Oliver and Kopenski Show They Can Fill in Just Fine

STILLWATER – Just to show you how things can be different and how injury situations factor differently at various positions and even on different sides of the football, take last Saturday and the play at the “leo” defensive end in the win over Baylor for an example. With Trace Ford going down before the season opener with a freak knee injury, Tyren Irby going down in the Tulsa game, and then starter Brock Martin suffering an arm injury in the win over Kansas State, the “leo” end was listing true freshman Collin Oliver as the starter and redshirt junior walk-on Ben Kopenski as the back-up. Certainly alarming, but not quite the critical situation that the offense dealt with at Boise with wide receiver.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Collin Oliver, Devin Harper, and Malcolm Rodriguez combine on a tackle against Baylor.

Just by nature, defense is a little different, but don’t mistake that as each position isn’t playing a crucial role and to go be deficient at a position like the active “leo” end wouldn’t cause issues. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles knows that he is likely going to get both Brock Martin and Tyren Irby back in time for the Texas game. He also knew going into the Baylor game that he had an exceptionally talented freshman in Oliver who reported in January. He had six months of time with Rob Glass and his staff to train and prepare from a strength and conditioning aspect. In spring ball, he along with Kopenski got somewhere close to 500-to-600 live reps of 11-vs.11 work in practice. It is that spring with three units constantly working that head coach Mike Gundy spoke of so favorably leading into this season.  

"We kind of knew last spring, right? Because all three of those guys were out. Because Trace (Ford), Brock (Martin), and Tyren (Irby) were all out,” Knowles said after the game on Saturday. Collin Oliver comes in here when he should have been at his senior prom, and he had 600 reps during the spring. We immediately knew we had something special with him, and we had depth. Ben Kopenski has really just made himself into a player."

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Ben Kopenski on top of Baylor quarterback Gerry Bohanon.

Knowles was concerned, but now he has the bonus of seeing what Oliver and Kopenski can do in a Big 12 Conference game pressure situation. Oliver finished with six tackles, five unassisted, two sacks, and three tackles-for-loss with three quarterback hurries. The Bears couldn’t handle his quickness.

“Hats off to Collin (Oliver) with his first start as a freshman, I thought he did great,” Knowles confirmed.

Kopenski had a solo tackle that was for a loss. On the season, he has two total tackles, but both are for a loss and the other was a nine-yard sack.

“Ben Kopenski, like I said in the past, anyone who's a fan of Oklahoma State should love Ben,” Knowles added. “He had to cover the back on a wheel route down the sideline, which I had my heart in my mouth for that one because that was my call. They tried to isolate him, and he did a hell of a job.”

To be fair, with a little more fanfare the receiver position held up too. The bottom line is winning. Cale Cabbiness made his game-clinching catch, and he had less experience than either Oliver or Kopenski when called upon to do so. The freshmen at receiver also came in at January and got reps, but offense just seems to get a little more attention. I should point out that is changing some this season.