Mike Gundy Explains How OSU Secured Landyn Cleveland Despite Blue Blood Offers
The Oklahoma State Cowboys take on the Texas A&M Aggies on Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. CT in the Texas Bowl, which will cap off their 2023 season and mark the beginning of the program's 2024 campaign.
Still, the Cowboys have remained forward-focused as they signed 17 players to their 2024 recruiting class last Wednesday on early signing day. One of those players signed on early signing day was defensive back Landyn Cleveland.
Cleveland's signing was an impressive one. Despite being a 6-foot, 183-pound three-star, Cleveland began to pick up some hefty offers from programs like Oklahoma and Alabama late in his recruiting process. He had been committed to Oklahoma State since April, though.
On early signing day, Mike Gundy hosted a media availability, and Cleveland was one of the players he talked about, given the situation around his offers.
“So Landyn is a guy that we had committed for a long time, and he didn’t get as much play early because some of the top-ten schools won’t see his size as what they’re looking for,” Gundy said. “Once he was committed to us, then everybody starts evaluating who we have committed. Then they saw some games that he played through the first three or four games of the year, and then they realize, in their opinion, ‘We should’ve been recruiting this guy.’"
The Cowboys have been incredible at finding these lower-ranked talents and developing them into something that fits the Oklahoma State system. Cleveland projects to be another one of those hits, especially if blue-bloods like Oklahoma and Alabama were willing to offer him.
Gundy alludes to defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo's relationship with Cleveland as one of the reasons they were able to fend off the big-time offers and sign the defensive back.
“The schools that came in on him, in most cases, there’s a high percentage that we have lost those guys, but he has been very loyal and stayed with us from day one," Gundy continued. "Nardo recruited him and has been on him and has a really good relationship with him. We have a good relationship with his home base, and we were able to keep him for that reason.”
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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