FRISCO, Texas - Ethan Wesloski knows exactly what kind of final season he wants.
He came to Oklahoma State after spending his entire career at North Texas, following new Cowboys coach Eric Morris from Denton to Stillwater for one last run in college football. That means stepping into a program that went 1-11 last year, but Wesloski has already made clear he isn’t interested in easing into anything.
He’s also walking into a locker room with a small group of holdovers from the old roster, including Jaleel Johnson, an Oklahoma City native who is in his fifth year with the Cowboys and didn’t seriously consider leaving after Mike Gundy was fired last year. Johnson was part of Oklahoma State’s 2023 Big 12 Championship Game team that fell to Texas, one of the few links between the previous version of the Cowboys and the new one.
Wesloski, by contrast, is one of the many North Texas transfers who arrived with Morris. He’s gotten to know nearly 100 new teammates this year, and only a handful were on the roster a season ago. That’s part of why he said he feels a responsibility to the players who stayed.
“Just because those guys are so hungry to win,” he said. “I feel like I owe it to them to give them my best every day.
If I don’t, I feel like I not only let myself down but I let them down. I come in and I give it my best because I want to win.
I’m one of the most competitive people you will ever meet and so is the rest of this team. We’re just gonna win no matter what it takes.”
That mindset matters because Wesloski is expected to be one of the defensive anchors for Oklahoma State. He thrived last season in Skyler Cassity’s system at North Texas, and Cassity now serves as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. Wesloski is projected to start in the same spot he held a year ago, with the obvious question being whether he can deliver the same production in a power conference.
Last season, he led the Mean Green with 113 tackles and started eight of their 14 games. He finished second in the conference in both tackles and solo tackles, while also posting nine tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception.
His biggest outing came against Rice, when he piled up a career-high 17 tackles. North Texas reached the American Conference title game before losing to Tulane.
The national view of Oklahoma State remains subdued, with expectations set more on improvement than a dramatic leap. For Wesloski, though, the standard is simpler. He wants to win, his new teammates want to win, and the players who stayed through the transition want it just as badly.
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One Oklahoma State Holdover Just Sent A Big Rebuild Message
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Johnsons choice matters even more because he is coming off a season interrupted by injury, and new head coach Eric Morris has already made clear he sees a real role for him in the front. Johnson has framed the decision around loyalty and a desire to help Oklahoma State climb out of the recent struggles, and in a spring full of new faces, that kind of commitment can carry real weight. [Read more 🡒]