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Oklahoma State Football

Oklahoma State Finds Absolute Gold in Portal in Linebacker Brandon Rawls

December 18, 2024
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STILLWATER – One crucial member of the Oklahoma State football program when it comes to the transfer portal and roster building had Brandon Rawls picked out at leat two months ago. In the evaluation process of preparing for the this portal window the Oklahoma State staff evaluated over 800 players and Rawls was as enticing as any of them and he was playing at Division II Saginaw Valley State. The 6-2, 240 pound Rawls visited Oklahoma State on Monday and Tuesday and by the time he left the West End Zone had decided to chase his dream of playing Division I Power Four football at Oklahoma State.

Saginaw Valley State University Athletics
Rawls playing for the SVSU Cardinals.

Rawls has speed and size and plays with an urgency that is easy to see on video. This past season he played in nine games and earned second-team All-Great Lakes Athletic Conference honors. He had 55 total tackles, 6.5 tackles-for-loss (44-yds.) and 3.5 sacks (38-yds.) with two interceptions, two fumbles recovered and a fumble caused.  The defense as a whole held opponents to 17.2 points per game, 279.8-yards of total offense per game and just 85.2-yards rushing per game. They had 34 sacks andforced  19 turnovers, Rawls was a part of five of those turnovers. 

Saginaw Valley State University Athletics
Rawls

A native of Ann Arbor and Huron High School, he was named the top defensive player in Ann Arbor as a senior. That season he helped Ann Arbor to their first winning season in six-years and to their first playoff win in 12-years. He was a three-year captain and four-year starter that finished with 243-tackles, four interceptions, 17 tackles-for-loss, 19 sacks, and three touchdowns in his career. He was second-team All-State.

Football is pretty important to Rawls and he had always thought growing up in the shadow of the “Big House” and the University of Michigan that he could play at the Division I level. 

In his two previous seasons at Saginaw Valley State, he had 98 tackles, 18 tackles-for-loss, a sack and a pass deflection. 

Adding Rawls to go with previous portal commitment Bryan McCoy coming from Akron and the linebacker corps at Oklahoma State has added talent and depth. 

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Oklahoma State Finds Absolute Gold in Portal in Linebacker Brandon Rawls

4,171 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 15 days ago by RodeoPoke
NJAggie
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11:37a, 12/18/24
Welcome Cowboy!!!
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Orangeheart72
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12:28p, 12/18/24
Great!
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TUSKAPOKE
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12:52p, 12/18/24
Welcome to OSU! Make those dreams come true as a Cowboy!!! GO POKES!!!
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Joe Khatib
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1:58p, 12/18/24
Well looks like you now know who two of the starting linebackers will be with this young man and McCoy! It also appears you also know who the two starting DEs will be with the two Juco kids signed earlier this month plus the young man we picked up from West Georgia!
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RodeoPoke
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In reply to Joe Khatib • 2:33p, 12/18/24
Joe Khatib said:
Well looks like you now know who two of the starting linebackers will be with this young man and McCoy! It also appears you also know who the two starting DEs will be with the two Juco kids signed earlier this month plus the young man we picked up from West Georgia!
huh?

what makes these guys so special, other than you and Robert foaming at the mouth?

We bring in JUCO guys and portal guys all the time, and it's largely hit-n-miss if they immediately take over the starting positions.

Do we not have guys on the roster at those positions that can compete for PT?

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CJPoke37
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In reply to RodeoPoke • 2:55p, 12/18/24
It's not that we don't have guys on the roster but more so we don't have enough guys on the roster. We are moving from a 3-3-5 to a 3-4. We were already thin at inside baker and now we will have two inside backers. Some of the edge guys we are recruiting will be more stand up guys rather than hand in the dirt DEs. Others with more size will be our 4i-5 techs.
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Joe Khatib
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In reply to RodeoPoke • 5:42p, 12/18/24
RodeoPoke said:
Joe Khatib said:
Well looks like you now know who two of the starting linebackers will be with this young man and McCoy! It also appears you also know who the two starting DEs will be with the two Juco kids signed earlier this month plus the young man we picked up from West Georgia!
huh?

what makes these guys so special, other than you and Robert foaming at the mouth?

We bring in JUCO guys and portal guys all the time, and it's largely hit-n-miss if they immediately take over the starting positions.

Do we not have guys on the roster at those positions that can compete for PT?

One simple question! Did you not see the performance of this defensive unit this past season, giving up 500 yards per game! Umm, sounds like it needs a major overhaul including personnel! I try to watch the available video on these players unlike some who pick their nose then lick their finger and post inane stuff on this site!
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Pistolp
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4:23a, 12/19/24

So he was second team all-conference - what about the guy who was first team all-conference?

