Oklahoma State football rewind: Recruiting update, top players, redshirt tracker

STILLWATER — The weekend was successful in more ways than just defeating Kansas 39-32 on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium for the Oklahoma State football program.

The Cowboys picked up a pair of commitments in the 2024 recruiting class with the Sunday night addition of teammates Nuku Mafi and Semisi Tonga from West High School in Salt Lake City.

Both are big, powerful interior offensive line prospects with three-star ratings from 247Sports, each holding several Power Five offers.

For OSU, this is a continued trend of success with players from the Salt Lake area and from the Polynesian culture.

While coach Mike Gundy can’t speak directly about players who have not signed letters of intent, he addressed the impact of OSU player development specialist Beni Tonga in connecting with Polynesians, which certainly applied to the recruiting of Mafi and Tonga.

Additionally, OSU recruiting director Todd Bradford has strong connections to Utah as well.

The Cowboys have had success with a variety of Polynesian players, and currently have three players from Salt Lake City high schools on the team.

“Todd Bradford has a history there, he’s got a house there, his Mormon faith — that’s a tight group of people,” Gundy said. “And Beni’s been unbelievable. Beni’s been with me for 11 years. There’s an art to that style of recruiting. He speaks their language, literally. He speaks Tongan to them. He can acclimate them to us, whoever they are. Beni can also give them a good illustration of the character and the culture we have here.

“Trust is a big part of their families. Beni’s been unbelievable for us to be able to break through whatever barrier it might be to get into the game and into the house in recruiting to give yourself a chance. Without him, it’d be really difficult.”

Here’s a look at what we learned from the Cowboys in Saturday’s win.

More: 'This place is who I am': Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy nears 400th game as a Cowboy

Top 5 players of the week

Running back Ollie Gordon: No doubt he was the MVP of the week. Maybe more valuable than any individual player in the country on Saturday with his 168 rushing yards, 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The last time an OSU running back had 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game (Gerald Hudson, 1989), coach Mike Gundy was the team’s quarterback.

Linebacker Collin Oliver: The defensive turnaround in the middle of the third quarter was geared around getting Oliver free to rush the passer. He finished with 2½ sacks and a forced fumble. Based on Pro Football Focus grades, Oliver’s pass rush was the best of any linebacker with at least 10 pressures.

Center Joe Michalski: Pro Football Focus gave Michalski the best grade of any center in the country from a game last week. With personnel changes caused by left tackle Dalton Cooper’s injury, Michalski held things together in the middle.

Quarterback Alan Bowman: The super-senior quarterback got away with a couple of throws that could’ve been picked off, but he answered with his most effective game of the season, completing 68.3% of his throws for 336 yards and two touchdowns with no picks.

Receiver Rashod Owens: Brennan Presley had the two big touchdown plays, but overall, Owens’ consistency was critical to giving the Cowboys an outside presence with Presley and Gordon doing damage inside the numbers.

More: Oklahoma State football report card: Ollie Gordon, Collin Oliver shine in win vs. Kansas

Top 5 players of the season

Running back Ollie Gordon: The sophomore blew past his rushing total from all of last year, when he appeared in every game as a true freshman and finished with 308 yards on the ground. He’s at 534 for the season with an average of 6.1 per carry, plus 180 yards receiving.

Linebacker Collin Oliver: Oliver continues to blend his lateral speed with his quick first step to be impactful as a traditional linebacker or an edge rusher. He has 35 tackles with 7½ for loss and 3½ sacks, plus three forced fumbles and five pass breakups.

Linebacker Nick Martin: The team’s leading tackler who is in his first year as a starter, Martin has 54 total stops with eight for loss and four sacks — all team highs. His consistency in the middle of the defense has been a pleasant surprise.

Safety Kendal Daniels: Daniels got burned a couple times by Kansas but rebounded for what might have been a game-saving interception that sparked the Cowboy comeback on Saturday. He continues to be reliable when he’s around the ball and is second on the team with 46 tackles.

Receiver Brennan Presley: While his game-to-game production has been up and down, his impact has not. He was targeted a team-high 13 times last week, pulling in eight catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, adding a rushing score as well. He’s the focal point of the passing game each week from a defensive perspective, which opens space for others to make plays.

More: Oklahoma State football's Brennan Presley eases Cowboys' red-zone issues to beat Kansas

Tale of the tape

Oklahoma State has looked like a different offense in Big 12 play as compared to non-conference action, and the numbers tell the same story.

Here’s a look at how the OSU offense performed in the three non-conference games compared to the first three Big 12 games.

Points per game

Non-conference: 20.3

Big 12: 31.7

Total offense per game (yards per play)

Non-conference: 321.7 (4.7)

Big 12: 458.3 (6.1)

Rushing yards per game (per carry)

Non-conference: 118.7 (3.9)

Big 12: 174.3 (5.1

Passing yards per game (per attempt)

Non-conference: 203 (5.3)

Big 12: 284 (6.8)

More: 'You feel unstoppable': Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon continues to elevate game, Cowboys

Quotable Cowboy

Running back Ollie Gordon wasn’t asked directly about the three-man quarterback carousel OSU used in the first three games of the season, but he shared his thoughts on how things have changed for the offensive line since OSU went with Alan Bowman as the sole signal caller.

“They improved a lot,” Gordon said. “I feel like they got more comfortable since we established the quarterback. I know some people might say the three-quarterback system was better, but I feel like once we all got comfortable with one quarterback, we started firing off. Our line knows how he plays, so when stuff goes wrong, they still handle the block, give him time to get out and make throws.”

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Redshirt tracker

A third player has officially surpassed the four-game limit to retain redshirt status.

Freshman punter Hudson Kaak appeared in his fifth game of the season.

Three other true freshmen appeared in their second game of the season. Safety Kam Franklin, safety Dylan Smith and linebacker Poasa Utu have played in the last two games after not appearing in the first four.

Here’s a look at the redshirt tracker after six games.

Played in more than four games, not eligible to redshirt: Longsnapper Shea Freibaum (Fr.), punter Hudson Kaak (Fr.), nose tackle Justin Kirkland (So.).

Played in four games, still eligible to redshirt: Cornerback Kenneth Harris (Sr.), receiver De’Zhaun Stribling (Jr.).

Played in two games, still eligible to redshirt: Safety Kam Franklin (Fr.), receiver Leon Johnson III (Sr.,), safety Dylan Smith (Fr.), linebacker Poasa Utu, (Fr.), Lardarius Webb Jr. (Jr.).

Redshirt-eligible non-freshmen who have not appeared in a game: Offensive lineman Jarrett Henry (So.), nose tackle Iman Oates (Jr.).

Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU football rewind: Recruiting update, top players, redshirt tracker