The Skinny: OSU Lands a Physical 2020 Offensive Lineman

Oklahoma State picked up its ninth commitment of the 2020 class on Sunday in three-star offensive lineman Cade Bennett. Kyle Boone gave his thoughts on why this is a huge get for OSU, and now I’d like to give my take on what this pick up means for the Cowboys moving forward.

The Data

Who Is He?

The 6-5, 295-pounder helped lead the Notre Dame Prep Saints to the Arizona 5A High School State Championship game last season. He’s listed as an offensive tackle on 247Sports and a guard on Rivals.com, and in the film I watched he primarily lined up at guard. He also played on the defensive side of the ball for the Saints.

The Arizona native has played all over the line during his high school career and possesses the overall skill to do the same at the college level. Bennett took an official visit to Stillwater this past weekend, which was also his first time in the state of Oklahoma, and committed shortly after returning home.

Recruiting Profile (247)

National: No. 1107
Offensive Tackle: No. 99
Arizona: No. 29

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Note: Rivals.com has Bennett rated as a three-star prospect.

Top Offers: Outside of Oklahoma State, the young offensive lineman holds offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Army, Boise State, BYU, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Purdue, Syracuse and Washington State, along with several others. In addition, Cal, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA and Wisconsin had reportedly shown interest.

OSU offensive line coach Charlie Dickey was a huge factor in Bennett choosing to continue his career in Stillwater.

“I’d never been to Oklahoma prior to this visit so I didn’t know what to expect,” Bennett said Saturday prior to his commitment. “I did know I was going there because coach (Charlie) Dickey is the best coach I’ve come in contact with.

“He’s just a real guy, no BS, he’s completely honest about everything and he’s a great coach who has many players in the NFL, just produces players every year.” [Rivals.com]

How He’d Fit in Stillwater

I was able to watch some of Notre Dame Prep’s first round playoff matchup against Will Plummer, who was recruited by OSU before he committed to Arizona, and the Gilbert Tigers and their quarterfinal game against the Millennium Tigers. As I mentioned above, Bennett primarily played guard in the film I watched, and was usually lined up on the right side of the line.

One of the first things I noticed about Bennett was his explosion off the line of scrimmage. As soon as the ball was snapped he fired off the line and drove straight through his defender. Additionally, he does a great job of maintaining a wide base and keeping his hands inside and his elbows tight, allowing him to control the defender and move him off the line, see an example below against Millennium.

Although the first thing that stood out to me was his explosion and being technically sound, the next thing that popped on film was his overall physicality. The buzz word with this guy seemed to be “nasty” as I was reading about him before diving into the film, and I think that’s a completely accurate description. Below you’ll see him just complete abuse a defender, and although I’m only showing one clip, there were plenty of examples of his impressive strength in these two games.

The Notre Dame Prep product also displayed his athleticism on several occasions as a puller. He was able to land his blocks when pulling and moved well for a big man. As I’ve written about a couple of times, Dickey and OSU offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson are both proponents of pulling lineman, so this should bode well for Bennett in Stillwater. See an example of his pulling skills in the following video.

The one thing I think Bennett can still improve upon is his lateral movement. There were times in pass protection were he needed to be a little quicker and a guy was able to get by him. However, he did do a great job on multiple occasions of picking up blitzers from the second level.

I’m very excited about this pick up for the Pokes, Bennett is an extremely talented player who adds to an already impressive offensive line class in 2020. Coach Dickey has come in and really made his mark on recruiting and I like the direction this OSU offensive line is headed.