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Oklahoma State Football

Trying to Make Sense of This as Two More Oklahoma State Players Go Portal

January 4, 2023
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STILLWATER – Two more Oklahoma State players have entered the transfer portal, the second and third in two days.

Sophomore receiver Bryson Green and red-shirt senior defensive tackle Samuela Tuihalamaka are the latest Cowboys to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, joining receiver John Paul Richardson, who entered into the portal on Tuesday.

The Richardson entry into the transfer portal was a shock. The youngest player to be voted captain in recent and even distant memory, Richardson was off to a great career, but according to our sources wanted more and wasn’t sure he could get that at Oklahoma State. Now another productive receiver has gone in the portal.

NATHAN J FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY
Green has made some spectacular catches in his career.

Green, a 6-1 sophomore out of Allen (TX) HS played a huge role in the Cowboys’ offense until an injury against Oklahoma in the second-to-last game of the regular season. In 11 games, Green hauled in 36 catches for 584 yards and five touchdowns. He recorded three 100+ yard games, including a career-high 133 yards and one touchdown in the 41-34 win over Texas on Homecoming.

He also posted 115 yards and one touchdown in the 41-31 win over Texas Tech and 105 yards in the 37-16 loss to Kansas.

Green was a key member of the 2021 class and played in 12 games this past season as a true freshman, starting in six. He hauled in 12 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer
Blaine Green is apparently staying at Oklahoma State.

The best game of his freshman season came in the season opener against Missouri State, in which he recorded three receptions for 41 yards.

We’ve tried to learn more about why Green decided to go in the portal, and his brother Blaine, who missed all of the 2022 season with injury did not.

The explanations we received were sketchy but were told it had more to do with playing time and targets than NIL or any other facet of the program. 

Tuihalamaka has one season to play, and he has his degree from Oklahoma State meaning he has potentially good options other than football. The 6-1, 304-pound defensive tackle from Mater Dei High School in Riverside, Calf. has a COVID season available but has exhausted the traditional four seasons in five-years of eligibility. After posting an unassisted and assisted tackle in the bowl loss to Wisconsin, he has 51 total tackles (27 unassisted and 24 assisted) in his Oklahoma State career playing in 34 games. 

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer
Tuihalmaka with a tackle against Texas.

This past season was his best year statistically with 23 tackles (10 unassisted and 13 assisted). He also had four tackles-for-loss and one sack. The sack came against Texas Tech as did a tackle-for-loss. He had 1.5 tackles-for-loss in the opener against Central Michigan.

His freshman season Tuihalamaka had 20 total tackles with a sack at West Virginia and he shared in a tackle-for-loss against Tulsa and Texas. 

One source told us that Tuihalamaka was disappointed he didn’t play more in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl with over 40 family members and friends there to see him play.  

Green and Tuihalamaka mark the (14th and 15th) former Cowboy players to enter into the portal, joining Spencer Sanders (QB), John Paul Richardson (WR), Braylin Presley (WR), Eli Russ (OL), Langston Anderson (WR), Dominic Richardson (RB), Jabbar Muhammad (CB), Mason Cobb (LB), Kanion Williams (S/ST), Thomas Harper (DB), Demarco Jones (DB/ST), Trace Ford (DE) and Na’Drian Dizadare.

Coming into the program out of the portal is Washington State wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling, with OSU having sent out multiple other portal offers as well. Out of the 2023 signing class, OSU added WR/Ath Camron Heard out of Furr HS in Houston, TX.

As you can see, receiver is a position that is in the most transition. One speculation is that the departure of veteran quarterback Spencer Sanders and no established quarterback on the roster, either in waiting or coming from the portal, might have receivers concerned. The offense struggled some with freshman Garret Rangel and red-shirt freshman Gunnar Gundy filling in. Rangel had solid numbers in his first two starts (Kansas and West Virginia) but struggled in the bowl game in part to the struggles of the run game. There is no doubt the offense will be overhauled in the offseason. 

Another potential issue is NIL. Oklahoma State is participating and doing it within the boundaries of the NCAA rules. The rumors are rampant that others are not following the rules and that some Oklahoma State players are being tampered with. It is very hard to discover any hard-core facts on that.

Natural speculation would be about the state of the program and that is for head coach Mike Gundy to determine. One thing is certain, the Cowboys, who have brought in good talent from the portal are again back running at a deficit with these three most recent losses and must work on compensating and if quarterback is a problem, find a way to get a veteran quarterback on the roster to stall the panic and the departures.

Discussion from...

Trying to Make Sense of This as Two More Oklahoma State Players Go Portal

39,916 Views | 137 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by GumbyFromPokeyLand
Joe Khatib
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Yup, NIL is the damn scourge of collegiate sports, you can thank NIL for playing the major role in Cobb, Muhammad, Sanders, Richardson and now Greene heading to the portal! The others were looking for more opportunities for playing time and a couple, I will be frank here, were told they needed to move on!
eddy.mcdaniels
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Really glad Gundy spent time and energy teeing off on that reporter though. Really the type of things he should be focused on.

