Portal Recruiting: OSU Takes Shot, Gets Visit From Their One Portal QB Pick and an OL

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State got some good news Tuesday (Dec. 13) as for the past week and a half they have been perusing the transfer portal for an older quarterback to replace the experience of the departing Spencer Sanders. They had pinpointed Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong. The 6-2, 210-pound product of Shelby, Ohio has been a strong contributor to the Cavaliers. This 2022 season was a disappointment as Virginia fell to 3-7 with two games cancelled after the on campus tragedy that saw three UVA players murdered in cold blood. The final two games with Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech were cancelled.

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Armstrong launches a pass vs. Pittsburgh this season.

Armstrong completed 185-of-335 passing for 2,210-yards with seven touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Not his best season, but UVA had lost a lot of talent. Armstrong went into the NCAA Transfer Portal and now has said he will visit two schools, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin. Ironically, those two schools meet each other in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Ariz. on Dec. 27. 

This could help as former Oklahoma quarterback and highly regarded recruit Nick Evers is looking for a new home and he visited Wisconsin on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

Pokes Report has learned that he will make his visit to Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Dec. 14.

Armstrong has started three seasons and here is a look at his numbers from those three seasons and his career totals. His 2021 season was stellar with close to 4,500-yards passing and 31 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. He has guided Virginia to a record of 17-18 as a starter in regular season games and one ACC Championship Game.

Brennan Armstrong Passing Numbers

Armstrong has alos rushed for 1,267-yards in his UVA career on 363 carries. He averaged 3.5-yards a carry and has 20 touchdowns. 

To compare, the numbers of Armstrong are similar to Sanders. Sanders completed 61.1 percent of his passes to 60.6 by Armstrong. Armstrong had 9,034-yards to Sanders’ 9,553-yards. Touchdown to interception ratio is 58-to-35 for Armstrong and 67-to-40 for Sanders. 

Pokes Report knows that the recruiting and coaching staff had reviewed all of the transfer quarterbacks that fit the bill and Armstrong was the top selection.

Oklahoma State may also be close to closing the recruiting process with a top in-state offensive lineman that has gone to Texas State and had success. Dalton Cooper is a native of Prague, Okla.

Texas State Athletics

Dalton Cooper is a mauler at 6-6, 320-pounds.

Cooper earned OCA (Coaches) All-State honors on both sides of the ball and played in the 2019 Oklahoma All-State Game on defense. Cooper was also an All-State basketball selection in high school. He was vastly under recruited and wound up at Texas State University playing for an Oklahoma native and former OSU graduate assistant coach in Jake Spavital. Now with the coaching change at Texas State, Cooper entered the NCAA Transfer Portal and showed interest in coming back closer to home at Oklahoma State.

Cooper took to Twitter early Tuesday morning and posted a tweeted that he has a recruiting announcement coming soon.

While we don’t know when the announcement is coming, Pokes Report does know Oklahoma State is one of Cooper’s options.

The 6-6, 320-pound offensive tackle has started 36 consecutive games for Texas State and has multiple times earned All-Sun Belt honors.