Oklahoma State depth chart for the Cowboys Week Two game against visiting Arkansas
Here’s what Oklahoma State’s depth chart looks like for Saturday when the Arkansas Razorbacks are set to visit.
STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State will host Arkansas Saturday morning in Boone Pickens Stadium as the Cowboys look to start the season 2-0 for the eighth straight season. Kickoff from Stillwater is set for 11 a.m. Central and will be broadcast on ABC.
Monday, Oklahoma State and head coach Mike Gundy released the Week Two depth chart ahead of his weekly press conference.
There’s only one change from the prior edition as defensive end Iman Oates is now the straight-up starter ahead of Xavier Ross instead of being an OR.
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman previews Oklahoma State game
Everything Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said about Oklahoma State during his Monday press conference.
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman is familiar with the state of Oklahoma.
He was born in El Reno, played high school football at Grove, coached Oklahoma’s offensive line in the late 90s and recruits the state well for the Razorbacks.
Saturday, he’ll return to his home state as Top 25 Oklahoma State hosts the Razorbacks for a Big 12-SEC tilt.
“We’re excited to go to Stillwater and play Oklahoma State. I have a ton of respect for Coach Gundy, I mean going into 20 years now at Oklahoma State University. He’s just done a phenomenal job. I have a lot of respect for him and the way he handles his program. They have 17 to 18 returning starters, played really well Saturday. Offensively, they have a ton of skill, really good at the skill spots, starting with the quarterback Bowman. Then Ollie Gordon is certainly as good as any running back in the country. It starts with Brennan Presley. They love to get the ball to him. He’s a fantastic returner as well. And then I like the Stribling kid they got out of Washington State. He’s done a really good job at wideout, and they already had Owens. Then they have their entire offensive line coming back who’s really playing well together. So you know they went to the Big 12 championship game last year and look to be headed north on that as well this year.
“Defensively they have some outstanding players over there as well, starting with Collin Oliver and Nicholas Martin. Those two guys are game changers. I really like their D-line, Collin Clay, obviously he was here for I think a year. Putnam City I believe, young man. He’s playing extremely well. Then I like Kody Walterscheid, just a big, physical defensive end. And they’ve got Kendal Daniels who is their Sam, who I think was second on their team in tackles last year behind Martin. Then Trey Rucker, he’s a tackling machine. What we saw off of film is that they tackle extremely well. They play hard. They’re sound. Just a well, well-coached football team.
“Then you go to specialists and they have a left-footed punter, a right-footed punter. They can rugby. Their kicker Ward made a 52-yarder last week. And they have two dynamic returners in Presley and Freeman. I think Freeman transferred over from Oklahoma. But just a really solid football team. I know we’re going to have to deal with a tight sideline and a very loud crowd. That’s why all our kids came to play at Arkansas and in the SEC for games like this. We’re really excited about it.”
On stopping running back Ollie Gordon:
“Well, our tackling is something that we needed to get better just from our Thursday night game. On Saturday we had a tacking circuit, so we’re trying to address that. If they get him 2 or 3 yards, he’s going to get 6 or 7 or more. We’re going to have to tackle him one-on-one, but we’re going to have to get a lot of guys around the ball. We definitely understand how good he is and the other thing, too, is they have some dynamic skill (players) that are difficult to get on the ground as well. So our tackling is going to have to be better. We’re making a big emphasis on that this week.”
On watching the Oklahoma State-South Dakota State game:
“We certainly have to be ready for their fast-paced offense. They don’t run it all the time, but we have to be ready for that. He opened the game with it, Coach Gundy did, last week. So yeah, I think there are benefits. Certainly you can hear calls and different things you can’t hear on cut-ups, but I think you just get a live feel of it watching it… Like you said, you don’t get a lot of that. Now sometimes you do, maybe on the plane coming back or the bus coming back, maybe if your opponent is playing later than you did, but not very often do you get to just sit down and watch a game. As I’m watching, I go, ‘Man, they’ve got a really good team.'”
How to stop Oklahoma State’s offense as a whole?
