Who Oklahoma State Should Target at Defensive End in 2018

With the season about to start, recruiting will take a bit of a back seat for the next few months. With that in mind, it’s time to wrap up this look at the players OSU should target for their 2018 class.

If you haven’t by now, this started with a look at where Oklahoma State’s 2018 recruiting class stands and which positions the staff should focus its efforts on. As a recap, OSU still has a maximum ofseven scholarships remaining for the 2018 class with 18 commitments, but I think they’ll only use four or five. Here are the positions I think they need to fill:

Cowboy Back | Defensive Tackle | Linebacker

We finish this series look at the players OSU should target at defensive end.

Before I get deep into the players, I’ll say this; I don’t know that nabbing another defensive end in this class is a high priority for Oklahoma State. They have one committed in Tyler Lacy, but they’ll lose two this year and five more next. With only nine on the roster, it would be better to get at least one more this year, than to rush to bring in a lot next.

We’ll start with OSU’s latest offer, Azur Kamara, one of the top JUCO defensive ends for 2018. Despite my previous statement that OSU might not be worrying about targeting another defensive end, Coach Gundy and Co. offered Kamara on August 10th.

The Cowboys are Kamara’s 16th offer, joining Florida State, Louisville, Kansas, Iowa State, Arizona, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee, and Oregon among others. As of now, three 247Sports experts are split on Louisville and Iowa State as the favorites to land Kamara. Based on a recent interview, I think right now Iowa State is the favorite to land him.

Kamara is heading into his second season at Arizona Western College. Last season for the Matadors, Kamara had 45 tackles including 13.5 tackles-for-a-loss, eight sacks, two forced fumbles, and he recovered four fumbles.

Kamara is planning to make an official visit to OSU and Florida State sometime in September, meaning the Cowboys are in the mix for the talented DE. If OSU can make a real push, and the visit goes well, they could turn his favor toward Stillwater.

6-foot-4, 225-pound weak-side defensive end Courtre Alexander doesn’t currently have an offer from the Cowboys, but could be a good target for one if OSU is still looking to add a defensive end when signing day arrives.

The three-star DE plays for Owasso High School, is a top-25 player in the Oklahoma and ranked as the second best player at his position in the state. Alexander has also played wide receiver and tight end for Owasso.

As of now, Alexander only has offers from Tulsa and Memphis, but if Owasso continues to impress the way it did Friday night by thumping in-state powerhouse Jenks, Alexander will surely get more looks. He’s an under the radar recruit that looks more like a diamond in the rough to me. I think he’s one OSU should keep an eye on.

As I’ve said before, I’m not big on targeting guys who are already committed to other schools, but stealing Mathis away from TCU would be good.

The Cowboys offered Mathis way back in February, shortly after he committed to the Horned Frogs. The only other school to offer in that time is OU, signaling that teams don’t believe he’s likely to flip. In June, after an unofficial visit to Forth Worth, Mathis reaffirmed his commitment to TCU.

“TCU was my first offer then all other colleges started to come out of the woodworks trying to get me to come to their campus which is not what I expected. But, I turned them down for TCU because they were always my top choice.” However, as we all know, things can change.

As a junior last season, Mathis had 68 total tackles including 13 tackles-for-a-loss and nine sacks. He also forced and recovered one fumble and nabbed one interception. If he builds on a solid junior season this year, Mathis might see more offers to go with the seven in his pocket right now.

OSU gets TCU at home. Would inviting Mathis to the game, and seeing OSU come away victorious possibly sway his opinion? It certainly wouldn’t hurt to try.