Mike Gundy isn't going to change. Honestly, why should he? While the rest of the Big 12 is busy trying to outspend each other in the NIL arms race, the mullet-clad face of Stillwater stays leaning into a philosophy that feels almost ancient in 2026. Oklahoma State Cowboys football recruiting has never been about collecting five-star stickers like they’re trading cards. It’s about find-and-grind. It’s about finding the kid from a 2A high school in East Texas who plays with a chip the size of a cow patty and turning him into an All-American by year three.
People get this wrong constantly. They look at the 247Sports rankings every February and see the Pokes sitting at 35th or 48th and assume the sky is falling. It isn't.
If you’ve followed this program for more than a week, you know the "Cowboy Culture" isn't just a locker room slogan they printed on a cheap t-shirt. It is a literal scouting filter. Gundy and his staff, including long-time figures like Kasey Dunn and Joe Bob Clements, have built a system that prioritizes "fit" over "fame." They want guys who actually want to be in Stillwater. They want the overlooked.
It works. Just look at the NFL rosters.
The Reality of Oklahoma State Cowboys Football Recruiting in the NIL Era
The landscape has shifted beneath everyone's feet. We aren't in Kansas anymore, and we certainly aren't in the old Big 12. With the departure of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, the power vacuum in the new-look Big 12 is massive. But here’s the kicker: recruiting hasn't actually gotten easier just because the "big brothers" left the neighborhood.
NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) has turned every recruiting battle into a bidding war. Oklahoma State has the Pokes with a Purpose collective, and they’re doing fine, but they aren't outbidding Oregon or Texas A&M for a consensus top-10 prospect. They won't.
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Instead, the staff targets specific profiles. They look for high-ceiling athletes who might be slightly undersized or play in obscure regions. Take a look at the history of their offensive line recruiting. They don't usually land the 330-pound behemoths with thirty offers. They find the 260-pound tight end/tackle hybrid who can run a 4.8 and spend two years in the weight room with Rob Glass. Glass is arguably the most important "recruit" the program ever landed, and his ability to transform three-star bodies into NFL frames is the secret sauce.
Evaluation Over Celebration
Most fans want the dopamine hit of a "Boom" tweet. They want the five-star defensive tackle from Florida. But Oklahoma State’s success is built on the three-star linebacker from Bixby or the wide receiver from a tiny town in Georgia that nobody else visited.
The evaluation process in Stillwater is grueling. Coaches aren't just watching tape; they are looking at multi-sport participation. They love wrestlers. They love track stars. If a kid can win a state title in wrestling at 185 pounds, he’s got the leverage and the mental toughness to play linebacker for Bryan Nardo.
Winning the Transfer Portal Game
You can't talk about Oklahoma State Cowboys football recruiting anymore without talking about the portal. It's essentially "Free Agency 2.0." While some programs use the portal to replace an entire roster, Gundy uses it like a precision tool.
Think back to the 2023 season. After a mass exodus of players, critics said the program was dead. Then, Gundy went out and grabbed pieces that fit. They didn't just take the highest-rated guys; they took veterans who were tired of losing or tired of being backup options at "Blue Blood" schools.
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The portal is where Oklahoma State often finds its immediate fixes for the secondary or a veteran presence at quarterback. It bridges the gap while the high school signees—the "developmental" guys—get their bodies ready for the rigors of a 12-game schedule. It's a balancing act that requires a lot of honesty. Gundy is famously blunt with recruits. He tells them they’ll have to work. He tells them they might not play early. In a world of recruiters telling kids whatever they want to hear, that honesty actually becomes a unique selling point.
The Texas Pipeline vs. The New Frontier
Texas will always be the lifeblood. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is basically an extension of the OSU campus at this point. However, since the Big 12 expanded to include schools like UCF, Cincinnati, and Arizona State, the recruiting map has stretched.
We’re seeing the Cowboys dip their toes more into Florida and even the Desert Southwest. But the core remains the same:
- The 250-mile radius around Stillwater.
- The state of Texas.
- Legacy players.
The "legacy" factor is huge. When you have former players sending their sons to play for the same head coach they had twenty years ago, it says something about the stability of the program. Stability is a rare currency in college football right now.
Why Rankings Often Lie About the Pokes
If you look at the 2021 class, it wasn't topped with five-star talent. Yet, that group helped propel the team to a Fiesta Bowl win and came an inch away from a Big 12 title. The recruiting services measure "floor," but Oklahoma State recruits for "ceiling."
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A kid might be a three-star because he’s 6'2" and 190 pounds. The recruiting analyst sees a skinny kid. Joe Bob Clements sees a guy with an 80-inch wingspan who can add 40 pounds of muscle without losing a step. That's the nuance. That's why the Cowboys consistently outproduce their recruiting rank.
There's also the "Quarterback Whisperer" aspect. Whether it’s been Brandon Weeden, Mason Rudolph, or the emergence of homegrown talent, the system is designed to make the quarterback look good. Recruits see that. They see the points on the board. They see the "Air Raid" derivatives that allow receivers to put up video game numbers.
Addressing the Misconceptions
Some people think Oklahoma State is a "budget" program. That’s a myth. The facilities in Stillwater—the Boone Pickens Stadium, the Sherman E. Smith Training Center—are elite. They have the money. What they don't have is the desire to participate in a "circus."
You won't see Mike Gundy doing TikTok dances to land a recruit. You won't see the staff promising a starting spot and a Lamborghini on day one. They sell a blue-collar identity. It's a "take it or leave it" proposition. For a certain type of player—the one who wants to get to the NFL and doesn't mind the wind blowing 30 mph in January—it’s paradise.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you want to truly track how Oklahoma State Cowboys football recruiting is performing, stop looking at the star count and start looking at these three metrics:
- Offer Lists: Look at who else offered the kid. If Oklahoma State is battling Kansas State, Iowa State, and TCU for a player, that’s a "culture fit" battle they usually win. If they are the only "Power Four" offer for a kid who eventually signs, pay attention—that’s a developmental sleeper the staff loves.
- Multi-Sport Background: Check if the recruits are track athletes or wrestlers. The Cowboys' highest-performing defenders almost always have a secondary sport background that emphasizes individual explosive movement.
- The "Summer Surge": OSU tends to get their work done early. They host massive "The Show" camps in the summer. If a kid commits in June or July after one of these camps, he’s usually been vetted thoroughly by the entire staff, not just a position coach.
The landscape will keep changing. Revenue sharing is coming. The playoff is expanding. But the blueprint in Stillwater is likely to remain the same: find the toughest kids in the room, feed them to Rob Glass, and let them hunt. It might not win the "Recruiting National Championship" in February, but it wins 9 or 10 games in November, and for Cowboy fans, that's a trade they’ll take every single year.
To keep a pulse on the trail, focus on the mid-summer official visit windows. These are the primary indicators of who the staff has prioritized as "Day 1" impact players versus the long-term developmental projects that define the roster's depth. Watch the offensive line targets specifically; those are the foundational pieces that dictate the success of the entire offensive system under Kasey Dunn. Don't sweat the de-commitments that happen during the winter flip season; the staff usually has a backup plan already moving through the evaluation pipeline.