“If you press them, they’re going to test you. I mean, that’s just what’s going to happen. If you press them up, you’re going to get tested deep. They have so many things they can do with the RPO, with handing it off to Gordon and then their bubble game, their screen game is a big part of what they do. They didn’t do it as much Saturday as what I think they — well, what I know they’ve done in the past, but if you press them, they’re going to go deep on you. If you don’t, you’re going to have the bubble or hand the ball off because normally you’re in a box that’s, number-wise, is going to give them an advantage handing the ball off to Gordon.”
How close do Colin Oliver and Landon Jackson compare to each other?
“Two totally different guys. Oliver is smaller, quicker. Now, they both can rush the passer. They do more with (Collin) Oliver than we do with Landon (Jackson), you know, they drop him into coverage. They move him around, in their odd package he’ll be inside, outside. They do some things there more than what we do with Landon. What I will say, the common thing that they have is the ability to get to the quarterback. They both play extremely hard and they’re both physical football players.”
OSU is fast at WR. How do you simulate that?
“Well, during the week we always go good on good at receiver. In other words, our seven-on-seven, they will get four days of good-on-good. So, back in the old days of seven-on-seven versus scouts, we don’t do it anymore. So, our look team is our ones and twos. So, that simulation will be there and we have some big receivers. Like, their (Brennan) Presley is like our (Isaiah) Sategna, then they’ve got the big receivers and we do too, so I think we can simulate that at practice.”
Alan Bowman has played CFB forever, talk about him.
“Their offense fits him perfectly in my opinion. I mean he can — they don’t run him quite as much. He’s sneaky, they ran him in a draw the other day and he made good yardage on that. But, what they’re asking him to do, he can do it and do it well. Gets the ball out extremely fast, it’s hard to get to him, hard to sack him. “A” because they’re good at protection, but “B” because he gets rid of the ball. But with that bubble, GOs, RPOs, he’s really good at that. I think he probably knows their offense as good as anybody does, as good as the head coach does. So, he’s a really good player and what they do with him is right down his wheelhouse. Really playing well, takes care of the football.”
Thoughts on Boone Pickens Stadium:
“We went in there and got beat when I was at OU. Very, very loud. Very, very close — as in, they can stand up and look right on top of you. We talked to our players and coaching staff about that as well, because we can’t let their fans be a distraction to us when we’re trying to learn on the sideline or trying to talk about the next series or whatever it may be. But it’s extremely close. I think it’s the closest one in the country. Extremely loud. I think they have 55,000, but it’s a loud stadium, so we’ve talked about that. Crowd noise will be a huge part of this week’s preparation and we started that on Saturday.”
On Oklahoma State’s offensive line:
“Well they have a really good coach, too. I like their coach. They play well together. They’re playing seven guys. They got a couple tackles in the portal that are giving them some depth and possibly might start for them. Again, it’s kind of what they do that they do very, very well. You just don’t see mistakes. But they are a very physical group. Movement doesn’t seem to bother them, which it would [with an] inexperienced line or an inexperienced player next to an experienced guy. But these guys have been playing together for a long time, and I think they have a lot of confidence in them. They should, because they’re really good players. So again, I think this game, more than surprising somebody or schematics, I think this is going to be a, ‘You’re going to have to go whip somebody,’ and physically, to win. So I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of mistakes. I just think there’s going to be a slobber knocker a little bit.”
On knowing Mike Gundy or any of Oklahoma State’s staffers:
“I don’t think so. I always get a kick out of listening to Coach Gundy’s press conferences because he’s blunt and to the point and he is who he is, I have a lot of respect for that, and he catches a little heat for it. No, I don’t think he much cares, you know. I think he just is who he is. I’ve always had respect for him as a man, but then you go and you watch his teams play, and they’re always prepared, and they play hard as hell. And a lot of fun to watch.”
Is this a good home-and-home series for the Hogs?
“Yeah. I think anytime that you play close, I think you could potentially have a better game, you know. Kids know each other on the team a lot of times when you’re playing closer. I don’t know if this is a rivalry because we haven’t played them. But when you’re playing closer competition, certainly, if you have to go on the road, it’s a lot better to go down to Stillwater than it is to Oregon, you know. But there’ll be some familiar guys on both sides. The kids will know each other. And, you know, the closer you can stay with away games is always a little bit better just because of travel and the time you get home.”
