Role Play: Kolby Peel Building Off a Promising Freshman Season

The Cowboys will again be young at safety in 2019, but that youthful group now has a year of collegiate experience.

Oklahoma State’s safeties hit some rough patches in 2018, but they also showed plenty of promise. One of the most promising freshmen on all of OSU’s roster last season was Kolby Peel, who is up next in our Role Play series.

Profile

Player: Kolby Peel
Position: S
Number: 31
H: 6-0
W: 210

Career Stats: 52 tackles | 44 solo tackles | 5.5 tackles for loss | 1 sack | 4 pass breakups

Safety Room: Tanner McCalister, Kanion Williams, Sean Michael Flanagan, Malcolm Rodriguez, Miguel Fulgencio, Tre Sterling, Jarrick Bernard, Jason Taylor II

Background

Peel stood out among a large group of freshmen safeties from 2018. Glenn Spencer recruited Peel to Stillwater, but he turned out to be a great fit for Jim Knowles’ system as a bit of a safety/linebacker hybrid. Peel capped off his stellar freshman season with a game-winning tackle in the Liberty Bowl on fourth down with Missouri driving.

Peel came to OSU from A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, Texas. He has already outshot his recruiting projections, as he was the 969th prospect in the country, per 247 Composite, and he was the 137th-ranked 2018 prospect in Texas. If you want to feel old, I’d like to point out that Peel was born in 2000.

Ceiling

Based off Peel’s exceptional first collegiate season and size, he looks to have NFL potential. As far as his sophomore year goes, Peel has the upside to lead the Cowboys’ defense in a handful of categories. Of returning players, he had the fourth most tackles last season. His 5.5 tackles for loss last season is second among returning players, only trailing Calvin Bundage’s eight. He also showed capable as a pass defender in 2018, as his four pass breakups trailed only A.J. Green and Rodarius Williams.

That’s not to say Peel is going to lock down Big 12 offenses on his own, but on a defense that lost a lot, he could come out as cornerstone piece of the OSU defense when the year is done.

Floor

With another year with OSU’s strength and conditioning staff added to the bigger role Peel will have without Kenneth-Edison McGruder this season, Peel would be expected to, at the least, put up similar numbers to his freshman season. It’s hard to imagine he would forget all the skills that made him good as a freshman, so his floor seems high.

Expectations/Role

Peel shadowed Edison-McGruder last season, but without Edison-McGruder in 2019, Peel’s role will obviously increase. So, I’d expect Peel will head more toward his ceiling as a defensive leader in 2019.

Peel will probably finish in the 80-tackle range, similar to the 83 Malcolm Rodriguez put up as a sophomore last season. The Cowboys didn’t cause a lot of turnovers last season, but Edison-McGruder did have two of OSU’s 10 forced fumbles. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s an area Peel can grow in this season.