Notebook: Presley Does It All, Big Man Conversations, From the Yard to BPS

STILLWATER — There is a renewed energy in talks of Oklahoma State’s 2023 season after Friday’s win against defending Big 12 champ Kansas State.

Oklahoma State hosts Kansas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium, as the Cowboys look to build off that win. OSU players met with the media on Monday to give updates on the program. Here are three storylines that popped up from that availability.

Presley Does A Little Big of Everything in K-State Win

In Oklahoma State’s back-to-back losses to South Alabama and Iowa State, Brennan Presley had five catches for 20 yards.

His involvement in the OSU offense was a major talking point entering the Cowboys’ clash with the ‘Cats, and it seemed as if OSU’s staff made it a point of emphasis to get the elusive slot receiver from Bixby more involved.

On OSU’s first drive, Presley had an eight-yard run (he had no rushing attempts in the two losses), and he caught a pass for 11 yards.

Later in the first quarter, Presley was so involved in the offense that he was throwing a pass — a three-yard completion back to quarterback Alan Bowman. Presley said he could’ve put the pass on Bowman better but after leaving a ball short to Spencer Sanders in the 2021 Texas game, Presley said he just wanted to make sure it got there.

Presley finished Friday’s game with three catches for 34 receiving yards, two carries for 11 rushing yards, one pass for three passing yards and one kick return for 31 return yards. He was used everywhere.

With all the talk about his involvement in the offense over the past month, what better source on the matter than from the man himself.

“It’s all in the scheme and whatever,” Presley said. “If they want to take me away, then somebody else is open, they have man coverage, we’re gonna run the ball — things like that. So as long as performing, winning the games, then that’s all that really matters to me.”

Conversations Between a Center and a Nose Guard

Justin Kirkland got his first Big 12 Boone Pickens Stadium experience Friday, and it seemed to live up to its billing.

Kirkland said at one point he started pumping up the crowd while standing over the ball and it got to where him and the K-State center Hayden Gillum couldn’t hear each other.

That begs the question, what do the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Gillum and the 6-4, 346-pound Kirkland talk about during a game?

“They’re like, ‘Oh, dude, you’re hard to move,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, man,'” Kirkland said. “I think so many people see the trenches, like the O-line, D-line and think it’s a super physical, nasty place. There’s a certain harmony in there — people looking out for each other.

“People have hurt their knees, stuff like that. No one wants to go through that. If you can pancake a guy or throttle a guy and everybody around him is safe, then do it. But if you’re gonna put your own team at risk, most of the time people won’t do it.”

From the Yard to BPS

The Cowboys have a pair of young pass rushers making an impact early in their careers in DeSean Brown and Jaleel Johnson — two Oklahomans.

Both redshirt freshmen, the duo has combined for eight tackles, 1.5 sacks and a pass breakup thus far this season.

Those two were in the eighth grade when Anthony Goodlow, another OSU edge rusher, was a senior at Del City. But despite the age gap, this isn’t the first time Goodlow and Brown have played together.

“DeSean, I knew him kinda growing up,” Goodlow said. “He lived right down the street and we would always play football outside. I really didn’t even notice that until I got up here, but it’s really cool.

“I have a little brother who is his age. He would always play with me and DeSean would come out there and play, too.”