Report: Maealiuaki Smith to Enter Transfer Portal

The Cowboys’ quarterback battle is down to three.

Oklahoma State redshirt freshman Maealiuaki Smith is set to enter the transfer portal, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Smith played in four games while redshirting as a true freshman in 2024, completing 60% of his pass attempts for 489 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.

After being called into action late last season, Smith entered the spring in a battle with Garret Rangel, Zane Flores and newcomer Hauss Hejny for the Cowboys’ QB1 duties. Smith led a pair of scoring drives at the spring game this past weekend and finished 6-for-10 with 54 yards.

With last season’s starter Alan Bowman benched and Rangel and Flores both hurt, Smith made a pair of starts last season. The first came against Texas Tech, where Smith went 25-for-35 for 316 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also started the Cowboys’ 52-0 season-finale loss to Colorado, where Smith had 70 passing yards and two picks.

“It was a big lesson,” said Smith earlier this spring. “College football, there’s ups and downs. You’re going to have good games, you’re going to have bad games. Everything’s not going to go well, your way, every time. It was a good lesson, from having an OK game against Tech, then having that tough Colorado game was a big learning experience for me and just seeing how things could work and how you handle stuff when it goes wrong.”

Out of Sacramento, California, Smith was a three-star recruit in the 2024 class. He committed to Oklahoma State over offers from BYU, Arizona, Arizona State, Florida State, Miami, Missouri and others.

With the Cowboys entering the offseason with four quarterbacks duking it out for one spot, one hitting the portal was always a possibility, if not a likelihood.

“We could,” said Gundy on the possibility of losing a quarterback after spring ball. “We had a recruiting meeting this morning. We have to expect to lose six to 10 guys after April just based on percentages. Now, you would like for that to not have to happen, but I think if you sit around and think it’s not going to happen, then maybe you’re not up to par with the times. We don’t need to get into all of this, but roster management is difficult. Can you keep four quarterbacks that are good enough to compete at this level? It’d be difficult.”