2025 Cowboys May Feature Only Four Offensive Players Who Started a Game in '24
In the modern day of college football one down season has all the power to send ripples throughout the program for many years. The transfer portal has created a whole new animal in the NCAA. Following a 3-9 season in 2024, the Oklahoma State Cowboys knew exactly what was coming.
They first dismissed both the offensive and defensive coordinator only weeks after the completion of the regular season. Next up was a whirlwind day involving Cowboy head football coach Mike Gundy. Oklahoma State and Gundy were able to hash it out behind closed doors. With Gundy headed back for another season at the helm, the hardest part of the recruiting season was about to begin.
The NCAA transfer portal went live on Monday and the big name Oklahoma State players slowly began to drop like flies. The Cowboys lost one of their top defenders in Kendal Daniels and one of their top offensive weapons in wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling. Both of those guys hit the portal on Monday.
Oklahoma State will be a completely new football team next season... literally.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys will have just four offensive players on the roster next season who started a football game in 2024. Redshirt sophomore Garret Rangel started one football game before suffering a season-ending injury. True freshman Maealiuaki Smith started a few games late in the season and does return in 2025 for his redshirt season.
True freshman Josh Ford was crucial in the run game for the Cowboys from his tight end position. The fabulous four is rounded out by wide receiver Talyn Shettron who had one start this past season against the Baylor Bears.
The transfer portal giveth and taketh away. The Pokes have experienced the 'taking' part of the portal now they must now sit back and hope they to can benefit from the portal. We must not forget that the Arizona State Sundevils were 3-9 a season ago. They received upwards of 30 players in the transfer portal and now they are the 2024 Big 12 Champs.
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Taylor Skieens has been an avid sports journalist with the McCurtain Gazette in Idabel, Oklahoma for seven years. He holds the title of Sports Editor for one of the oldest remaining print publications in the state of Oklahoma. Taylor grew up in the small lumber town of Wright City Oklahoma where he played baseball and basketball for the Lumberjax.