Oklahoma State football practice opens with new era, energy under Eric Morris

STILLWATER — Eric Morris jammed the flip card with Oklahoma State’s practice plan into his pocket and called for a football.

The brand new machine designed to rocket footballs into the air for punt returners wasn’t working — “All the technology petered out on us there,” Morris said — and the punters were off working on another field. So, the Cowboy head coach stepped in.

“That,” he said with a hint of a raised eyebrow, “was not by design.”

But after a few of what can only be described as ugly pooch punts, Morris’ experience as a high school punter kicked in and balls began spiraling toward Cowboy punt returners.

More: Oklahoma State football opens fall practice with these key position battles

As the Cowboys began practice on Wednesday morning, lots of things looked different. Nearly every player on the roster is new. Every position coach and assistant position coach and analyst is, too. The support-staff holdovers can be counted on two hands.

Still, the most obvious change is the head coach.

Gone is Mike Gundy, fired mid-season last year after being at the helm for more than two decades and part of OSU football for an amazing 35 of the past 40 years as either a player or coach of some flavor.

The last time OSU opened fall practice and Gundy wasn’t a part of it was 2000.

Morris was still an underclassman at Shallowater High School then.

Now, it’s up to him to clean up the mess that Gundy left. For all the successes, all the wins, all the grandeur that can be attributed to Gundy, the last few seasons were a disaster. No conference wins. Coaching that was severely lacking. Playing that was, too.

The first season of getting Cowboy football back to where it was for much of the past two decades began officially with the first practice — and no one was more fired up than Morris.

“I was telling my wife the other day, I’ve been here eight or nine months, and I’m the same way,” he said of everyone with connections to OSU. “I’m so anxious to see these guys play against somebody else.”

That’s understandable. Morris wants to see how this roster and this staff stack up. He brought his entire coaching staff from North Texas as well as a bunch of his Mean Green players. Dozens of other transfers from other places were pulled out of the portal, too.

Morris believes he has assembled a group that can compete in the Big 12 and in Power Four football — otherwise, he wouldn’t have leaned so heavily on those North Texas ties — but he doesn’t know for sure.

Only games will tell.

“With that being said, there’s a process to that,” he said, “and we need these 25 practices to get ready to be prepared to figure it out.”

That’s why Morris spent much of the first half of practice moving from one position group to another, from one drill to another. He spent more time with offensive players, and that’s to be expected as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator. When a route-running drill needed a receiver at the point of a trips triangle, Morris stepped in, sticking a neon orange Nike into the line of scrimmage, dropping his hands to his sides and looking toward the quarterback for the snap.

Looking, too, like the guy who played receiver at Texas Tech.

But Morris wasn’t all about the offense. He watched intently as defensive backs and defensive tackles and linebackers went through their paces, too.

“There’s some people that are set on the depth chart already,” Morris said, “but we’ve got some battles going on right now.”

More: Where does Oklahoma State football stadium rank among Big 12 venues?

He said he will give defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity a lot of autonomy in making decisions about that side of the ball. Ultimately, who starts and who plays where will be determined by the defensive staff.

But Morris is still heavily involved in defensive meetings and conversations.

“At times, I’ll go into the D staff room and just get a quick runaround about where our kids are, what they’re doing well, what we need improvement on,” he said. “And then in team meeting segments, I know the defensive verbiage, and so I think it’s good for me to get up there and to address the defense and let them know, ‘Hey, I know what I’m talking about.’”

Part of that is seeing the players practice.

And that meant Morris, clad in a black and white trucker hat with script Pokes across the front, was everywhere Wednesday morning. Inside. Outside. Offense. Defense. And yes, special teams. 

He punted more than two dozen balls toward the returners.

“Need a sub?” a position assistant finally asked.

Morris, who had moved farther back as he warmed up, relinquished his spot. 

“My hamstrings will be sore tomorrow,” he said with a chuckle.

He didn’t seem to mind having a reminder of his first practice as the Cowboy head coach and the start of a new era for OSU football.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football practice opens with new era, energy under Eric Morris