Oklahoma State football has three intriguing areas to focus on in summer recruiting

Oklahoman STILLWATER — As soon as the calendar turned to June, Oklahoma State football dove immediately into its summer camp and recruiting visit period this weekend. That means the Cowboy recruiting class of 2024 will further take shape with offers and commitments over the coming weeks. The Cowboys entered June with six players committed, having recently lost Choctaw defensive end/outside linebacker prospect Will Smith late last month. This stands to be a tricky recruiting year for Mike Gundy and his staff, because the current Cowboy roster includes 17 scholarship seniors who have an available super-senior year if they choose to use it. But often, those players don’t decide until late in the calendar year if they’ll stay. Among those 17 seniors are six offensive linemen, and the number of them who decide to stay will impact the number of recruits the Cowboys could bring in at the position. Of course, the transfer portal — both in and out — changes the recruiting approach toward high school prospects, and as we've seen in the last couple years, some high school players see their recruiting options grow in the winter, after the initial signing date in December. But with all 85 scholarships filled at the start of June, OSU is in a good spot with its roster. And because of the large number of potential super-seniors sticking around for the 2024 season, recruiting needs will be in a fluid state the next several months. But here’s a look at three intriguing areas for the Cowboys’ summer recruiting: Oklahoma State quarterbacks coach Tim Rattay is targeting prospects in the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes. While many programs are still of the philosophy that every recruiting class should include a quarterback, the transfer portal is changing the mind of some. Gundy has said he’d ideally like to have three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster at all times, and with Alan Bowman in his super-senior year, the Cowboys will have an opening for a third scholarship player in the 2024 class. Of course, with Gunnar Gundy technically considered a walk-on alongside scholarship players Garret Rangel and Zane Flores, it’s not paramount that the Pokes add a quarterback in this class. Barring any departures, the Cowboys will go into the spring of 2024 with a redshirt junior (Gundy), a redshirt sophomore (Rangel) and a redshirt freshman (Flores) in the quarterback room. That doesn’t mean OSU is punting the idea of adding a 2024 quarterback. The most recent offer went to Aidan Glover of Collierville, Tennessee, about a month ago. And the Cowboys also like Maealiuaki Smith of San Mateo, California, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound, three-star prospect who has roughly 20 offers from coast to coast, mostly from Power Five programs. Should the Cowboys choose to stay local, the state’s top quarterback prospect is River Warren, who had a strong junior season at McGuinness and has moved to Del City for his senior year. At 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, Warren has several mid-major offers and continues to see his profile rise. Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo coaches during an Oklahoma State Cowboys Spring football practice at the at the Sherman Smith Training Center in Stillwater, Okla., Monday, March, 27, 2023. For the last five years, OSU has been recruiting to two linebacker positions, but with the move to new coordinator Bryan Nardo’s 3-3-5 defense, the linebacker group needs to build better long-term depth. One of those positions can be filled by a hybrid player who can be a linebacker but also line up as a defensive end, the way the Cowboys hope to use Collin Oliver this fall. Will Smith was that type of player, so OSU has a vacancy there now. The class already includes linebacker Jaylen Boardley of Texarkana, Texas, but OSU is sure to add more prospects at the position. OSU has nine scholarship linebackers and are set to lose two, with Xavier Benson and Justin Wright being super-seniors. The group has no seniors with an extra year available, so it’s a little easier to project what 2024 looks like for recruiting purposes. The Cowboys have several offers out to linebackers, and one of the most intriguing prospects among them is Carl Albert standout Xavier Robinson — whose intrigue is two-fold. First, is he a linebacker or a running back? He’s a gifted athlete who caught the attention of many with a breakout season last fall with the first 2,000-yard rushing season in the history of an historically powerful Carl Albert program. But at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds entering his senior season, will he outgrow the running back position? Some national recruiting services list him as a running back prospect, but others call him a linebacker. Beyond that, his recruiting — especially on the in-state level — will be interesting to follow with both OU and OSU showing strong interest, along with about 15 other programs around the country. Stillwater Pioneers Josh Ford (8) during high school football between Stillwater at Muskogee on November 3, 2022. (JOEY JOHNSON/For the Tulsa World) The Cowboys have already pulled in a pair of in-state commitments with running back Rodney Fields, who had a superb junior year at Southeast High School, and Stillwater tight end Josh Ford. But the Pokes have other offers out to Oklahoma prospects and the 2024 class in the state looks to be growing in depth. Homeschool star Daniel Okoye remains the state’s top recruit, and the Cowboys have offers out to others like Tulsa Union cornerback Devon Jordan, as well as Bergin Kysar, yet another standout defensive end prospect out of Edmond Santa Fe. And one of the more unique prospects holding an OSU offer is Wagoner’s 6-foot-6, 210-pound Witt Edwards, who could project at receiver, tight end, or even a hybrid linebacker/defensive end role because of his long, athletic frame.