Oklahoma State’s offensive line might be the most important puzzle on the roster as fall camp opens.
Eric Morris was hired to repair an offense that unraveled last season, and his Air Raid system is built to move fast and stress defenses. He also brought in skill talent that’s supposed to be among the best in college football. But none of that matters much if the line can’t hold up long enough for the passing game to breathe or create enough push in the run game.
That’s where offensive line coach Cody Crill comes in, with the Tulsa game on Sept. 5 looming as the first real checkpoint.
There’s no shortage of bodies in the room, and Oklahoma State has clearly tried to build both for now and for later. Five freshmen are on the roster, including two Top 10 recruits in Eli Holbrook and Kole Seaton. The message is obvious: the Cowboys want more continuity here in the seasons ahead.
At the same time, there are holdovers who chose to stay with the new staff. Jakobe Sanders is the only letterwinner in the group, and five others were redshirts a year ago. Louie Canepa is one of the names that could work his way into the two-deep before the opener.
The transfer group brings the most immediate intrigue. Braydon Nelson and Johnny Dickson III both protected quarterback Drew Mestemaker at North Texas last season, and both earned all-conference honors in 2025. Tyler Mercer spent last year redshirting at Kansas, but in 2024 he was a freshman All-America at North Texas.
There’s more experience beyond that North Texas connection. Jacob Sexton was once a starter at Oklahoma before injuries cut into his chances.
Joseph Hanson earned all-conference recognition at Coastal Carolina. Shawn Torgeson was a full-time starter at Portland State a year ago.
Sanders is the player in the room who has the best chance to challenge that transfer-heavy mix. He started six games last season and is aiming to hold down a starting job for the full year this time.
That’s the real issue for camp: not just talent, but how quickly all these pieces can start moving like one unit. Offensive line play lives and dies on chemistry, and this group has to build it fast.
Most of the expected starters arrived from somewhere else, which means the summer work only goes so far. Now they have a month to sort out the fit before the season arrives.
Given how badly the offense stalled a year ago, the line’s early-season performance could shape everything. Oklahoma State added skill players to raise the ceiling, but the front has to make it all function.
That’s why the staff kept recruiting five freshmen up front. They know continuity matters.
For now, Morris and Crill are working with a lot of pieces and not much margin for error.
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Eric Morris is about to find out how much patience a first camp really takes. Oklahoma State opens its first fall workout under a head coach who inherited a roster built almost entirely from the transfer portal and the freshman class, leaving the staff to sort through a crowded group of newcomers while trying to build something that can hold up in September. The challenge is not just evaluation, but making sure the right players get enough work to develop while still creating real competition for jobs.
For Morris, the first few weeks will be a balancing act between settling in a starter at quarterback and sorting out the rest of the depth chart behind him. With so much of the two-deep still unsettled, camp becomes less about polishing an established team and more about deciding who can handle meaningful snaps, who needs more time, and how to divide reps without shortchanging either side of the equation. [Read more 🡒]
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Oklahoma States defensive makeover under Eric Morris is still in its early stages, but the most revealing camp competition may be unfolding at defensive end. With nearly 90 new transfers reshaping the roster and a defense that has to prove it can hold up in a hurry, the Cowboys are trying to build a pass rush from the edge and sort out who can handle the job when the season opens.
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Arizona State Reloaded Fast And Oklahoma State Has Reason To Worry
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The defense still has some sorting out to do, though, and that is where opponents will keep looking for an opening. C.J. Fite returns as a proven anchor up front, but the rest of the 4-2-5 picture is not settled yet, with new transfers still battling for starting jobs and some spots unlikely to be finalized until the week of the opener. For Oklahoma State, which sees Arizona State later in the season, that mix of talent and uncertainty is exactly the kind of thing worth watching. [Read more 🡒]