Knowles Is Excited About LB Depth; Devin Harper Is Ready To Take Over Starting Role

STILLWATER – One of the biggest question marks coming out of Spring Football and going into Fall Camp surrounding Oklahoma State was how the defensive coaching staff will replace the talent that left. Corner Rodarius Williams was drafted by the New York Giants, and defensive lineman Cam Murray and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga are rookie free agents with the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Chargers respectively.

Both the corner and linebacker spots are of interest as they each lost one very talented player and will have a one veteran and multiple younger players looking to fill the void. However, we’re going to be taking a look at linebacker in this article.

The guy set to fill the hole left by Ogbongbemiga is redshirt senior Devin Harper. Harper’s taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 and is finally healthy with no one in front of him.

“Devin is one of the most complete athletes that I’ve been around,” said Jim Knowles. “He’s had some people in front of him, he’s had some injuries, but Devin has NFL numbers. He has all the markings of an NFL players in terms of the height, weight, size, you know, all the metrics, the speed; his speed is fantastic. He just needs to step up and have a great year, but I’m totally confident; he’s been with me three years and he’s going to cut it loose this year. I think he’s going to have a great year.”

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

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He played in all 11 games this past season and recorded 37 total tackles, 24 of which were solo stops, as well as 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, three quarterback hurries, one pass break up and one interception.

"It's been a process, but as I said it's always gonna be process,” said Devin Harper. “Everybody's time is not going to be at the same time. I've just been waiting it out, and they waited on me and basically just gave me my chance now. I just got to make the best out of it."

As far as the depth behind Harper, there’s some pups and newcomers looking for their chance to make some noise. Guys like sophomore Mason Cobb out of Provo, UT, redshirt sophomore Kamryn Farrar out of Dallas, TX. Redshirt junior Lamont Bishop, who transferred in last year from Iowa Central is also a guy you’ll see a lot out this season.

“I’m going to say Mason Cobb and [Lamont Bishop] have both really stepped up,” said Knowles on linebacker depth. “In the spring, and in these first couple of practices, I have really seen a lot from both those guys. Like you said, it kind of give me a sigh of relief, like ‘OK, we’ve got two guys that are really coming on.’ The other guy is [Kamryn Farrar]. So, Kam Farrar, smaller, but he is quick, he’s explosive and the lightbulb just seems to be coming on for him. I’ve been really impressed with that next group, but those are the three guys that I’m looking at.”  

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Mason Cobb hauling in another interception during Fall Camp

Cobb has really impressive a lot of people in the first few days of camp. He’s been all over the field wreaking havoc. He’s also hauled in a couple of interceptions. He’s a little nugget from our premium article from the second practice of Fall Camp. This is just one of many examples of an exclusive practice report you’ll find on Pokes Report throughout August.

“For the second day in a row linebacker Mason Cobb, the sophomore out of Provo, Utah had an interception in teamwork. This one was a football version of “web gems” as Cobb caught the ball on the back of his neck, kept control and spun it around to clutch it in front all while on the ground. Cobb is running second team at linebacker, and he is further proof of the quality depth on defense.”

And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention returning starter Malcolm Rodriguez, who’s set to be one of the top linebackers in the Big 12. He’s coming off a year where he posted a team-leading 82 total tackles, and an FBS-leading among linebackers 58 solo stops. There’s no question that he’s the cornerstone of this defensive unit.