Eric Morris Reflects on Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State Build, Challenges of Rebuilding in Transfer Portal Era

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Eric Morris has an interesting perspective on just how much Oklahoma State — and college football as a whole — has changed over the past two decades.

Morris was a freshman receiver at Texas Tech on Nov. 12, 2005, when Mike Gundy earned his first Big 12 victory as Oklahoma State's head coach with a 24-17 win over the Red Raiders.

More than 20 years later, Morris is now the man tasked with beginning Oklahoma State's next era. And he's doing it in a completely different college football landscape.

"College football has changed so drastically since then," Morris said. "Mike was slowly able to build it back then off high school players. That's how you did it back in the day. Toughness and grit."

Gundy ultimately transformed Oklahoma State into one of the Big 12's most consistent programs during his 21 seasons in charge. Morris, who has repeatedly praised his predecessor since arriving in Stillwater, understands the significance of what Gundy built.

"I've said it a ton of times. Mike is a legend around here," Morris said. "Created longevity, and that kind of was the start of it."

But the way Morris has been forced to begin his tenure couldn't look much different.

Rather than slowly constructing a roster primarily through high school recruiting and developing players over multiple seasons, Morris has taken advantage of the transfer portal to overhaul Oklahoma State almost immediately.

The Cowboys added 91 newcomers this offseason, including 68 transfers, following a 1-11 season. The massive turnover gives Morris an opportunity to change the program's trajectory quickly, but it also creates a challenge Gundy didn't face to nearly the same degree during the early years of his tenure.

"Now it's more intentional, getting these guys to really play together so fast," Morris said. "We have guys here from all different walks of life."

Morris brought several players with him from North Texas who already understand his system and expectations, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young. But most of Oklahoma State's roster has never played a meaningful game together.

That makes Saturday's season opener against Tulsa an important first test for more than just the Cowboys' talent. Morris wants to learn how his newly assembled team reacts when things don't go according to plan.

"I'm just interested myself to see how we respond as a team the first time something bad happens in this game," Morris said. "I talk openly with our players about that."

Oklahoma State spent part of Sunday studying games from the opening weekend of the college football season. Morris said his staff compiled examples of mistakes from across the country — including FCS games — to demonstrate what can happen when players are dealing with the emotions and anxiety of a season opener.

"There was sloppy play all across America," Morris said. "Showing the first game, anxious and making mistakes, and how you respond after that. We had a lot of teaching moments and thankful for that."

Interestingly, Tulsa coach Tre Lamb believes Morris' ability to evaluate talent makes him particularly well-suited for this new era of roster construction.

Lamb praised the job Morris has done assembling Oklahoma State's rebuilt roster ahead of Saturday's matchup and called him "the right guy for the job."

"He's an incredible evaluator of talent," Lamb said. "Not just quarterbacks, but backs and wideouts."

Lamb even jokingly described himself as the "JV version of Coach Morris" while saying he looks up to the Cowboys' new head coach.

That ability to identify talent could prove especially valuable in a version of college football where coaches no longer necessarily have years to build their programs.

More than two decades ago, Morris witnessed one of the early steps in Gundy's long rebuild at Oklahoma State from the opposite sideline.

Now he's responsible for building the Cowboys' next era at a dramatically accelerated pace.

"We'll need to have a winning recipe in all three phases," Morris said. "That's something we've preached consistently the last couple of weeks."

Saturday will provide the first indication of whether Oklahoma State's almost entirely new roster is ready to win together.

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