STILLWATER – Everyone who’s had anything to do with, or loved Oklahoma State football, including Chad Weiberg, knew of the enormity of this hire. The future of Oklahoma State Athletics literally depended on the hire, and that’s not an exaggeration, and Weiberg has delivered it in spades in Eric Morris.
Morris comes to Stillwater after taking over North Texas in 2023. The Mean Green went 5-7 in year one, 6-7 in year two and are currently 10-1 overall and ranked No. 21, their first appearance in the rankings since 1959.
Morris recruited and is developing quarterback Drew Mestemaker, a redshirt freshman who currently leads the nation in passing with 3,469 yards, top 15 in completion percentage at 70% on 251-of-358 passing and completions per game with nearly 23 completions and top five in passing efficiency at 173.24.
They also have a top 20 running back in the country in freshman Caleb Hawkins, who hails from Shawnee, OK. Hawkins is 17th in the country with 1,030 rushing yards and leads the nation with 19 rushing touchdowns, while averaging just over six yards per carry and 103 yards per game.
One of the things talked about leading up to this hire was the importance of the new head coach, regardless of who it would be, was how many players he was going to bring with him. While it hasn’t been announced who Morris will be bringing with him to Stillwater, it’s certainly imperative he’s able to bring two of the best offensive players in the country with him, both freshman he recruited to Denton, TX.
Mestemaker is just the latest in the long line of talented quarterbacks evaluated, recruited and trained by Eric Morris, who helped get Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield to Texas Tech, John Mateer to Washington State and Cam Ward to Incarnate Word and North Texas. Pretty great list of quarterbacks, and Mestemaker seems to be up next. Getting Mestemaker to Stillwater would almost immediately turns the offense around.
Weiberg has done a great job getting coaches to Stillwater. Jacie Hoyt has been great for Cowgirl basketball, making the NCAA tournament and several weeks in the AP Top 25 and a chance to compete for a Big 12 title this season. David Taylor helped OSU to a third-place finish in wrestling this past spring, a Big 12 title, two individual national champions and the Hodge Trophy winner, wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, in Wyatt Hendrickson. Steve Lutz has turned Cowboy basketball around in two years and has the first 6-0 start since the 2020-21 season.
Morris will have to prove he’s the right guy once he gets here as he’ll have his work cut out for him in retaining players from the current roster, building and maintaining a recruiting class and building a roster out of the transfer portal. But on its face, Weiberg has delivered the home run hire Oklahoma State desperately needed, and did so in spades.
TeaTownCowboy said:
Hopefully Fields (and his brother) stays and UNT's RB from Shawnee, Caleb Hawkins, comes to Stilly. Those two will both go nuts with a better-than-average O-line and with a good one, could both go over 1,000 yards!
jpmn said:
Great hire! Should we expect more than one conference championship in the next 20+ years?
