Season Grades: Despite Lack of Production, Cowboy Back Isn’t Going Anywhere

Oklahoma State’s innovative hybrid position launched in 2015 took a back seat to a deep and talented wide receiver corps in 2017. But the position is still useful and should see a bigger role moving forward.

Cowboy Back was originally the brain child of Mike Gundy and his now third-year position coach Jason McEndoo ahead of the 2015 season. It combined the tight end and fullback groups in the name of versatility and provided support for an offensive line that desperately needed it.

Production

The Cowboy Back was a featured part of OSU’s passing offensive in 2015 and 2016, earning 7.8 and 8.3 percent of OSU’s targets, respectively. But its poster children, Blake Jarwin and tight end-turned-guard-turned fullback, Zac Veatch, graduated and with the best WR corps in America competing for reps, three Cowboy Backs accounted for just 2 percent of the targets in 2017.

Still, in a limited reps the group was efficient.

The Cowboy Back’s also weren’t used in the red zone nearly as much as in years past. Blake Jarwin and Jeremy Seaton had two touchdowns each in 2015 and Jarwn and Zac Veatch combined for three scores in 2016. The Cowboy Back TD count in 2017 was zero. Part of that is an overall decrease in reps and part of that is the emergence of an actual running game from Justice Hill and with J.D. King offering a suitable goal-line option.

I’ll grade this on a curve since because, as Mike Gundy would say, there’s just not enough footballs to go around. If Mike Yurcich can’t find a way to get the ball in Tyron Johnson’s hands, I’m not going to beat up on Sione Finefeuiaki for dropping one pass all season.

Production/Efficiency Grade: B-

Dirty Work

Cowboy Back’s coach Jason McEndoo talked about what it’s like for his guys when he spoke with PFB last summer.

“You gotta put your ego on the shelf and you’ve gotta come to work every day and block, block, block, block, catch a ball,” said McEndoo.

Britton Abbott mostly filled the less-visible blocking fullback role in 2017 and looks to retain that spot as senior next year. Finefeuiaki spelled him in the that role as well and Brown fits the bill of the pass-catching tight end.

The Cowboy Back is a mostly thankless position, from both sides. Without a transcendent talent at tight end it will probably never see enough production in OSU’s passing game to get a ton of love. And when the group has bolstered the O-line — a big reason for OSU’s improvement in both the running game and pass protection over the last couple years — McEndoo’s group still receives second billing.

Dirty Work Grade: A+

The Future

The Cowboys return all three rotation players at Cowboy Back including Baron Odom, a 2017 signee who redshirted in 2017 and quarterback-turned-Cowboy Back Jelani Woods who at 6-7 has frame to build into a formidable mismatch if he can catch up in the blocking department. QBs aren’t always known for their propensity to lay the wood on folks. 

McEndoo also added 2018 signee Jake Ross from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, a three-star tight end who comes in at 6-7 and 243 and was the No. 6-rated juco TE of his class. Ross is a sneaky pick to compete for reps right away.

Seeing that OSU loses two 1,000-yard receivers and is breaking in a green QB that could benefit from the extra protection and catch radius, expect Cowboy Back to make a resurgence in 2018.

Overall Grade: A-