Oklahoma State Picks Up a Pair in the Portal, Winner-Johnson and Holec
STILLWATER – Still looking for numbers, Oklahoma State picked up a pair of players out of the transfer portal, one from the Group-of-Five and one from the FCS. Kai Holec is a huge offensive tackle from Indiana State University. Morris and his North Texas team saw plenty of Tulane University and picked up a linebacker from the Green Wave in Dallas Winner-Johnson. Both players seem to have solid upside, but will have work to do.
Winner-Johnson really just had a cup of coffee at Tulane as the 6-5, 230 pound linebacker transferred in for the 2025 season coming from Missouri State. Originally out of St. Louis Cardinal Ridder High School in St. Louis, Mo, he was an FCS Freshman All-American according to multiple outlets in the 2024 season.
In his one season at Tulane, he played in 10 games but had just five tackles, four unassisted. He had one tackle-for-loss.
In his redshirt-freshman season at Missouri State in 2024 he played in all 12 games with 10 starts and finished second on the squad with 62 total tackles, including 26 solos and 6.5 tackles for loss. Ghe was named fourth-team All-Missouri Valley Conference by Phil Steele. His best game came against UT-martin with 10 total tackles, four solos and a half tackle-for-loss. In the Youngstown State win he had nine stops with three unassisted tackles and a QB hurry.
He played in four games while redshirting in 2023.
In high school Winner-Johnson was third-team All-State in 2022 and he helped Cardinal Ritter to its first-ever state championship his senior season. His senior season featured 123 tackles, including 41 unassisted and seven sacks.
Holec is a 6-8, 325 pound tackle that will be a redshirt-sophomore and will be making Oklahoma State his third school after coming to Indiana State from San Diego State. Holec is a native of Washington that played high school at O’Dea High School in Seattle.
He is still waiting to see his first college game action. He did not play in any games while redshirting in 2024 at San Diego State. Then also did not see any action as a redshirt freshman at Indiana State last season.
At O’Dea he was a two-time All Metro selection in football while helping the Fighting Irish to three consecutive Division 3A State playoff appearances, including back-to-back semifinals as a junior and senior. He also played rugby, wrestling and lacrosse in high school.
Winner-Johnson and Holec bring the total number up to 48 players out of the portal and with Holec that makes 24 on offense and Winner-Johnson makes 20 on defense.