That or it's a symptom of the larger cultural rot Gundy has built as a whole.
Joe Khatib
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eddy.mcdaniels said:

Really glad Gundy spent time and energy teeing off on that reporter though. Really the type of things he should be focused on.

That or it's a symptom of the larger cultural rot Gundy has built as a whole.
Ok Drama Queen, Ask Brock Martin, Brendan Evers, Malcolm Rodriguez, Christian Holmes, Devin Harper, Kolby Harrell-Peel, Jaylon Warren, Danny Godlevske, Tay Martin and I could go on and on about cultural rot!!! This program helped put a lot of these guys in the NFL!
Crazed_Stallion
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Csquaredosu66
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Crazed_Stallion said:

Fire Mike Gundy. This is embarrassing. They are leaving because the old man won't adapt to anything.
and replace him with whom? Josh Henson? HA!
Cdub234
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Dumb statement. Yeah those 30 seconds should've been spent recruiting current players to stay. You got it. Problem solved!
Doug Gosney
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RA - can you provide a level set of our receivers right now? As of this morning? Realize changes are happening fast and furious. Current players, portal, and high school signees. Trying to find some positive angle, hopefully this opens up playing time and targets for Johnson and Shettron and encourages them to stay. Thanks.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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We're officially in a new era of college football (sports). A coaching staff (and program) is only as good as your NIL funding. And even then, the only way (legally) a player currently receiving NIL $$$ can find out if even more NIL $$$ are available is to enter the portal. This is an impossible situation for a quality program, with quality coaches, facilities and player amenities to consistently field a competitive team without a top-tier, well funded well organized NIL program.

And as a side note, no player will receive my gratitude for playing FOR the university until if and when that player finishes his collegiate career as a Cowboy. Then, and only then, can a player claim to show a commitment to his teammates, coaches and school that committed to him.
Csquaredosu66
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Doug Gosney said:

RA - can you provide a level set of our receivers right now? As of this morning? Realize changes are happening fast and furious. Current players, portal, and high school signees. Trying to find some positive angle, hopefully this opens up playing time and targets for Johnson and Shettron and encourages them to stay. Thanks.
WSU Tranfer
Shatterton / Johnson
Presley - he will be in the portal i have a feeling
Bray
Gilkey
PaloDuroPoke
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I have to laugh at some of our fans. Gundys biggest weakness is his loyalty. He has let his decisions about staff linger to long and it's causing issues. He needs to act now. Transfer portal and NIL has changed the game. Results in recruiting and performance needs to be all that matters in accountability for his assistants. Coaches are dealing with selfish kids. Sorry to break it to you but the world is SELFISH. I supervise over 80 professional employees and all we do is recruit and hire. Turnover is incredible everywhere. It's a new day in everything. Most people aren't interested in loyalty or the name of your brand. It's all about attention and selfishness. That's the adjustment that needs to be made. Expect losses every year and coaches most important job next to getting them ready to play, is finding talent in the portal. Development of young players is taking a hit. Free agency in college sports is the new recruiting focus.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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Crazed_Stallion said:

Fire Mike Gundy. This is embarrassing. They are leaving because the old man won't adapt to anything.

Like what, Zero boy?
Doug Gosney
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Thanks. Good players, but depth getting a little thin. Hopefully more time and targets for them provide a reason for them to stay.
Crazed_Stallion
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Somebody younger and hungry to win.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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PaloDuroPoke said:

I have to laugh at some of our fans. Gundys biggest weakness is his loyalty. He has let his decisions about staff linger to long and it's causing issues. He needs to act now. Transfer portal and NIL has changed the game. Results in recruiting and performance needs to be all that matters in accountability for his assistants. Coaches are dealing with selfish kids. Sorry to break it to you but the world is SELFISH. I supervise over 80 professional employees and all we do is recruit and hire. Turnover is incredible everywhere. It's a new day in everything. Most people aren't interested in loyalty or the name of your brand. It's all about attention and selfishness. That's the adjustment that needs to be made. Expect losses every year and coaches most important job next to getting them ready to play, is finding talent in the portal. Development of young players is taking a hit. Free agency in college sports is the new recruiting focus.


Most important job is finding talent in the portal? That part is easy. But what good is an offer to a player in the portal without commensurate NIL$$$?

