The Oklahoma State football program enters the 2024 season with lofty expectations. With both Oklahoma and Texas departing for the SEC, the Big 12 Conference looks much different, and it should benefit the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State finished 10-4 last year with a 7-3 Big 12 record, ending the year with a 31-23 win over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. In 2024, they have a lot of talent returning and should be viewed as a contender in the new-look Big 12 that added teams such as Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah.
With the season around the corner, here are a few of the best-returning players for the Oklahoma State football program this year.
Oklahoma State LB Collin Oliver
Pro Football Focus also mentioned Oliver as one of the best-returning linebackers for 2024, so there are high expectations for the Cowboys' defensive prowess:
“Oklahoma State moved [Oliver] to an off-ball linebacker role this past year and he remained an elite pass-rusher, leading all FBS linebackers with 37 pressures. The junior also flashed some skills when he wasn’t attacking the quarterback…Like [LSU’s Harold] Perkins, Oliver is still at his best when he’s allowed to rush the quarterback. In fact, projected top-10 pick Joe Alt told me last year that Oliver and 2023 first-round pick Myles Murphy are the two players he found most difficult to block.”
Oliver is expected to be one of the anchors for the Cowboys' defense in 2024 and could force his way up draft boards when its all said and done.
Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon II
Surprise, surprise (not really). Gordon is the best player on the Oklahoma State football roster and arguably the best running back in the nation entering 2024. In 2023, Gordon posted eye-popping numbers: 1,613 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns with another 37 catches for 326 yards. He had 258 carries as he became the Cowboys' bellcow running back.
In 2024, there is no reason why he should decrease in any category. Despite being arrested for DUI, Mike Gundy insisted Gordon would play, although he joked that his “punishment” would be a hug workload of carries right off the bat: “I'm gonna do what I think, what we think, is best for Oklahoma State football, and I think it's best for Ollie [Gordon] to play. If there's any punishment it's making him carry the ball 50 times in the first game.”
Gordon was named the Big 12 media preseason Offensive Player of the Year, so there is no doubt he enters the season with high expectations.
Brennan Presley
The 5-foot-8 wide receiver had a massive year in 2023 for the Oklahoma State football program. He had 101 catches for 991 yards and six scores as he became the primary receiving option. In the bowl game win over Texas A&M, Presley had a whopping 16 catches for 152 yards, and he had 15 catches for 189 yards in the win over Houston.
So, Presley is a target machine who provides the offense with a much-needed security blanket.
He decided to return to the program for one more year, and this could very well be the season he goes over the 1,000-yard threshold while leading the Cowboys in receiving.
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