Cameron Epps is First Cowboy to Be Honored by Big 12 this Football Season

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State has had a few players stand out in games this season, but none enough to register with the Big 12 Conference and their secret panel of media that vote on the weekly awards in the conference. That is until Friday night when red-shirt freshman cornerback turned safety Cameron Epps erupted for a big night with two interceptions, including the highlight below that went 35-yards to the house to give the Cowboys a 20-7 advantage at halftime.  

Besides the two picks, Epps had two other passes successfuly defended and had five tackles in the 29-21 win over the defending Big 12 champions in Kansas State. A year ago K-State quarterback Will Howard was throwing dimes on the Cowboys defense and this season, thank to Epps and also linebacker Nick Martin those passes were coming back at him. 

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Gundy at his news conference.

The honor was announced right around the time Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy began his regular weekly news conference, so I asked Gundy about Epps.

“He played really well and the thing he did well that is getting everybody’s attention is he finishes plays,” Gundy said learning about Epps’ honor. “You’ll see young players with a promising future at times being in the right spot, but if they don’t finish plays then we don’t talk about it as much. Either one of those balls if he goes up and drops it or just tips it away it’s not something that grabs as much attention. He was able to finish those plays and that is a good sign.”

The 6-3, and nearly 210-pound very athletic Epps was a corner until a few injuries, including the one to starting strike safety Lyrik Rawls, saw him moved to safety. He really is a natural. 

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Epps celebrates in the end zone.

“I really just needed to get comfortable. Last week I had some shortcomings against Iowa State,” Epps said after the game on Saturday. “I really needed to get comfortable and I felt I played my game tonight. I felt good and celebrated with my teammates.”

He’ll be challenged again this week as Epps is the guy there now at the strike postion. This week he will see a lot of power run and power option game. Kansas will pass some as well, but this game will be all about tackling and trying to keep the Jayhawks behind the chains forcing some long third downs and the possibility of mistakes.

“We’re excited about where he is at, but he has a long way to go,” Gundy added. “There will be a challenge for him every week and he will see something different. For instance, this week with Kansas it will be the counter options and all the different things Kansas does to confuse defenses. This will be a different look for him.”

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Wilson is dangerous on returns and leads the Big 12 in punt return avg. at 40-yards.

The other honorees this week from the Big 12 were Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel on offense for his performance and game winning touchdown pass in the win over Texas, Iowa State safety/robber Beau Freyler on defense for his role in the win over TCU, and Kansas punt returner Trevor Wilson on special teams for his 75-yard touchdown return in the 51-22 win over UCF.

Oklahoma State will need to continue to work on and execute their punt coverage which is good as they have averaged 40.8-yards net per punt and allowing only 3.22-yards a punt return.