Is This Oklahoma State’s Best Receiver Room Since 2017?

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STILLWATER — Kasey Dunn’s 2017 receiver room had so many dudes in it that future NFL guys had to stand on the sideline.

Time will tell just how many in Oklahoma State’s 2026 receiver room make it to the league, but through three games there has been a lot to get excited about as it pertains to this group.

First, let’s take a look at the major players of that 2017 room:

As you can see, that’s a lot for the current crop to live up to.

It’s honestly sort of crazy that with all those mouths to feed, Washington was still able to win the Biletnikoff that season. This feels like a good time to share the video OSU released a while back of every Rudolph-to-Washington touchdown. When I close my eyes, I sometimes still see Washington streaking down the field on a post route.

But in looking at the Cowboys’ modern receivers, if you have eyeballs, you probably think Justin Bowick has pro potential. It helps that he’s apparently already acting like a pro.

“He practices at one speed, and it’s translating to the games right now,” Eric Morris said Tuesday. “I come up here on a Thursday night during the summer, bring my kids to the indoor to throw the football around and Bowick’s in there by himself catching Jugs. Just someone that’s put in a ton of time and effort. You go downstairs right now, he’s probably in the training room right now, even though he’s not banged up — just because he’s always preparing and doing things the right way.”

A 6-foot-5 athletic anomaly, Bowick had nine catches against Murray State this past weekend for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Among the seven receivers listed above from OSU’s 2017 team, only Washington (x4), Stoner and Wallace (x4) have had that many receiving yards in a game in their entire college careers.

It was at a different school with a different level of regular competition, but Wyatt Young’s 1,264 receiving yards from last season are more than all but Washington (x2) and Wallace have had in a season in their careers. And three games into his OSU career, Young is averaging 72.7 receiving yards a game. In a full 12-game regular season, he’s on pace to finish with 872 receiving yards, which would have ranked third in the Big 12 last season.

It’s fair to question, and potentially even doubt, that the current OSU room has the depth of that 2017 room, but already this season Chris Barnes has raised some eyebrows, Miles Coleman scored a touchdown and looked good in the return game this week, and Terrence Lewis has looked good in some limited work. And Morris on Tuesday pointed out some other guys who haven’t had as many opportunities so far this year.

“There’s five guys we feel really comfortable with and with a rotation,” Morris said. “Got some playing time last week from the other guys. Kam Powell’s a guy that kinda stepped up and played really fast and did some really nice things, so I think he’ll continue to earn a role. I think Izzy (Israel Polk) did a couple things here and there. He’s playing some special teams for us. Give him a chance to get out there and provide some depth for our team and show us what he can do in that regard.

“But those top five I think have done a phenomenal job for us right now. And, obviously, Bowick kinda coming along and a big target, and when people start taking him away, I mean, that’s just kinda the way the offensive works. One week, you might have one or two targets. The next week all of a sudden, you’ve got 10 targets, depending on what they do.”