The transfer portal giveth, and it can take away too.
Oklahoma State leaned hard into the portal last offseason, and that approach is already helping the Cowboys get back on track. They’re bowl eligible for the first time since 2023, and the next recruiting class brings more four-star players than the last one, when Oklahoma State had none.
But even with that progress, there’s still going to be movement after the season. That’s just the nature of a roster built this way.
Some players won’t have gotten the snaps they wanted. Others may be chasing more money, more opportunity or one last shot to start somewhere else. Here are five Cowboys who fit that profile, even if none of them are guaranteed to leave.
Chris Barnes arrived with expectations of being one of Oklahoma State’s top three or four receivers. That hasn’t happened.
His role changed after a play in Houston, when Drew Mestemaker threw him a pass that turned into an interception after Barnes slipped and fell to the ground. Eric Morris didn’t like something about that play, and Barnes’ usage has dropped since then.
He also missed a game with a shoulder injury. Barnes has 11 catches for 179 yards and no touchdowns, and Terrence Lewis has taken away a chunk of the playing time he was supposed to get.
With eligibility still left and Justin Bowick the only receiver expected to leave after the season because he is out of eligibility, Barnes could be a candidate to move on in 2027.
KD Jones has barely had a chance to show what he can do. He’s appeared in just one game, against Murray State, where he ran for 54 yards and a touchdown in mop-up duty.
Since then, he’s been out of sight. The problem for Jones is that Oklahoma State has a deep backfield, led by Caleb Hawkins, who has been putting up Doak Walker Award-type numbers, especially over the last four games.
Hawkins can’t head to the NFL after this season, and plenty of the other backs are expected back too. Jones, though, was a big-time high school producer at Jenks, where he set career records for rushing yards (4,742), all-purpose yards (5,798), rushing touchdowns (67) and total touchdowns.
If he doesn’t see a path to enough carries, another school could come calling.
Jakobe Sanders is a different case because he’s a Stillwater kid. He grew up there, chose to play there and stayed put through a coaching change, major roster turnover and a shift in offensive philosophy.
Even now, in his fourth year, he’s still behind Joseph Hanson at right guard. With so much experience expected back on the offensive line in 2027, Sanders may need to transfer if he wants a season as a full-time starter in his fifth year.
He didn’t leave when Mike Gundy was replaced by Morris, so there’s clearly some loyalty there. But if starting is the priority, this offseason may be his last real chance to find it somewhere else.
The quarterback room is crowded in a way that makes life difficult for Luke Tepas. Drew Mestemaker has been so central to the program that it’s easy to forget there are four quarterbacks on the roster.
Broderick Vehrs has already won the backup job as a true freshman, Grant Jordan is in his final year and hasn’t played yet, and Tepas - another true freshman from Barrington, Ill. - has mostly been working with the younger players in Thursday scrimmages while also doing solid work on the scout team. Even if Mestemaker leaves for the NFL, Oklahoma State would still have Vehrs, Top 25 quarterback recruit Carson White and possibly a veteran addition from the portal.
Mestemaker’s play gives Morris room to chase whichever quarterback he wants, which only tightens the squeeze for Tepas. If he wants a clearer path, another school may be the answer.
Dallas Winner-Johnson has already had a winding college career. He was an FCS freshman All-America selection at Missouri State in 2024 after a redshirt season and finished with 62 tackles.
He then moved to Tulane, where he played in 10 games after coming back from an injury, but he wasn’t as productive. He transferred again to Oklahoma State in the offseason, only to land deep on the depth chart behind Ethan Wesloski, Tate Romney and Isaiah Chisom.
He isn’t even listed among the starters. There will be a chance to compete next spring, since Wesloski and Romney are out of eligibility, but Winner-Johnson has to decide whether to wait for that opening or look for a better path to playing time elsewhere.
He has one season left, and that choice is coming soon.
In Other News...
Oklahoma States Big 12 Path Just Got Uncomfortably Thin
Oklahoma State has put itself in the middle of the Big 12 race with a 6-3 overall mark and a 4-2 conference record, but the road to Arlington is starting to look like a maze. The Cowboys are tied for third in the standings, and while they are still technically alive, the margin for error has all but disappeared with three games left on the schedule.
The problem is not just winning out, though that is part of it. Oklahoma State also needs help from the rest of the league, with other two-loss teams such as Baylor, BYU and Arizona needing to stumble for the Cowboys to have a realistic shot at the championship game, and the current multi-team tiebreaker setups are not breaking in their favor. It is a narrow opening, not a comfortable one, and the next few weeks will determine whether the Cowboys are still in the conversation when the standings finally settle. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Just Got A Huge Boost From Some Unexpected Names
Oklahoma States 66-28 win over Kansas State in Manhattan was the kind of road performance that can change the tone around a season fast. The Cowboys piled up a program-best scoring output in Manhattan and had 49 points by halftime, with Drew Mestemaker steering the offense through a blistering first half and the defense helping turn the game into a runaway.
What made the afternoon even more notable was the way some unexpected contributors showed up in major spots. Linebacker Chisom, making his first start of the season, was active all over the field with 11 tackles, while cornerback Justin Bowick added an eye-catching touchdown catch to the mix. For a team looking for momentum, that kind of production from players outside the usual spotlight is exactly the sort of development that can matter going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Used An Unusual Motivator Before Its Bowl Clincher
Before Oklahoma State took the field against Kansas State, Eric Morris reached for an unusually old-school motivational tool. The Cowboys coach had the team chaplain read the children's book "The Little Engine That Could" to the players, a simple message about persistence that fit a team trying to steady itself late in the season.
The approach seemed to land. Oklahoma State responded with a decisive win that clinched bowl eligibility, with key offensive players making major contributions and the defense turning in a noticeably better performance even while missing starters to injury. For a team looking for any edge it could find, the pregame message was more than a novelty, and it clearly helped set the tone for one of the Cowboys' most important wins of the year. [Read more 🡒]