Oklahoma State Defensive Tackle Collin Clay Announces Return for 2024

The good news keeps rolling in for the Pokes.

After Brennan Presley on Saturday announced he would return to Oklahoma State for the 2024 season, Collin Clay did the same on Sunday. It’ll be Clay’s sixth college season.

Mark 11:24
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Run it back🤠 #BeYourGreat pic.twitter.com/B3N0E5SAgc

— Collin Clay (@collinclay_) December 31, 2023

Playing in the middle of Bryan Nardo’s 3-3-5 defense, Clay set career-highs in tackles for loss (3.5) and sacks (2.5) this past season. He played in all 14 of the Cowboys’ games in 2023, making eight starts. Defensive tackle is often an unheralded position on the box score, so though Clay’s 14 tackles on the year might not jump off the page, he and Justin Kirkland did a lot in the middle to open things up for the Cowboys’ linebackers.

Out of Putnam City, Clay started his college career with Arkansas, choosing the Razorbacks as a four-star recruit in the 2019 class. He made 15 tackles as a true freshman with Arkansas before transferring to Stillwater. Injuries plagued Clay’s first two years with the Pokes, but he got going in 2022, recording 16 tackles, including two tackles for loss.

Clay becomes the eighth Cowboy to announce his return for 2024, and the first on the defensive side of the ball.