Oklahoma State’s backfield buzz has mostly centered on Caleb Hawkins, and for good reason. The second-year runner is drawing serious attention after a monster true freshman season at North Texas, where he set the NCAA FBS freshman record for touchdowns in a season and piled up nearly 1,500 rushing yards. He looks like the kind of player who will show up on just about every award watch list when those are released next week.
But there’s another Cowboy running back who deserves a longer look.
Pro Football Focus ranked Hawkins as the top returning back in the Big 12 with a 92.6 grade, and Oklahoma State had another runner near the top of that list too. Tre Page III came in at 86.1, which put him fourth among returning Big 12 backs and raised a simple question: why isn’t he getting more attention?
Page’s path to Stillwater has been anything but conventional. Coming out of Langston Hughes High School in Atlanta, Ga., he wasn’t a heavily recruited prospect, and at 5-8, he didn’t have the frame that usually turns heads early. That sent him to Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas, a program that moved up from Division II and has been building into an FCS force.
His first year there in 2024 was mostly a redshirt season. He appeared in only two games, caught one pass for 16 yards, and kept the extra year of eligibility intact.
Then came the breakout.
In 2025, Page played in just nine of Tarleton State’s 14 games, but he made those snaps count. He led the team with 839 rushing yards and scored seven touchdowns, while also adding seven receptions.
He topped 100 rushing yards three times, including a career-high 198 against Southern Utah. He also broke loose for an 89-yard run against Portland State.
Tarleton State went 13-1 in the regular season, won the UAC title and advanced to the national quarterfinals before falling to Villanova. Page missed November and the first playoff game because of an injury, but the season still showed enough to make the jump to Oklahoma State more than just a depth move.
That’s the real appeal here. Page has speed to threaten the edge, and his quick cutting ability makes him slippery in space.
The concern is durability, especially after last season’s injury issues. Still, with Hawkins handling the lead role, Oklahoma State can deploy Page in a more specialized way, almost like a Darren Sproles-type weapon, giving him touches that fit his game.
There’s another layer to his PFF grade, too: it was built on last season’s tape, and that tape showed more than flash. It showed a back capable of handling a workload. If Hawkins ever needs a breather, or if anything limits him, the Cowboys have a ready-made option in Page.
He might be making a bigger leap than Hawkins in terms of competition level. But the grade says he’s up for it, and the production says he’s earned more of the spotlight than he’s getting.
In Other News...
Jacie Hoyt Just Gave Oklahoma State Fans A Real Reason To Believe
Jacie Hoyt has spent the offseason rebuilding Oklahoma States womens basketball roster, and the early returns are hard to ignore. The Cowgirls just unveiled a transfer class that looks like one of the strongest in the country, headlined by former Iowa State center Audi Crooks and Florida guard Liv McGill, with a wave of other newcomers joining a roster that will look almost entirely different from last season.
Crooks, in particular, gives Hoyt something every coach wants and not every coach gets: a proven interior force who fits cleanly into the system. The former All-American has the size and skill to thrive in high screen-and-roll action, and Oklahoma State has already shown how that can open up the floor for shooters and create easy looks around the rim. With Stailee Heard the lone returning player, the bigger question now is how quickly all of these pieces can come together once the games start for real. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Faces Fall Camp Battles That Could Define 2026
Fall camp is where Oklahoma State starts turning offseason depth charts into something closer to a real plan, and this years battles feel especially important. The Cowboys are sorting through competition at quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line and cornerback, with a mix of returning players and transfers all trying to carve out roles before the 2026 season arrives. For a team that needs dependable depth as much as it needs headline starters, these are the kinds of jobs that can shape how steady the roster looks once the games begin.
The wideout group already has a sense of order at the top, but the next layer is still up for grabs, and the same goes for the offensive line and secondary. There is also a growing sense that the staff wants more clarity at tight end and in the quarterback room, where trust matters as much as talent. With so many spots still unsettled, Oklahoma States camp figures to be less about simple reps and more about which players can separate themselves when the pressure starts to build. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma States Most Unsettled Position Could Decide This Defensive Rebuild
The safety room is shaping up as one of the biggest pressure points in Oklahoma States defensive rebuild, and it is easy to see why. Only three players in the group have logged time at the school, yet the Cowboys are bringing 14 safeties into fall camp, most of them with some college experience, as new head coach Eric Morris and defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity try to steady a defense that needs a cleaner foundation.
Quentin Hammonds and Evan Jackson are the most obvious names to watch at the top of the depth chart, but the real intrigue sits behind them, where the staff is still sorting out who can settle into the rotation and who might be asked to handle more than one role. Freshman Braeden Presley stands out as one of the few newcomers with a legitimate chance to help early, and his versatility could make him useful in ways that go beyond safety as this competition unfolds. [Read more 🡒]