Oklahoma State's 2026-27 Reset: Inside College Football's Biggest Roster Overhaul by
At Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas, Oklahoma State's new faces outnumber the familiar ones. Running back Caleb Hawkins, who spent last fall changing the record book as a North Texas freshman, now arrives as one of the Cowboys' biggest stars after joking that private-plane travel was one of the surreal adjustments to life at a Power 4 program. Quarterback Drew Mestemaker, once a walk-on who never started a varsity high school game, fields questions as the centerpiece of Oklahoma State's future. Wide receiver Wyatt Young, fresh off one of the nation's most productive receiving seasons, completes an offensive trio that looked unimaginable in Stillwater only months ago. The Cowboys aren't unveiling a rebuilt roster. They're introducing an entirely different football team. 85 of Oklahoma State's 105 roster spots are occupied by new players, including 60 transfers, making it one of the largest coach-driven roster flips of the transfer portal era.
By the Numbers
The scope of the transformation reflects just how far the program had fallen. Oklahoma State stumbled to a 1-11 record in 2025, failed to win a Big 12 game, and finished 4-20 over the past two seasons with zero conference victories, bringing the Mike Gundy era to a close. Eric Morris, hired on November 25th after leading North Texas to an 11-1 season and a New Mexico Bowl victory, inherited a program that required more than a traditional renovation. 66 Cowboys entered the transfer portal, and only 25 eventually landed at another Power 4 school. Morris and first-year general manager Raj Murti responded with relentless speed during the January 2nd-16th portal window, hosting nearly 90 official visits while assembling the nation's second-ranked transfer class, according to 247Sports.
The Great Migration
Morris didn't arrive alone. Of the program's 42 new coaches and operations staff members, 35 previously worked at North Texas, including every coordinator and position coach except receivers coach Nick Edwards. Roughly 17 to 19 Mean Green players followed him to Stillwater, among them six all-conference selections and nine starters. The headline additions form perhaps the most intriguing offensive nucleus in the Big 12 entering the 2026 season. Mestemaker threw for 4,379 yards and 34 touchdowns, leading the FBS in passing yards while reportedly signing a two-year deal worth roughly seven million dollars, the wealthiest in program history. Hawkins rushed for 1,434 yards and a nation-leading 25 touchdowns after arriving at North Texas as a lightly recruited three-star prospect, with other offers from Emporia State and Central Oklahoma. Young finished seventh nationally in receiving yards and authored a spectacular 295-yard performance against Rice, prompting local comparisons to Oklahoma State's celebrated 2017 combination of Mason Rudolph, Justice Hill, and James Washington.
Building Chemistry from Scratch
Assembling talent proved only half the challenge. Morris and Murti even shared a rental home during the busiest recruiting stretch, while the coaching staff deliberately mixed position groups at meals, bowling outings, and wiffle ball games to accelerate trust across a locker room filled with strangers navigating college football's new revenue-sharing landscape. Defensive coordinator Skyler Cassidy's previous ties to Oklahoma State provide one familiar thread, but the departure of 2025 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year Wendell Gregory underscored how completely the roster has changed. The blueprint resembles the path Indiana coach Curt Cignetti forged by importing James Madison transfers before an immediate breakthrough, offering evidence that portal-fueled transformations can work. Whether Oklahoma State follows that script remains unanswered, but when the Cowboys take the field this fall, they won't simply be opening a season. They'll be unveiling one of the boldest roster experiments the sport has ever seen.
