Oklahoma State Commit Prince Pines Flips to Tulane

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State and Charlie Dickey are going to have to do a little bit more work to shore up the offensive line heading into the 2022 season as Sam Houston State transfer Prince Pines has flipped his commitment to Tulane.

Pines, a 6-5, 330-pound offensive guard, was an FCS All-American and All-WAC honoree during his time at Sam Houston State, which also included helping the Bearkats win an FCS National Championship during the spring season following COVID.

He originally began his college career at Baylor in 2018, redshirting his freshman year. He then played in all 14 games in 2019 and helped the Bears to an 11-3 record and a trip to the Sugar Bowl, before transferring to SHSU.

While the decision to flip his commitment hurts the Pokes, a move to Tulane makes sense as Pines played his high school ball at Tara High School in Baton Rouge, LA.

The Cowboys and Charlie Dickey, while a replacement for Pines will need to be found, will have plenty of depth going into August.

“We will have 25 offensive linemen in August, so we will be just fine. We don’t have them now,” Gundy said when asked if he was worried. “They (healthy offensive line survivors) are doing well (this spring), and most of these guys are first year players because we have the four starters that are in rehab (post-surgery rehab) right now. These guys are, for the most part, new, so they are getting full-speed work which is good because if they get thrown into the fire in August, then they’ve had a lot of reps this spring.”

Hunter Woodard, Preston Wilson, Joe Michalski and Silas Barr will be back from rehab in time for fall camp, which gets the Pokes back to 14 linemen, including the guys who played in the spring.

Adding to that, Dickey and Co. added two transfers this spring, Jason Brooks, a 6-4, 300-pound lineman from Vanderbilt and Casey Collier, a 6-7, 300-pound lineman from USC. Both of those guys will be in Stillwater at the start of the summer. That gets the Pokes up to 16.

There are three freshmen Austin Kawecki, David Dotson and Calvin Harvey that signed in the 2022 recruiting class, plus there are five preferred walk-ons, which includes All-City offensive tackle Matthew Wade of Edmond Deer Creek, Norman’s Viliami Makahununiu and 6-4, 280-pound athlete Evan Bax of Marietta (Walton), Ga.