The true freshman receivers that Oklahoma State started last season are now bigger, smarter and better prepared for Big 12 football.

OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn has no regrets about the lack of experience with his wideouts last year. “It was fun,” Dunn said. “It was fun because they’re talented. When you’re working with a group of guys like that, that have a great skill set and it’s just a matter of trying to get them caught up with the speed of the game, it’s fun. It’s challenging, of course, but it’s exciting.

“I look out there at the Big 12 Championship game and there’s a bunch of true freshmen standing out there that are in our skill positions. That says one, they’re good enough to be there and here we are in the Big 12 Championship, and two, that we’ve got them for a long time. It was a win-win for us.”

OSU has put on pads now as they prepare for the season opener against Central Michigan in Stillwater on September 1 (Thursday night).

“I think we have got some pieces in place,” Dunn said. “We’re young, you know, and we’re young again. I think I lose one receiver over the next three years or something like that. They’ll all build along. They got a ton of action last year. We’ll be better this year.”

One of the points of emphasis in fall drills is the improvement in the Cowboy offensive line.

“We’ve had to put this guy here and that guy there; it’s been musical chairs for what feels like two or three years now,” Dunn said. “Finally, we’re lining up and playing the same five guys at practice every day and it’s kind of nice. It’s hard to say until we get there, you know, game one when we actually line up. For these guys, for guys like Caleb [Etienne], it’ll be his first real opportunity to get out there and show what he can do. Once it becomes live for him, I’ll have a better idea. As of right now, we have more depth. The kids are playing hard. I just feel like we’re in a better position.”

The Cowboy running backs are showing promise.

“I thought they looked good today,” Dunn said.” I really do. They ran downhill. I was pleasantly surprised. We want those guys to be physical runners like you saw last year with Jaylen Warren.

We want to get our guys downhill and we want to push the ball. It’s not a finesse offense at all. You know, everybody always goes, ‘It’s an air raid offense. It’s this and that.’ Not really. I think people would tell you we run the ball harder and more downhill than any air raid team; we led the conference last year in rushing in Big 12 play, that’s not an air raid team. We’re going to play physical, and those guys ran downhill today.”

The bigger question mark for OSU will be if the defense can maintain the standard set last season with a new defensive coordinator and new starters.

“I like the unit right now,” Mason said. “We’re just working hard every day to get better. Everybody in the country starts at the same spot. You know, you all get x number of summer practices, and you get x number of fall practices, and everybody goes into fall camp probably about the same. It’s really about, you know, over those 26 or 27 practices that you get, trying to get 1% better so the guys are chasing it right now.

“You know, we’re going to make mistakes. Football is not a mistake-free game. The thing we want from our group, as best we can, is chasing new mistakes.”

“Football is the ultimate team game. The groups that have to take on the greatest amount of pressure really starts up front. It’s a line of scrimmage game. Our most experienced guys are up front. When you look at the safeties on the back end, they’ve got a lot of experience, so our corners have played a lot.

“College football is a junior/senior sport, right? So, when you look at it, guys who have played special teams and guys that have been at the end of ball games, they’re ready for their time. You got to be ready when your time comes and I think, you know, for a lot of these guys, this is their time. I mean, they see it, they know it. I see it in the meeting rooms, I see it when guys put in extra work outside of the meeting room, you know, I’m getting texts late night. I’m getting, you know, third and fourth year questions late at night about football and that’s a good thing. I’m not getting much sleep right now, just due to the fact that these guys want the information so that’s good.”

And depth in the defensive line is vital .

“I’m like, 300 plus pounds, so I’m going to get tired,” said defensive tackle Sione Asi. “We got a lot of guys that are going to be ready to step up to the plate when it’s time, so it’s pretty special.

“We can catch our breath rather than, you know, being on the sidelines trying to catch our breath being scared, playing timid when we go out there, but we’ll be ready. You know, just like the last couple of years, we have great depth. A lot of guys came ready to practice and play, so it’s huge for us, especially up front.”

“We got a lot of guys coming back, so we’re not going to lose a step. I’m excited for the guys who are coming back because we need them. So, we’re going to be solid. We just have to work on the little things, and we’ll have a better year than last year.”