Star Rankings Aside, OSU Enjoying Success Beating Big Programs Head-to-Head in Recruiting

There has been a lot of talk about recruiting rankings the past couple of weeks. The lack of landing four and five stars has been at the forefront thanks to a comment from Mike Holder made on the PFB Podcast.

But if we’re being honest, the topic of recruiting rankings has been a hot one for Oklahoma State fans for awhile now. Especially while the Cowboys continued success on the field hasn’t translated to landing higher ranked recruiting classes.

And while I know it takes a top-20 class to make the play-off, and I too wish OSU were out recruiting teams like Baylor and North Carolina for 4-star recruits, I still think it’s a bit more nuanced than just worrying about star-ratings.

For one thing, it’s also about who you are competing with for recruits.

I wish the staff would hold out and invest more into more four-star guys than they do. But there is value in keying in on high three-star guys they like and believe they have a chance to land. Because when they do, they often get their man.

And getting them early is better than fighting for them when you and Bama both miss out on a four-star guy you want.

Oklahoma State isn’t beating out Alabama for a lot of recruits. But neither are Oklahoma and Texas for that matter.

What I have noticed are a lot of complaints when Oklahoma State beats out the Southern Mississippis and Rices of the college football.

I get that (except that future NFL players go to those schools to. Okay maybe not Rice, but the point is valid) but Oklahoma State is beating out other top Group-of-5 programs, too.

Look at 2018’s signees.

Obviously 4-star receiver CJ Moore had a number of prominent offers — 20 in all — including from Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State, Texas, and Oregon, just to name a few.

But there were multiple 3-star kids who had other good options than Oklahoma State. Cornerback Tanner McCalister picked OSU over 15 other offers, including from Washington State, Virginia, TCU, Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Missouri.

Offensive lineman Tyrese Williams, who picked Oklahoma State over offers from 13 other schools including California, Georgia Tech, Utah, UCF, and Utah.

More impressively, look at some of the guys OSU has committed for 2019.

Four-star tight end Grayson Boomer picked OSU over 13 other schools, including Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, and LSU, just to name a few.

But look at some of the 3-star commits. Like three-star defensive tackle Jayden Jernigan, OSU’s second highest rated commit. He picked OSU over 16 other offers, including from Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Indiana, and Colorado.

Then there are my favorite two. Tackle Cole Birmingham has 29 total offers including from UCLA, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Boise State, Arizona, Arizona State, and Purdue.

Or tackle Preston Wilson who has 30(!!!) offers. Washington State, Northwestern, Boise State, Arizona State, Baylor, Utah, Texas Tech, and Vanderbilt are just a few of them.

I was going to make a graphic of all the Power-5 teams OSU has beaten for a recruit in the past three years and how many times they’ve beaten them. But before I could even get through the list for 2019, I realized it was a waste of time, because it was a LONG list with OSU claiming victory numerous times over other Power-5 teams.

I’d love to see more four-star guys. I think OSU should average four of them a year with the level of the facilities and the success of the program on the field.

But until that happens, it’s good to know Oklahoma State is beating out other programs for top three-star talent. And as Holder said himself, those three-stars are going to be five-stars by the time they leave, and that’s almost more important than what star they started with when they arrived on campus.