Cowboys Offensive Line to be Unsung Heroes of 2024 College Football Season
Oklahoma State's offense is going to be special during the 2024 football season. Alan Bowman is playing college football for his seventh season and second with the Cowboys. Ollie Gordon was the nation's top running back a season ago. Bowman's wide receiver corps is versatile and incredible. None of that matters without the offensive line winning in the trenches, though.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, they have some comfort on the line. The big men up front did an incredible job a season. They seldom let the defense get to Bowman while also opening gaps for Gordon to pile together big game after big game.
The entire starting offensive line, plus depth, is returning for the Cowboys. And they added depth in the transfer portal. There's not going to be much worry in the trenches on the offensive side of the football.
While holding plenty of talent and experience on the offensive line, Mike Gundy understands the group can and will continue to get better. This is incredibly promising for the Cowboys for the upcoming season.
“We have to be protective of them, as I’ve shared with you for three weeks, but they still get decent reps at seeing all the different looks and communicating with each other without talking, like knowing what they’re doing,” Gundy said. “If a backer moves over here and stacks, they know they’re gonna do this instead of that. Just things that you really never get enough of."
Simplifying things on the offensive line is something that played a big role in Oklahoma State's season turnaround after a 2-2 start a season ago. Now, what they showed in the final ten games of the season is how they're going to start the 2024 campaign.
"When you have a veteran offensive line, you can do so many more things — integral parts of offense that are really detailed that you can do, that young guys, it spins their heads," Gundy said. "These veteran guys, they can work on things that can make you much better.”
The offensive line is going to be a position of strength for Oklahoma State next season, helping the rest of the offense run smoothly. It's going to be an incredible season with plenty of potential as the new-look Big 12 is open for the taking after Texas and Oklahoma moved to the SEC.
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Kade has been covering a wide variety of teams ranging from the NFL to the NBA and college athletics since joining Sports Illustrated's On SI in 2022