The 10 Oklahoma State Football Players I’m Most Excited to Watch in 2026

A new era in Oklahoma State football is now less than 20 days from officially kicking off.

With Eric Morris’ first OSU roster being made up of almost entirely new faces, I made a list of the Top 10 Cowboys I’m most excited to watch this fall.

10. TE Donovan Green (#81)

There hasn’t been a position at Oklahoma State where usage has been questioned more than tight end.

Was it a Gundy thing? Was it just the circumstance of each particular OSU team? Those are offseason questions, but once the season starts, I’m ready to get my eyes on what Donovan Green can do in orange and black.

Green was a super recruit as far as tight ends are concerned, with the 247Sports Composite ranking listing the Dickinson, a Texas standout, as the No. 105 player in all of the 2022 recruiting class. His offer list included Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and others. Basically, Green could’ve gone wherever he wanted.

Injuries have slowed his ascent, as after a strong true freshman campaign at Texas A&M (22 catches for 233 yards and two touchdowns), Green has caught two passes in the past three seasons.

Last year, UNT starting tight end Tre Williams caught 30 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns. The last 30-catch tight end the Cowboys had was Blake Jackson back in 2012.

So, I’m excited to watch Green, yes, but I’m also excited to see how Morris uses the position group as a whole in Stillwater.

9. DE Jaleel Johnson (#95)

If you’ve stood next to Jaleel Johnson over the past three years or so, you’ve probably thought to yourself, “Holy crap, this guy is a freak.”

With the way Morris called Johnson the most disruptive defender of spring at Big 12 Media Days, this feels like Johnson’s breakout year. Heck, it felt like that at the last Big 12 Media Days when Iman Oates said Johnson would “be a real problem” last season before Johnson went down with injury.

Johnson is listed at 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, which makes him the third-heaviest defensive end on the roster behind Malik Charles (6-3, 284) and Rashod Bradley (6-3, 279). (Charles almost made this list, by the way). Johnson enters the season with three career sacks, bringing a quarterback down as a redshirt freshman in 2023 and two down as a redshirt sophomore in 2024.

His story also rocks. A Putnam City-North grad, Johnson picked up his OSU offer after attending a camp. He’s gained 30 pounds since getting to campus in 2022. And he has the chance to be the latest in a line of in-state edge rushers to make their names as Cowboys (see Collin Oliver, Trace Ford, Brock Martin, etc.).

8. WR Miles Coleman (#1)

In a lot of ways, Miles Coleman feels like the forgotten man of OSU’s receiving corps in the preseason because hype is being pulled in all sorts of different directions.

But in rewatching North Texas’ 2025 season, I’m being reminded of just how electric the 5-foot-6, 158-pound (shortest and lightest guy on the team) can be.

Coleman caught 83 balls for 928 yards and four touchdowns the past two seasons at North Texas. According to PFF, 530 of those yards have come after the catch, as Coleman’s speed means he’s just a crease away from taking a simple wide receiver screen the distance, like this play against USF last season where none of the guys in white were able to catch up to him:

If everyone stays healthy, Coleman probably finishes 2026 as OSU’s No. 4 receiver, but the No. 4 receiver in Morris’ offense the past three seasons has still averaged 33.3 catches, 396.7 yards and 2.3 touchdowns a season, which is nothing to sneeze at. OSU’s leading receiver (Gavin Freeman) last season had 53 catches for 481 yards and four touchdowns, for instance.

7. LB Ethan Wesloski (#32)

The run of Malcolm Rodriguez, Devin Harper and Nick Martin perhaps spoiled the OSU fanbase in terms of elite linebacking. With Martin getting hurt in the 2024 season, OSU hasn’t had a 100-tackle player the past two years.

After solid seasons at UNT in 2023 and 2024, Wesloski took a big step forward last season, finishing with 113 tackles, nine tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

It’s hard to get a good feel for what OSU’s defense can be in the preseason because it feels more like the sum of its parts rather than one being controlled by star power. But if Wesloski can follow up his strong 2025 season with something similar in 2026, it feels like it’d go a long way in getting the Cowboys defense heading in the right direction.

6. WR Wyatt Young (#10)

This is probably lower than most would have North Texas transfer receiver Wyatt Young, but the unknowns of two other receivers ahead of him on the list has me a little more excited to see them this season in part because my confidence is high Young can continue what he started at UNT.

Young was a high school quarterback, so he hasn’t played a ton of receiver to this point. But in two seasons at the position, Young has 88 catches, 1,559 yards and 12 touchdowns — all in the same scheme that he’ll be in during the 2026 season.

Young always seems to be open, but his real strength, to me, is when the ball is in his hands. He isn’t the finesse ball carrier that some receivers are. Instead, he sometimes looks more like a running back with the ball in his hands, flying through arm tackles and looking to get more yards.

