Season Grades: OSU’s Secondary Still Rebuilding but Has Reason for Hope

Oklahoma State made a lot of changes in the secondary around this time last year. Longtime corner Ramon Richards — the only one with any starts under his belt — moved to safety. And so did Darius Curry. The Cowboys brought in a presumed CB1 in Adrian Baker, only to see him leave the program after six games and zero starts.

With the safety spots occupied by veterans Tre Flowers and Ramon Richards, the cornerback position fell almost completely to two unknowns. A true sophomore in A.J. Green and a redshirt freshman in Rodarius Williams.

Let’s take a look at how the back end of OSU’s defense fared in 2017.

Pass Defense

Yes, this is the Big 12 and yes, not every conference has to face QBs like Baker Mayfield and Will Grier and the like. But the Cowboys still ranked 7th in passing yards allowed in the league. And they didn’t have to face the nation’s leading passing offense — other than in practice.

Pass Defense: C-

Big Plays

The Cowboys also showed a propensity to give up big plays in 2017. Opposing offense racked up 197 plays of 10 yards or more from scrimmage and 62 plays of at least 20. This might be the most frustrating thing about watching Oklahoma State over the last few years — even if it’s not always avoidable. You’re going to give up a play or two to the Pat Mahomes of the world but making Skylar Thompson look like an All-Big 12er is not ideal.

Preventing Big Plays: C-

Creating Havoc

OSU came in T15th nationally and topped the league with 17 interceptions on the year and 11 of those were grabbed by DBs. Corner A.J. Green led all Cowboys with four, which tied for second-most in the conference.

Glenn Spencer’s defense also hung its hat on getting takeaways and was normally pretty good at it. A somewhat underrated stat from 2017 is the Cowboys’ 24 takeaways, right about where they’ve been the last four years. Unfortunately, the offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain and OSU committed seven more turnovers than in 2016 and, its most sinnce 2014, which sunk the team turnover margin number to plus-3 on the year.

Havoc: B+

Future

That seems a little less clear given Thursday’s news that OSU and Glenn Spencer are parting ways. But regardless of who is donning the headset in the booth, they’ll have an intriguing crop of 2018 signees to develop.

After a complete rebuild at cornerback in 2017, the Cowboys seemed to have found two viable starters moving forward in Green and Williams. Both possess the athleticism and skill set to play corner in this league and will only get better.

Depth was an issue this season and the coaching staff addressed that in the former of three 2018 signees putting pen to paper during the this year’s early signing period. OSU added JayVeon Cardwell, Tanner McCalister and Gabe Lemons at corner. Cardwell and McCalister have the best chance to contribute early and Lemons, the two-way prep star, is probably more a project/redshirt candidate.

At safety, the Pokes lose seniors Tre Flowers, Ramon Richards, Darius Curry and Jerel Morrow. During the early signing period OSU added four safeties — Sean Michael Flanagan, Kanion Williams, Jarrick Bernard and Jason Taylor II. Flanagan looks like an immediate impact player and the Cowboys will need him and whoever else can contribute in the back end starting this spring.

Overall Grade: C

I can’t give the group a much high grade than that based on the what we saw on the field and in the box score. But the early reps of some promising youngsters should pay off dividends moving forward.