field, whenever he’s making plays,” Mestemaker said. “And so whenever he’s confident on the field, then he’s confident in his voice. And so I think that we’ve really seen him grow this past year because he had a really good year last year at UNT, and I mean, just the work he puts in really shows out there on the field.”​

Speaking of last season, Hammonds played 582 defensive snaps, eighth most at UNT, but his defensive rating dropped to 64, perhaps in part because the team used him more at nickel.

Now he’s at strong safety, and it sounds like he and Wesloski will play a critical role in determining the exact shape of coordinator Skyler Cassity’s defense this season.

“He’s able to take a room now in the safety room and lead them, and it’s really easy fighting in front of him because I know what he’s going to go to because we’re on the same page,” Wesloski said. “We talk so much, we watch so much video together, and we come off the field (saying) ‘Okay, what’d you see here? How’d you get to this? What do you want to go to?’ And it’s really just such a good relationship that we’re able to work so well together.”