Talent acquisition and retention is no longer the sole responsibility of the coaching staff. It's quickly getting to the point where the responsibility of the coaches stops at talent identification. Acquisition and retention responsibility lies with the NIL folks.
PaloDuroPoke
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Decisions made on staff and transfers in the coming weeks will be vitally important to our near future. Culture is important but won't be our life blood going forward. It's time for Gundy to roll up his sleeves and compete in a different way and the focus has to be results or we could very well have seen our best days. I'm not ready to throw in the towel by any means. There is a lot of talent here but QB has to be priority no matter what it cost. D-line and receiving crew depth is now a concern.
PaloDuroPoke
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True but places like A&M have all the money in the world and have lost more than anyone. Just win and people will be happy if they are playing. The vast majority of kids aren't getting paydays. They want to play. Our wr group is a great example. We had great depth and continue to recruit. Kids are going to leave. There are just so many starters on the field at one time.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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PaloDuroPoke said:

Decisions made on staff and transfers in the coming weeks will be vitally important to our near future. Culture is important but won't be our life blood going forward. It's time for Gundy to roll up his sleeves and compete in a different way and the focus has to be results or we could very well have seen our best days. I'm not ready to throw in the towel by any means. There is a lot of talent here but QB has to be priority no matter what it cost. D-line and receiving crew depth is now a concern.


Have no idea what you're talking about. Results has always been the focus. It is for every coach. It's the only path to getting paid.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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PaloDuroPoke said:

True but places like A&M have all the money in the world and have lost more than anyone. Just win and people will be happy if they are playing. The vast majority of kids aren't getting paydays. They want to play. Our wr group is a great example. We had great depth and continue to recruit. Kids are going to leave. There are just so many starters on the field at one time.


Starters don't leave to get more playing time. And it's losing starters that kills your starting quality and depth.

As for aTm, they had too many 4&5 stars that had yet to get meaningful PT. Combine that with the opportunity to get even more NIL$$$, and the result is portal bingo.
PaloDuroPoke
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If results mattered we wouldn't have seen the **** show on offense the last several years. Our online has been an issue in recruiting and performance for a long time. Our offense has struggle the last several years. There has to be accountability if you want to stay where you are. This game has turned into the NFL. My preference is to go back to the old ways and recruit good kids, develop them, and build a culture where they want to work hard and play when they get their chance. That time has passed. It's a different game.
Inquisitor
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I am very concerned. NIL or bad coaching or whatever the cause, we need to fix it yesterday.
PaloDuroPoke
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You just made my point. Too many 4-5 stars and most are freshmen that didn't want to wait. JP is leaving as a starter for mor opportunity. He wants to be the man according to this article. You can have all the money in the world and people will still leave and you still might lose 7 games. Hello A&M.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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PaloDuroPoke said:

If results mattered we wouldn't have seen the **** show on offense the last several years. Our online has been an issue in recruiting and performance for a long time. Our offense has struggle the last several years. There has to be accountability if you want to stay where you are. This game has turned into the NFL. My preference is to go back to the old ways and recruit good kids, develop them, and build a culture where they want to work hard and play when they get their chance. That time has passed. It's a different game.


Results (for the HC) = Ws. Not recruiting ranking. Not statistical ranking. Just Ws. As for assistant coaches, their results are what the HC establishes for each. And while many fans think they know, I'm not going to be the one to assume and state whether any particular assistant has failed to meet expectations to the extent it warrants a change. I have faith Gundy is 1 million times more equipped to make that decision than me or any other fan.
GumbyFromPokeyLand
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PaloDuroPoke said:

You just made my point. Too many 4-5 stars and most are freshmen that didn't want to wait. JP is leaving as a starter for mor opportunity. He wants to be the man according to this article. You can have all the money in the world and people will still leave and you still might lose 7 games. Hello A&M.


College athletes are really no different than pro athletes. Absolute $$$ may not drive the decision, but the highest offer indicates who "wants them" the most. It's an ego thing. Also within the "ego" realm is 3 star athletes getting an opportunity to play for a 4 or 5 star program that didn't initially recruit them.
okstate819
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Guys, Mike Gundy has lost the locker room. That's what's happening. This has nothing to do with Dunn
NJAggie
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Yep, egos are big, and some want to be the feature whatever, and can't understand why they're not. We've seen several of those in this out bound group. Kids think they'll find a place that will showcase them more and they'll get an NFL shot because of it. The money is really driving so much of this its scary.
Crazed_Stallion
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Except only 1 of those players is actually playing in the NFL.
Crazed_Stallion
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Presley, johnson, Shetron all leaving.
Roughrider
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I guess not having a personal relationship with your players and looking like you take Prozac before games isn't the recipe for success some claimed.
CaliforniaCowboy
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okstate819 said:

Guys, Mike Gundy has lost the locker room. That's what's happening. This has nothing to do with Dunn
he lost the locker room when he bowed down to Chubba and kissed his but..

He needed to stand up then and demonstrate who was in charge....