Seriously, he has the size and speed. We'll see how quickly he can pick up our defense to a point he can contribute.
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RodeoPoke
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In reply to Joe Khatib • 6:37a, 12/19/24
Joe Khatib said:
RodeoPoke said:
Joe Khatib said:
Well looks like you now know who two of the starting linebackers will be with this young man and McCoy! It also appears you also know who the two starting DEs will be with the two Juco kids signed earlier this month plus the young man we picked up from West Georgia!
huh?

what makes these guys so special, other than you and Robert foaming at the mouth?

We bring in JUCO guys and portal guys all the time, and it's largely hit-n-miss if they immediately take over the starting positions.

Do we not have guys on the roster at those positions that can compete for PT?

One simple question! Did you not see the performance of this defensive unit this past season, giving up 500 yards per game! Umm, sounds like it needs a major overhaul including personnel! I try to watch the available video on these players unlike some who pick their nose then lick their finger and post inane stuff on this site!
so, you can't answer the question? Of course you can't. You have no freaking idea.

I saw the defense, but we're talking about returners at LB and DE, not how the entire defense performed. Can you answer the question or not? Personally, I did not look up our returning players to see who they are (which may not even stay the same since the portal is still open).

I want to hope that transfers and Juco kids can come in a make a difference, but it seldom happens. We've done okay with some of the P5 level transfers, but not so much from the G5, 1-AA or Div II ranks, like these kids.

I had not previously heard that we were going to 4 LBs (3-4), that would certainly open up that position for competition.




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Doug Gosney
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In reply to RodeoPoke • 7:29a, 12/19/24
RA or Zach - would you mind putting out a single list of signing class plus portal adds. One combined list of all the new faces? If you've already done this and I've missed it - my apologies. Maybe you could point me to the story it was in. Would be much appreciated! Thanks for all the good coverage.
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Joe Khatib
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In reply to RodeoPoke • 1:20p, 12/19/24
RodeoPoke said:
Joe Khatib said:
RodeoPoke said:
Joe Khatib said:
Well looks like you now know who two of the starting linebackers will be with this young man and McCoy! It also appears you also know who the two starting DEs will be with the two Juco kids signed earlier this month plus the young man we picked up from West Georgia!
huh?

what makes these guys so special, other than you and Robert foaming at the mouth?

We bring in JUCO guys and portal guys all the time, and it's largely hit-n-miss if they immediately take over the starting positions.

Do we not have guys on the roster at those positions that can compete for PT?

One simple question! Did you not see the performance of this defensive unit this past season, giving up 500 yards per game! Umm, sounds like it needs a major overhaul including personnel! I try to watch the available video on these players unlike some who pick their nose then lick their finger and post inane stuff on this site!
so, you can't answer the question? Of course you can't. You have no freaking idea.

I saw the defense, but we're talking about returners at LB and DE, not how the entire defense performed. Can you answer the question or not? Personally, I did not look up our returning players to see who they are (which may not even stay the same since the portal is still open).

I want to hope that transfers and Juco kids can come in a make a difference, but it seldom happens. We've done okay with some of the P5 level transfers, but not so much from the G5, 1-AA or Div II ranks, like these kids.

I had not previously heard that we were going to 4 LBs (3-4), that would certainly open up that position for competition.




God Cali just STIFLE YOURSELF! Yes Insure want another season of looks like Tarzan plays like Jane K3ndall Daniels who has more assignment busts than anyone this season on defense! You lose Martin (NFL), Oliver (NFL) and Wright(no more eligibility) which leaves you with Jeff Roberson and true freshman Ike Esunwune with ANY TANGIBLE playing time or experience! In addition OSU does not currently have a consistent edge rusher with Oliver off to the NFL!
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RodeoPoke
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In reply to Joe Khatib • 8:01a, 12/20/24
Joe Khatib said:

God Cali just STIFLE YOURSELF! Yes Insure want another season of looks like Tarzan plays like Jane K3ndall Daniels who has more assignment busts than anyone this season on defense! You lose Martin (NFL), Oliver (NFL) and Wright(no more eligibility) which leaves you with Jeff Roberson and true freshman Ike Esunwune with ANY TANGIBLE playing time or experience! In addition OSU does not currently have a consistent edge rusher with Oliver off to the NFL!

These additions are good. There are a whole lot of LBs on the team, many we've all been waiting to see play. Same with DEs.

It will be interesting to see who the starters are on game 1.

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