Who Would Be on OSU’s Mount Rushmore of Wide Receivers?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about Oklahoma State’s history of great receivers.

Brennan Presley probably has a lot to do with that because he broke Rashaun Woods’ career receptions record — a record that stood for 21 years — this past season. Another reason I’ve been thinking a lot about OSU pass catchers probably has to do with Kasey Dunn’s time in Stillwater coming to an end. Say what you will about Dunn the offensive coordinator, but Dunn the receivers coach was one of the best assistants in the Mike Gundy era.

So, I thought it’d be a fun offseason exercise to breakdown who would be on a Mount Rushmore of Cowboy receivers. We’ll look at seven candidates before I’ll give you my four. This is, obviously, incredibly subjective and meant to be a bit of offseason fun. For my Mount Rushmore, I’m not taking into account what these players did after their time in Stillwater — just how they were as Cowboys.

Candidates

Justin Blackmon

Career Receiving Yards: 3,564 (third in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 253 (third in OSU history)
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 40 (second in OSU history)
Honors: Biletnikoff (2010, 2011), All-American (2010, 2011)

This exercise, obviously, will have a ton of subjectivity to it. With that being said, Justin Blackmon is the one guy who should be on everyone’s Mount Rushmore for OSU receivers because he should probably be on the Mount Rushmore of college football receivers as a whole.

Blackmon joins Michael Crabtree as the only players to win two Biletnikoffs — with Blackmon conquering that feat in 2010 and 2011. Blackmon’s 2011 season is his most famous, where he caught 122 passes for 1,522 yards and 18 touchdowns as the Cowboys went 12-1 and won the Fiesta Bowl. But statistically speaking, Blackmon was even better in 2010. That season saw Blackmon catch 111 passes for 1,782 yards and 20 touchdowns — the most receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in a season in program history.

From this point on, we’ll try to figure out which other three OSU receivers should join Blackmon on the mountain, but Blackmon certainly gets a spot.

Rashaun Woods

Career Receiving Yards: 4,414 (second in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 293 (second in OSU history)
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 42 (first in OSU history)
Honors: All-American (2002, 2003)

When Rashaun Woods’ Cowboy career ended, he sat atop OSU’s career lists for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. James Washington has since taken the receiving yards crown, and Presley snagged the receptions record this past season. But, Woods still sits atop the program’s receiving touchdowns list. His 42 receiving TDs is tied for ninth in all of college football. He had seven touchdown catches in a single game. Woods was a scoring machine.

Online discourse wasn’t much of a thing when Woods was playing, but if it was, many questions would be asked as to how Woods didn’t win the Biletnikoff in 2002. Michigan State’s Charles Rogers took home the hardware that year despite Woods finishing with 39 more catches, 344 more receiving yards and four more receiving touchdowns.

James Washington

Career Receiving Yards: 4,472 (first in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 226 (fourth in OSU history)
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 39 (third in OSU history)
Honors: Biletnikoff (2017), All-American (2017)

There are few things as beautiful as watching James Washington stride under a deep post before gliding into the end zone. Washington was the king of the long ball during his time in orange and black. His 19.79 yards per catch is the best in program history (minimum 60 receptions). It’s 2.57 yards ahead of second-place Adarius Bowman, but for reference, 1.14 yards separates No. 2 through No. 10 on that list.

Washington also joins Woods as the only players in program history with three 1,000-yard seasons.

Another interesting angle with Washington is that he played in a loaded receiving room that featured the likes of Marcell Ateman, Chris Lacy, Tyron Johnson, Dillon Stoner and others. That probably helped him in that opposing defenses had more receivers to worry about, but it also might’ve hurt him in that there were so many mouths to feed.

Hart Lee Dykes

Career Receiving Yards: 3,510 (fourth in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 224 (fifth in OSU history)
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 31 (fourth in OSU history)
Honors: All-American (1988)

Hart Lee Dykes was putting up gaudy receiving statistics before it became main stream.

Dykes was a consensus All-American in 1988 — the same year his teammate won the Heisman. That 1988 season saw Dykes catch 84 balls for 1,441 yards and 15 touchdowns. There were 10 players with 1,000 receiving yards in that 1988 season. There were 20 1,000-yard receivers in 2024. That just shows that what Dykes was doing back then was much more rare.

Dykes was the first player in program history to have 1,000 receiving yards in a season, and he did it twice.

Dez Bryant

Career Receiving Yards: 2,425 (ninth in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 147
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 29 (fifth in OSU history)
Honors: All-American (2008)

Dez Bryant is perhaps the most intriguing among these candidates because without the NCAA being the NCAA, he would probably join Blackmon in the no-doubters for this Mount Rushmore.

As a sophomore in 2008, he caught 87 passes that season for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns. Those 19 touchdowns were the second-most any Cowboy has had in a season trailing Blackmon in 2010.

More than anyone on this list, Bryant also passes the eye test. As the kids say (or said a few years ago), Bryant is built different. He also provided some main stream publicity for OSU with his Sports Illustrated cover.

Brennan Presley

Career Receiving Yards: 3,315 (sixth in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 315 (first in OSU history)
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 23 (seventh in OSU history)

Brennan Presley almost played a different position than anyone else on this list, making him another intriguing candidate. None of these other guys were true slot receivers in Stillwater like Presley was. If there was a Mount Rushmore of OSU slot receivers, Presley would assuredly be on it. (Side note: I oftentimes think about much different the 2014 season could have been had Josh Stewart returned for his senior year.)

So with Presley playing a little closer to the ball, it makes sense that he’d have more receptions but fewer yards than others on this list.

Although Presley is the only player on this list without a 1,000-yard season, his consistent impact in Stillwater should also be taken into account. His final four seasons saw him eclipse 600 receiving yards in each year. And him having the most catches in program history has to count for something considering this is a Mount Rushmore of OSU pass catchers.

Tylan Wallace

Career Receiving Yards: 3,434 (fifth in OSU history)
Career Receptions: 205 (sixth in OSU history)
Career Receiving Touchdowns: 26 (sixth in OSU history)
Honors: All-American (2018, 2020)

Wallace was a two-time All-American and achieved that feat with multiple quarterbacks. He won his first in 2018 with Taylor Cornelius slinging the pill around Boone Pickens Stadium. After an injury cut a promising 2019 season short, Wallace earned All-America honors again in 2020, a season where Spencer Sanders and Shane Illingworth each played quite a bit.

Like with Woods, Wallace probably should have a Biletnikoff in his trophy case, as in 2018 Wallace finished with 18 more catches and 176 more yards than winner Jerry Jeudy.

Without his injuries (and a shortened 2020 season), Wallace might’ve had the numbers to further his argument to be among this group.

My Four

Justin Blackmon: Duh.

Rashaun Woods: He set marks back in 2003 that are just now being breached and is first or second in program history in the major receiving categories.

James Washington: He’s the program’s leader in receiving yards and has a Biletnikoff. Leaving him off would’ve felt silly.

Dez Bryant: Bryant was so good in a relatively short time in Stillwater, that he also gets on my Mount Rushmore. His connection with Zac Robinson pushed the program forward, and while I’m not taking post-OSU success into account, it’d be hard to argue that there is a more recognizable OSU receiver than Bryant.

Who would be on your Mount Rushmore for OSU receivers?