Gundy and Teammates Plan to Watch Wallace and Co. in NFL Draft

STILLWATER – With spring football concluded the next step for the Oklahoma State football program and it appears it will be a positive and maybe, a huge step, is the 2021 NFL Draft from Cleveland, Ohio. The draft will be onsite in Cleveland, but the teams and players will be virtual. Call it a blending of what used to be and what took place last season with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in his basement. Goodell will be at the Browns Stadium and at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the draft will be back with its’ live presence.

Oklahoma State is hoping that presence announces a bunch of names with Oklahoma State Cowboy connections.

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Jenkins being a first round pick would make him the first OSU OL to go in round one since Russell Okung.

“I know where two or three of our guys are going to be,” OSU head coach Mike Gundy started when asked how he’ll watch the NFL Draft. “I’m not even sure where Teven (Jenkins) is going to be? (Told he was going to be in Topeka with family, Gundy continued. “If he is going to be in Topeka then I will just tune in and watch it with the boys (at home). They all (players that are draft prospects) want to be different places. It should be a good day for us. We should have, by the time we get past the first two days at least three, maybe four (players drafted). Then I think we could at least two more at the end of the draft. It should be a good day for us, if not, we’ll get a bunch of them in camps, and I think they’ll do well enough to make a roster.”

A quick check of the latest mock drafts shows the Cowboys being picked, but maybe not picked as early as all of us, especially the players themselves would be picked. The one Cowboy that universally seems to be going early is offensive tackle Teven Jenkins. Jenkins is now a near unanimous first-round pick.

The Oklahoma State players are all into the draft scene, especially the players that will be looking forward to going through it next winter and spring like supser senior corner Christian Holmes. Holmes told me he came back for next season to better himself for a chance like his teammate Rodarius Williams has. He feels more aligned to Williams and his teammates at Oklahoma State even though he is a year removed from being a Missouri Tiger.

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Williams should be picked earlier as he will be a solid NFL corner.

“Yes, especially since I came here, there are a lot of guys going through the draft. I probably won’t turn (the television) it off until all my guys get through,” Holmes said of watching the draft. “It’s been a blessing for me to say that as quick as I moved over here for me to say my guys and having bonded like that and want to watch the whole draft. Evern afterwards, I want to stay tuned to see who gets the phone calls. Hopefully, everybody will get drafted though.”

Brennan Presley is just a young pup, only a sophomore and he’s fired up because two players that mentored him last season will be watching what the future holds.

“I’m just going to be really happy for them because I know they worked their butts off and they were captains along with Landon Wolf,” Brennan Presley said of the two draft prospects out of his position group in Tylan Wallace and Dillon Stoner. “They are very deserving of everything they get. I will be watching very closely and I will have nothing but joy for them no matter what happens. They will both be great at the next level.”

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Stoner has been making clutch catches at OSU throughout his career.

Asked if he will be nervous, especially for fellow Tulsa-area teammate in Stoner, who is not projected high, Presley stayed cool and confident for Stoner, who I agree will be a late round steal for somebody.

“Not nervous because I have great faith that everything will work out for them,” Presley added. “If something doesn’t work out for them then I believe something will happen that will work out in their favor. They will get their shot to play and when they do they will go out and show people who they are.”

For more, a lot more on the Cowboys in the draft check out the Pokes Report Cowboys Draft Guide. This is chocked full of information on the nine players that have a real shot to have their name called during the draft.