These Three Cowboys Will Be the Hardest to Replace on Offense

All in all, Oklahoma State said goodbye to nine players that logged a start on offense in 2018 including five full-time first-teamers.

Losing your starting quarterback, starting running back and your No. 2 receiver would normally spell doom for an offense, but with a tight, yet promising race between Spencer Sanders and Dru Brown to replace Taylor Cornelius — and an abundance of firepower around them — Sean Gleeson looks to be set up for success in Year 1.

But if he could have an extra year from three Cowboys from last year’s roster, I think these are the ones he would pick.

1. Justice Hill

Hill’s illustrious career at Oklahoma State ended on a somewhat unceremonious note thanks to injury. Add in the fact that Chuba Hubbard looked more than equal to the task of spelling the All-Big 12 rusher down the stretch and it might be easy to forget just how important Hill had been to OSU’s offense over the last three years.

Justice was the RB renaissance at Oklahoma State when he burst onto the scene in 2016. Chris Carson, who is now truck-sticking and hurdling over NFL defenders, was relegated to a supporting role by the true freshman who only got stronger as a runner as his career went on.

Yes, Chuba looked lethal in spurts early and proved to be the real deal down the stretch. But Justice was on his way to another all-conference season, posting a career-high 5.9 yards per carry in his 10 games in 2018. The Canadian speedster may mitigate the loss but it’s still a huge loss.

2. Larry Williams

In Larry Williams OSU loses a multi-year starter whose first two seasons were derailed by injury. Williams started all 12 games of his sixth collegiate year before sitting out the Liberty Bowl.

This year’s O-line might just be in good shape under first-year coach Charlie Dickey and his hard-nosed approach. The Cowboys return starters Marcus Keyes, Johnny Wilson and Teven Jenkins, as well as Dylan Galloway and Ry Schneider who also logged starts last year.

There is some promising depth behind that group, but it’s mostly unproven. And if recent history has taught us anything — look no further than Williams’ own injury history — you can never have too many experienced bruisers up front.

3. Tyron Johnson

At first look, you might be tempted to undervalue the loss of one Tyron Johnson given Tylan Wallace’s breakout season and the wealth of young playmakers that Kasey Dunn has culled to fill out the Z receiver vacated by the ??? man.

That would be a mistake, and one that Mike Gundy isn’t making.

“I sure wish (Johnson) would’ve stayed,” Gundy said recently. “I felt he could’ve caught 80 balls this year on the other side of (Wallace). When he left, we just felt like we needed a little maturity because (Moore, McKaufman and Braydon Johnson), none of those guys have played.”

There’s no reason to think that OSU’s receiving corps won’t be just fine regardless of who ends up No. 2 in targets, but if you can choose between having a bonafide #freak on the outside or not, you choose the former.