OSU Football: The Most Improved Players of 2017

Oklahoma State’s third consecutive 10-win season is in the books and while things didn’t go exactly how we wanted or expected, there were several high points and a handful of guys who stepped up in a big way.

Here are my three picks for Most Improved Player for 2017.

Offense: Marcell Ateman

This one was so obvious that I tried to outsmart myself and scoured the roster for a better candidate. There is none, even if we pretend that Ateman didn’t miss 2016 with injury and copied and pasted his 2015 numbers in for last year.

Ateman improved in just about every statistical category and remained ultra-effective on the money down, converting all but four third-down catches over his last 25 games in college.

But let’s set the numbers to the side for a minute and just think about where Oklahoma State would be without Ateman or one of the handful or drive/game/season-saving catches. Ateman was a good as a junior in 2015. This year he might have been the best jump-ball target in college football.

Washington is the best receiver in football and probably the only reason Ateman is not a shoe-in to be some team’s No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL Draft.

Defense: Calvin Bundage

When the former four-star Edmond Santa Fe product saw action in his first game as a true freshman he announced his presence with a bang.

The freshman known for his big hits and reckless abandon, stepped into a featured role at Star linebacker with Glenn Spencer calling he and Kenneth Edison-McGruder is 1a and 1b starters.

And when McGruder missed time with injury, Bundage took an ever bigger role and paid it off with some big-time hits like two sacks of the elusive Baker Mayfield.

Bundage still had a couple head-scratchers. He’s been caught in the neutral zone a few too many times and the edge he plays with that makes him so good also resulted in a couple of penalties for extracurricular activities.

But when he’s dialed in and can pin his ears back, he’s the Cowboys best playmaker on defense. And the good news is that OSU has potentially two more years of those arm wagging celebrations.

Special Teams: Chance Cook

The sophomore safety’s improvement was one of the few bright spots for Oklahoma State’s special teams unit. Going from four tackles one year to eight may not seem like a huge jump but seven of those were solo tackles and Cook made several plays in kick coverage.

When someone at that position sticks out, it’s either really good or really bad. Mostly good from the walk-on who could play himself into a bigger role at a position of need for OSU in 2018.