..... I suppose Boynton "lost the locker room" last year when half the team bolted for the portal, but seemingly we may actually be better with addition through subtraction.

besides, it's his locker room to lose.... "lost the locker room"... SMH
Elbone65
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Hmm? Well we are many months away from 2023 season and already feels like its going to be a very long one for us OSU fans.
While the rest of the Big 12 is getting stronger (i.e. Kansas) OSU just keeps loosing players on a daily basis. Clearly something is definitely wrong within the program, culture, coaching who knows, but something definitely has to change very soon if OSU hopes to at the very least be competitive in 2023, as the team looks right now I wouldn't bet against Central Arkansas or South Alabama this year LOL
okstate819
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Tell me you dont understand the modern college football player without telling me.... Show who's in charge? CMON. Mike isint a people person. He doesnt connect with the players, doesnt understand them and doesnt care. He just wants to be the toast of Stillwater and get the credit when things go well. Then run and hide from difficult questions at every turn when things are going bad. Why wait until after next years 4-8 season to fire the man. Get on with it.
CaliforniaCowboy
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okstate819 said:

Tell me you dont understand the modern college football player without telling me.... Show who's in charge? CMON. Mike isint a people person. He doesnt connect with the players, doesnt understand them and doesnt care. He just wants to be the toast of Stillwater and get the credit when things go well. Then run and hide from difficult questions at every turn when things are going bad. Why wait until after next years 4-8 season to fire the man. Get on with it.
nonsense. You have no evidence of any of that.

Simple mindless Poke bashing.

I get it though, you know what I think, you know what Coach Gundy thinks, you know what he cares about, you have all the answers.... I get it. SMH. good lord.
okstate819
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Anyone who's paying attention to basic facts for the last several years without America's brightest orange tinted glasses on can see what's going on. Mike has openly said he's not a people person, doesn't communicate with players about important decisions, only sees his assistant coaches twice a week.... i could go on

He's the first guy running for a pay raise after we have one season where expectations are met (not exceeded) and yet snipes at perfectly reasonable questions and is in a "bad mood" at any time when were not winning and the press isn't waving palm palms at the press conference.

Mike has to change to significantly to win in this era where players have flexibility. I see no evidence he will.
CaliforniaCowboy
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okstate819 said:

Anyone who's paying attention to basic facts for the last several years without America's brightest orange tinted glasses on can see what's going on. Mike has openly said he's not a people person, doesn't communicate with players about important decisions, only sees his assistant coaches twice a week.... i could go on

He's the first guy running for a pay raise after we have one season where expectations are met (not exceeded) and yet snipes at perfectly reasonable questions and is in a "bad mood" at any time when were not winning and the press isn't waving palm palms at the press conference.

Mike has to change to significantly to win in this era where players have flexibility. I see no evidence he will.
yeah, that's the answer. I call BS on your libelous statements so automatically it's me that is not "paying attention"... who apparently can't see "basic facts".

I like Mike and his approach, yours, not so much. It's time for the feckless woke AD and token woman placeholders to move on and turn this whole university over to Gundy.

Mike needs to do whatever he feels like doing, and live with the consequences... like playing for a conf championship just last year.

the Pokes bashers have been laying in wait during our success, just to pounce and demand change after just one injury plagued WINNING season, and another post season bowl.

Gundy is a man, he's 52, he can push the inconsiderate media around all he wants, and we should cheer him for it.
Csquaredosu66
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CaliforniaCowboy said:

okstate819 said:

Anyone who's paying attention to basic facts for the last several years without America's brightest orange tinted glasses on can see what's going on. Mike has openly said he's not a people person, doesn't communicate with players about important decisions, only sees his assistant coaches twice a week.... i could go on

He's the first guy running for a pay raise after we have one season where expectations are met (not exceeded) and yet snipes at perfectly reasonable questions and is in a "bad mood" at any time when were not winning and the press isn't waving palm palms at the press conference.

Mike has to change to significantly to win in this era where players have flexibility. I see no evidence he will.
yeah, that's the answer. I call BS on your libelous statements so automatically it's me that is not "paying attention"... who apparently can't see "basic facts".

I like Mike and his approach, yours, not so much. It's time for the feckless woke AD and token woman placeholders to move on and turn this whole university over to Gundy.

Mike needs to do whatever he feels like doing, and live with the consequences... like playing for a conf championship just last year.

the Pokes bashers have been laying in wait during our success, just to pounce and demand change after just one injury plagued WINNING season, and another post season bowl.

Gundy is a man, he's 52, he can push the inconsiderate media around all he wants, and we should cheer him for it.
Usually, I don't like your angle or agree with you much, BUT I 100% support this statement.

With a little bit of luck, back to back Conf titles and 2 possible CFP appearances.

These "woke" and entitled players and people can go elsewhere!

Unfortunately, this is a new Era of CFB and we are behind.
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