STILLWATER - Oklahoma State will be short-handed again on defense this week, with safety Mose Phillips III set to miss a second straight game after the apparent shoulder injury he suffered against UCF on Oct. 10.
Phillips was listed as “out” on the availability report before last Saturday’s game at Houston, and Eric Morris said on a Tuesday news conference, “He’ll be out again this week.”
Before going down, Phillips had been on the field for four straight games. In the 2024 season, he has 11 tackles in 26 games for the Cowboys.
The secondary has gotten a lift from Oscar Hammond, who returned from an undisclosed injury in fall camp. Hammond saw his first action this season against the Cougars, where he picked up 15 snaps.
Morris said Hammond is “finally healthy” after going through an undisclosed injury in fall camp. He had a few mental mistakes in the game, but the OSU coach wasn’t concerned about the bigger picture.
“He played well doing some stuff on the perimeter for us,” Morris said. “He was really good on special teams, so another big body that we can trust in a lot of different roles for this team.”
Morris added, “I think you’ll see us continuously just adding him more and more in there with (tight end) Carson Gold.”
OSU wide receiver Dayvon Standard also hasn’t seen action this season after suffering an undisclosed injury in fall camp. Last week, the true freshman was listed as probable, doubtful and then ruled out on the Big 12’s availability report.
During fall camp, Morris said Standard was a first-year player who surprised him with his play, even saying he “has done a phenomenal job at receiver.”
“We are just slowly working him back into it and getting his legs back underneath him,” Morris said. “We’ll continue to kind of work and see what kind of role he can progress into throughout the course of the year.”
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The decision-making at the end will linger, too, because Eric Morris took the aggressive route in a spot where the safer option was on the table. He later said he regretted the choice, and with Oklahoma States path to the Big 12 Championship now looking much thinner, it is the kind of call that is going to fuel debate around this team for a while. [Read more 🡒]