I’m not sure Young has the athletic upside of a Justin Bowick or a Chris Barnes (who does?), but I could still see Young finishing the year as this team’s leading receiver because, one, he’s done it before, and two I think in games where he doesn’t go off in terms of yardage, he’ll still steadily rack up receptions.

5. RB Caleb Hawkins (#24)

Again, lower than most would have him solely because I think I know what OSU is getting here, and it’s really good.

Hawkins runs like a madman, with no regard for himself or others. Not only did Hawkins finish fifth nationally in rushing yards last season (1,434), but he finished third nationally among running backs in yards after contact (1,056), per PFF.

Hawkins led the nation in touchdowns (29) as a true freshman despite not getting a lot of run early in the year. From Sept. 20 on, Hawkins had at least four touchdowns in four of North Texas’ 11 games.

As good as he is running between the tackles, he’s just as deadly in the passing game, as well. He finished with 370 receiving yards, which ranked 11th among running backs in the country.

And apparently, he’s bigger, stronger and faster entering his sophomore season.

4. DB Christian Bodnar (#6)

There might not be a position that has grown more in importance over the past decade than the nickel. It’s a position that asks guys to cover speedy slot receivers while helping in run support.

Upon scouring some of Christian Bodnar’s highlights when he committed to OSU this winter, I liked what I saw. But then at OSU’s in-house Media Day earlier this month, Morris noted that he thinks Bodnar will be “a household name by the end of this thing,” and I got even more excited.

Listed at 6-foot, 188 pounds, Bodnar has spent the past three seasons at Liberty, spending time at safety and corner (important for a nickel). He took a big step forward last season, finishing with 44 tackles, two sacks and two pass breakups.

There probably isn’t a better story in college football this year than Bodnar’s, as well. He missed most of the 2024 season with post-infectious encephalitis, an inflammation in the brain that saw Bodnar spend a week in the hospital where he had to relearn how to walk.

So, for reasons on the field and off, I’m excited to watch Bodnar’s first year with the Cowboys.

3. WR Justin Bowick (#0)

OSU’s fall camp has just about turned into the Justin Bowick hype machine.

With each passing quote, the Illinois transfer receiver seems to add an inch to his height and a tenth off his 40 time.

Listed at 6-foot-5, 209 pounds, Bowick is the tallest non-lineman on the team while simultaneously somehow also being one of the faster guys on the team, with Morris projecting Bowick to run in the 4.4s or 4.3s based off his timed 10-yard sprints this summer.

Even with all that athleticism, there’s still a bit of mystery to Bowick, as the most receiving yards he’s had in an FBS season to this point was 383 in 2024 at Ball State. That Ball State season, though, comes with the caveat that he played in just four games, and really all of that damage came in two games. In his last two contests in the MAC, Bowick caught 15 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

He had a solid season at Illinois last year, catching 22 passes for 265 yards while tying a team lead with five TD receptions. But early on this past winter, Morris made it known that Bowick’s usage would look different in his offense compared to a more stereotypical Big Ten style.

2. WR Chris Barnes (#2)

All the preseason hype surrounding Bowick was almost enough to move me off Chris Barnes as the receiver I’m most excited about … almost.

Barnes is also one of the faster (if not the fastest) guys on the team, but unlike Bowick, Barnes checks in at 5-foot-7. That tandem is expected to play on the outside for the Cowboys this season, with Young and Coleman manning the slot.

As a redshirt freshman at Wake Forest  in 2025, Barnes caught 39 passes for 547 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 143 rushing yards and 263 kick return yards, housing one of the seven kicks he caught last season.

Highlights like this from fall camp are certainly guiding my excitement:

Separation 🏃‍♂️💨@TheChrisBarnes1 | @OkFordDealers pic.twitter.com/UDcspp10x9

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) August 14, 2026

1. QB Drew Mestemaker (#17)

How could it be anyone else?

I’m not sure there’s ever been this much preseason talk about an Oklahoma State quarterback, and given the quarterback carousel the Cowboys have been on since Spencer Sanders got hurt midway through the 2022 season, I don’t think Mestemaker’s entrance could’ve come at a better time.

Some of this feels unfair to pin on a guy who hasn’t taken a Power Five snap yet and has only been playing the position for a few years, but in terms of arm talent, is he the best guy the Cowboys have ever had? That’s a question I’ve asked myself almost weekly since he committed.

And as good as Mestemaker appears to be, this is the third year he’s been in the same system — a system that saw him lead the country in passing as a redshirt freshman. And adding to that, Mestemaker has Bowick and Barnes joining Young, Coleman and Hawkins, and man, it seems like he could have a special year.