Roundtable: Depth Chart Takes, Oklahoma State Season Expectations

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At this point, it feels as if we’ve previewed Oklahoma State’s 2026 season into the ground, and we’re just ready to get it rolling.

With about 72 hours until the Eric Morris Era of Cowboy football gets kicked off in Tulsa, myself, Kyle Cox and Tyler Waldrep got together in our Slack channel to talk OSU’s first official depth chart and our expectations for what’s ahead.

Marshall Scott: Well, I laid out some of my thoughts on the Cowboys’ first depth chart, what stood out to you guys?

Kyle Cox: I don’t see any huge surprises, but I guess underlining just how few UNT transfer there were was important. The narrative that this is UNT North is not unwarranted, but more credit needs to be given to Morris and Co. on pulling talent from all over.

Tyler Waldrep: You touched on it in your thoughts, but I was floored that OSU has yet to name either starting corner.

When we have watched these guys in practice, LaDainian Fields and Mo Horn have dominated first-team reps, but it seems five guys still remain in the mix.

And to be clear this depth chart feels like it had real input from the coaching staff, most don’t feel that way. This also doesn’t feel like head games from Morris because we got some real definitive answers at other spots that appeared up for grabs.

Marshall: Yeah, the corner spot is interesting. Skyler Cassity told me a few weeks back that it was open competition, and it certainly seems like he wasn’t lying.

I did like what Morris said about it on Tuesday, though, about how he wants to see guys step up when the bullets are live.

There are a lot of positions, corner included, where it’s tough to tell whether there are too many good options or if it’s moreso a bad deal that they haven’t found the guy yet — right tackle being another one of those spots. Time will tell, though. I’m just ready for this thing to get kicked off.

Marshall: We also laid out some predictions on Monday. What were some of you guys’ biggest hang-ups?

Kyle: Maybe not a hang-up, but I always feel like these are somewhat-educated shots in the dark. This season I feel less educated. There are just so many question marks. That being said, I’m sure there is one shoo-in prediction that we will be nowhere close on.

If I’m going to play Debbie-downer, I will say I thought I was being a little optimistic with eight wins. You guys both have OSU going 9-4. That would be a huge accomplishment in Year 1. And that’s not based on last year’s result because it’s almost not worth comparing the two teams. I’m just talking about the colossal task of rebuilding an entire program over an offseason.

Tyler: I take biggest hang-up to mean maybe the prediction I struggled with the most? That would be the yardage and TD total for Wyatt Young.

He felt like the guy most likely to disappear the most of the big three receivers, and that was before sharing a starting line with Coleman. That said, Young was such a focal point last year is he really going to drop off a cliff from a yardage standpoint? I sorta chickened out and dropped him into the No. 2 role from an output standpoint when my heart is more aligned with Marshall’s more conservative prediction.

Fair point Kyle. When I started typing up my prediction I had eight wins, but then I referenced Indiana and that got me thinking. If the Hoosiers can win 11 games in year one after being LITERALLY the worst team throughout the history of the sport, then it’s hard to argue the Cowboys shouldn’t be a serious contender in the conference this season when they have a QB most project as an eventual first-rounder.

But yes, I shocked myself a bit with my conviction on 9 wins.

Marshall: The Young prompt was hard. I still think he’ll get thrown to plenty, but surely even if he is the No. 1 guy (which I’m team Barnes in that aspect), his numbers will drop a touch because of the move up in competition and the fact that it feels like their are more mouths to feed.

Agree entirely with feeling like these are shots in the dark. Just two years ago, I predicted 10 wins for a team that finished 3-9.

That transitions nicely into another question I had, what do you guys think this team’s floor and ceiling is? And what constitutes as a good season? I feel like there is a big clump of Big 12 teams that could finish the regular season anywhere from 6-6 to 10-2, and I think OSU is in that group.

I think the ceiling is the Big 12 title game, and if you get there, who knows? I think the floor in terms of what constitutes as a good enough season would be 6-6, and anything below that would feel like a downer. That’s why I settled at 8-4 with a bowl win.

Kyle: I think this may be the toughest team to predict since I’ve been covering OSU.  The floor is somewhere like five wins ??? That would be pretty disappointing for fans, but that’s probably the lowest I could see. And there’s a universe in which the Cowboys rattle off 10 wins and compete for a Big 12 title.

Tyler: I think the floor has to be five wins. Anything less, with this much talent just feels like a complete failure or the ultimate bad luck season. If we are saying the floor for a successful season then I think Morris has to win 6 games and be competitive in a few others to meet the minimum.

In that world, you probably return Drew Mestemaker and most of the key pieces so that’s a positive for that outcome.

I feel like someone filled my Yeti with all the Orange Kool-Aid, but the ceiling feels like 10 wins and/or a Big 12 Championship Game appearance. A lot of this will come down to how Drew Mestemaker plays. If he’s truly one of the sport’s best, this team feels like it has enough talent around him to make a real run at anyone, except maybe Oregon this season and even the Ducks could be vulnerable here in Stillwater early in the season.