There's no 'perfect science' to building rosters, but Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris believes in his process

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When new Oklahoma State head football coach Eric Morris began his first season as the head coach at Incarnate Word in 2018, he saw opportunity.

The transfer portal was in its early stages, and Morris noticed other programs trending toward using the portal more frequently instead of recruiting high schools. Morris thought he could find some steals in the portal with talented players who were being overlooked. It worked out, like in 2020 with quarterback Cam Ward, who Morris developed at UIW and who later became a star at Miami and the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

“And everybody’s like, ‘How the heck did that happen?’” Morris said. “Well, it happened because of the transfer portal, and nobody’s taking high school kids or looking at these guys.”

Morris used that formula for success at North Texas the past three years, including this year’s 11-2 season. He brought in redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker, the nation’s leading passer, freshman running back Caleb Hawkins, who is 14th nationally in rushing yards and first in scoring, and sophomore receiver Wyatt Young, who ranks fifth in receiving yards. All three are Morris high school recruits.

Now, Morris is bringing that mindset to OSU, and he’s filling out his staff with many UNT coaches who know the system, too. Of course Morris utilizes the portal as well, which opens Jan. 2, but he has his own way of balancing high school recruiting and transfer portal shopping to put together his kind of roster.

It can be done quickly and effectively, too. Morris said top programs used to be saturated with talent and had bench players who were better than starters on many teams. Now, in the new age, talent is being dispersed because of NIL and the transfer portal.

Look no further than Indiana, Morris said. The Hoosiers have the most all-time losses in college football, and in two years, new coach Curt Cignetti has them as the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff along with a Big Ten Championship.

“I think there’s definitely a formula to success now, and I think we’re seeing that in the parity in college football right now,” Morris said. “… I think this new landscape has allowed there to be a pathway to be really good and flip a roster in a hurry.

“Now, with that being said, I think there’s a bunch of examples, too, where people are full revenue share, and just from a sheer business aspect, the ROI on their investments hasn’t been great. And everybody, donors included, are sitting there looking at, ‘OK, we finally invested, and this is what we got?’”

To avoid that as much as possible, Morris said he relies on his own scouting process.

“We really believe in the process, No. 1, that we have recruiting-wise,” Morris said. “And our process is different than everybody else’s. Sometimes it’s a little bit slower than everybody else’s.”

Morris likes to get to know recruits on a personal basis, learning about their attitude, character, family and other things. Then, he likes to see how they think and process situations. Processing and making good decisions quickly is important in Morris air-raid offense.

Especially at quarterback. Morris just signed three-star quarterback Broderick Vehrs and earned a commitment from unranked QB recruit Luke Tepas, a 6-4, 205-pound QB from Illinois. Neither was recruited heavily, but that means nothing to Morris. He has his own criteria, and his track record – Ward, John Mateer, Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, etc. – shows it works.

“So, we have a way that we’re able to judge that in the recruiting process,” Morris said. “If I take a three-star quarterback, nobody get mad at me. That’s all I can say. We have a set of qualifications and kind of a formula that we have to recruit these guys.”

The problem for Morris at UNT and Incarnate Word wasn’t the recruitment or development of players. It was the retention of them.

Four starters from Morris’ first UNT offensive line in 2023 started at Power Four schools this year. That happens, but OSU has more resources than UNT to bring players in and retain them.

Those player personnel decisions are also where an important member of Morris’ front office, Raj Murti, comes into play. Murti, 24, is the general manager at OSU after following Morris from UNT.

Morris said he likes to build relationships with recruits and players, which is good, but sometimes emotions don’t make the best business decisions. That’s where Murti comes in. He handles the business aspect for Morris.

“That’s been so valuable for me to separate those things and Raj to be the guy that’s kind of that point in between,” Morris said. “He’s done the personnel side in this conference, both at TCU and at Houston, so he understands what a Big 12 All-Conference-caliber player looks like and plays like.”

Murti and Morris have their work cut out for them. The Cowboys have already lost more than 30 players to the transfer portal and are quickly trying to build a competitive roster. OSU signed only 15 recruits on national signing day on Dec. 3, and the class ranked 87th overall, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

Morris and his staff were limited, having only around a week to put together a signing class. Again, the star ratings or class rankings aren’t a worry for Morris. Those were his guys, who he vetted in his own way, including three-star running back KD Jones of Jenks, who was OSU’s top signee.

“I’m such a big believer in personal evaluations and knowing not only what the kid can do physically, but I like to know their families and their mental makeup, and how are they going to fit into our culture that we’re gonna build here?” Morris said. “Obviously, the timeline wasn’t perfect for us this year. But I believe in recruiting Oklahoma. I’ve done it everywhere I’ve been. That won’t change.”

But Morris will have to dive heavily into the upcoming portal period, too. And with his staff falling into place, it’s full steam ahead to that process.

Just don’t get caught up yet in class rankings or portal exits, though. Morris has his own approach and methods in recruiting and searching the portal, and it’s panned out for him at previous stops. Now, he’s trying to replicate it at OSU.

“There’s not a perfect science to it,” Morris said, “but I think I do have a great idea on how fast you have to move in the portal. And then also, I’ve made a ton of mistakes. I’m always my biggest self-critic, and to where learning from those mistakes and then growing a year later, I think we’ve really figured out how to utilize the portal in a really successful way, while we’re going to sign big high school classes every single year.”

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