Top 20 Oklahoma State Football Players OSU’s New Coach Should Bring Back in 2026

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s next head football coach will have five days to re-recruit the Cowboys roster.

After that, the transfer portal reopens for the program, allowing other schools to reach out to those players, making it that much harder to retain talent.

When that happens, interim coach Doug Meacham outlined some of the players who could get bombarded by calls first, presumably those would be the ones OSU wants to retain as well.

“I know it is an unpopular viewpoint, but a lot of people look at those PFF grades and go … I don’t think that is fair and all that,” Meacham said. “Again, I want to say this is, it is kind of fair. …

“Just kind of that baseline grade, like you’re a 51, probably ain’t gonna watch you, because I got 10 other 79s in there I want to watch, you know what I’m saying, then you make your own determination.”

Just to clarify, this was Meacham’s answer when asked how he has in the past decided which players to recruit from a team that experienced the sort of down season the Cowboys went through this fall.

Meacham made it clear during Monday’s conversation that he believes many players are playing hard right now in an attempt to impress their next head coach, either in Stillwater or elsewhere, and he didn’t begrudge them for that motivation.

“It is guys that strain to the very end because that is critical,” Meacham said. “You, at every position you’re looking for strain when there is no reason to strain. … And I think you see that in guys like (Parker) Robertson and (Gavin) Freeman and those guys. That’s what you see outta those guys, that’s what you looking, when you watch tape, you want to see what those guys do, like (Bryan) McCoy, you know, you those guys, man, they strain, they do a good job.”

Without further ado, let’s see who OSU (and potentially others) should prioritize when it comes to roster construction for 2026.

Making the grade

DE Jaleel Johnson- 78.6
RB Rodney Fields- 76.7
CB LaDainian Fields- 75.1
QB Hauss Hejny- 74.8
DE Kyran Duhon- 73
EDGE Wendell Gregory- 72.7
CB Eric Fletcher- 71
DT Armstrong Nnodim- 70.7

With two games to play, only eight players with eligibility remaining grade out with a passing grade according to Meacham’s metrics. In this group three names stand out that would likely be nearly unanimous on any list like this regardless of metrics employed.

Rodney Fields powered OSU’s offense this season, accounting for 26% of all yards gained despite missing two games. He’s also proven to be a big-play threat, producing eight plays of 20-plus yards when the rest of the offense has 23 total.

Edge rusher Wendell Gregory has yet to truly deliver on his 3-sack debut in Stillwater, but he’s consistently drawn extra attention from blockers and come quite close to several incredible plays as evidenced by his team-high 27 total pressures (according to PFF). No other Cowboy has more than 12, plus Gregory still ranks 24th nationally with 11 tackles for loss.

Quarterback Hauss Hejny remains the single biggest IF this season. It was only UT-Martin, but with him under center the Cowboys had an explosiveness they have largely lacked this season otherwise. He led two scoring drives, on three possessions, and produced two of Oklahoma State’s nine longest passing plays of the season.

Had he remained healthy, it seems possible, if not likely, that OSU beats Tulsa. That alone would shift a lot. Of course, it’s impossible to know how he would have performed, but even a 10% improvement over what Zane Flores has provided at the position this season might have been enough to add two or three more wins this season.

Defensive ends Jaleel Johnson and Kyran Duhon both played less than 200 snaps so far this season, but have a larger body of working backing them up.

Johnson recorded 12 total pressures despite only playing in the team’s first four games. He graded out with a 60 last season when he played a career-high 316 snaps for OSU, but he seemed primed to make a jump this fall. His limited showing in 2025 more or less backs that up, suggesting he would be more than worth the roster spot in 2026 if OSU could entice him to stick around.

Duhon was arguably the most intriguing portal addition, outside of Hejny, last offseason. The then-true freshman recorded all seven sacks, not to mention eight other pressures, during his final seven games of the season at UTEP.

Cornerbacks LaDainian Fields, Eric Fletcher and defensive lineman Armstrong Nnodim all fall firmly into the camp with Hejny as unproven commodities. All three of them have yet to see 200 snaps this season and lack the history of a Johnson or Duhon.

Fields and Fletcher have faced 23 total targets between them and only given up seven receptions for 63 yards. On an individual level both of them are holding quarterbacks to a lower completion rate than any other Cowboy who has seen more than one target this season.

In the preseason, Nnodim was voted by his teammates as the strongest Cowboy by a wide margin. PFF grades him out as the team’s fourth-best pass rusher despite only crediting him with six total pressures. That probably isn’t a coincidence, plus that kind of strength gives him a rather high ceiling for improvement in his second year on the field.

Studying up for finals

EDGE Malik Charles- 68.4
EDGE Taje McCoy- 68.2
WR Gavin Freeman- 67.1

Gavin Freeman was named by Meacham directly, and he’s also become the focal point of OSU’s passing attack with a team-high 54 targets (nine ahead of second place). He’s also first in first downs (19) by a wide margin, has half the team’s receiving touchdowns, a team-high 395 yards and ranks second in missed tackles forced on receptions with eight.
Malik Charles suffered a scary injury on Saturday, but wasn’t listed on OSU’s initial injury report for Saturday’s game at UCF. He’s been steady for most of the season which is commendable considering he’s ninth in snaps.

Taje McCoy recorded five pressures in a rotational role in the first four games. Since returning from injury a month back, he’s played fewer snaps and only recorded one pressure. He did finish with 17 total pressures on only 186 snaps at Colorado in 2024, so there’s proof backing him up as a player worth keeping around.

Grading on a curve

Even Meacham acknowledged PFF grades are a shortcut and not a hard and fast rule when it comes to talent evaluation. Here are 10 other Cowboys that could prove foundational to OSU’s rebuild in 2026 with very brief arguments in their favor.

WR Shamar Rigby (62.9): He leads the team in average depth of target (15.6) while ranking third in targets (31), fourth in catches (19) and second in yards (286).

C Austin Kawecki (64.4), OT Grant Seagren (59.8), OG Jakobe Sanders (58.7), OT Nuku Mafi (51.2): All four linemen were forced to change roles midseason during their first years starting. They could all take a huge step forward during the offseason, plus even if they don’t this season is proof a team can never have too many experienced offensive linemen.

Edge DeSean Brown (65.9): The pass rusher missed half of the season due to injury, but go back and re-read the case for Jaleel Johnson.

TE Josh Ford (52.6): Josh Ford looked well ahead of most freshmen tight ends in 2024. He entered the portal after four games this fall, meaning he didn’t really get the chance to prove whether he did or didn’t elevate his game as a sophomore. Similar to offensive linemen, finding tight ends with experience who consistently win starting jobs isn’t easy.

CB JK Johnson (58.4): Requires a medical redshirt for 2023, but considering he missed the entire season that seems very possible. On Saturday he flashed his speed to break up a would-be touchdown. He’s got some excellent physical traits and was once a highly ranked recruit that both Ohio State and LSU bet on. He hasn’t lived up to the hype, in part due to injury, but maybe playing 200-plus snaps for the first time since 2022 will unlock something.

LB Trip White (64.3): Admittedly, Trip White doesn’t jump out on film as much, but rotating inside is an exceptionally hard place to standout. He does have the highest grade of any possible returning defender not mentioned already.