There aren’t many players Mike Boynton has recruited harder over the years than he did Courtney Ramey. It ended up not working out, but Boynton could get another shot.

Ramey, who has played the past four seasons at Texas, entered the transfer portal Thursday. He also put his name in the NBA Draft pool while maintaining his last season of college eligibility.

A 6-foot-3 point guard, Ramey was the No. 43 player in the 2018 recruiting class. OSU offered him the October of his junior year of high school. Boynton visited Ramey in St. Louis five times between Oct. of 2017 and April of 2018, according to 247Sports. Ramey also made an official visit to OSU during that stretch. OSU was there every step of the way, but Shaka Smart and Texas ended up with Ramey’s commitment.

Boynton made reference to Ramey when asked if he ever got stressed out during Cade Cunningham’s recruitment process when Kentucky made a late push at the future No. 1 NBA Draft pick.

“I remember vividly getting in a car after some games and driving seven hours to St. Louis and driving back here two years ago, and that one (Courtney Ramey) didn’t work out,” Boynton said in 2019. “It’s never stressful because I believe we’re doing it the right way. We’ll get the kids who want to be here, that want to help us do what we think we can do to help.”

Boynton has coached against Ramey often over the years, and OSU’s coach has always had glowing things to say about him.

“I watched that kid a lot,” Boynton said in 2019. “He’s such a competitor. You knew he’d figure it out before long, and he has.”

“I cheer for all these guys, man, whether we get them or not,” Boynton said in 2020. “Obviously, I don’t want him to play well on [when OSU plays him]. But whatever success they have, I’m all for it. … He’s a really good kid from a great family, and whatever success he has outside of [when OSU plays him], I want to cheer for him.”

In four seasons with the Longhorns, Ramey averaged 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game. His production dipped a bit this past season when Chris Beard took over. His best season was as a junior (2020-21) when he averaged 12.2 points and 3.9 assists a game.

At his end-of-season news conference, Boynton said he would like to add a point guard and 3-point shooting to next seasons roster, two attributes Ramey has. He is a career 37% 3-point shooter, and he had 358 assists to 240 turnovers while at Texas.

With Ramey entering the portal so recently, there haven’t been reports like OSU has reached out, but given Boynton was so involved with Ramey the first time around, it would be hard to imagine he wouldn’t at least kick the tires.

The post Longtime Oklahoma State Target Courtney Ramey Enters Transfer Portal appeared first on Pistols Firing.

For the first time since 2011, Oklahoma State is adding to its Hall of Honor.

Rashaun Woods, Sandy Fischer, Andrea Riley, Adrianna Franch and Lindy Miller will add to the 66 names already in OSU’s Hall of Honor. The group will be formally inducted in Sept. 17 in Stillwater, the weekend of the Arkansas-Pine Bluff football game.

A two-time football All-American, Woods was the NCAA’s leader in touchdown receptions in 2002 before becoming a first round NFL Draft pick in 2004. Woods’ 293 receptions and 42 receiving touchdowns rank tops in OSU’s career record books, and his 4,414 receiving yards rank second. He caught seven touchdown passes against SMU in 2003, an NCAA record.

Fischer led the Cowgirl softball team to 901 wins from 1979 to 2000. Under Fischer, the Cowgirls won nine Big Eight regular season crowns and six conference tournament titles. She took OSU to the national tournament (AIAW National or the WCWS) on nine occasions. She was the National Softball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1988, a season she led OSU to a 51-9 record.

A two-time All-American on the Cowgirl basketball team, Riley was a first round selection in the 2010 WNBA Draft. She is the Cowgirls’ all-time leader in points scored, pouring in 2,835 between 2006 and 2010. The 909 points she scored as a senior were the most in a season in OSU history. She’s also OSU’s career leader in assists with 707.

A World Cup winner, Franch was a goalkeeper for the Cowgirl soccer team from 2009 to 2012. She was a three-time First Team All-American and the No. 6 pick in the 2013 NWSL Draft. Her 38 career shutouts are the most in program history. She went on to become a two-time winner of the NWSL’s Goalkeeper of the Year award before winning a World Cup with Team USA in 2019 and an Olympic bronze medal in 2020.

A four-time All-American on the men’s golf team at OSU, Miller won the 1978 Haskins Award under Mike Holder. He was also part of two NCAA championship-winning teams. Miller holds the program record with 11 tournament wins.

OSU’s first Hall of Honor class was inducted in 1996, but this is the first class to be inducted since Toby Greene, Eric Guerrero, Don Johnson, Mark Moore, Bill Platt, Melanie Roche and Willie Wood went in in 2011.

The selection process for the 2022 inductees began with a screening committee of OSU coaches and staff members. That screening committee narrowed a list of potential candidates to 50. That list of 50 was taken to a selection committee of people affiliated with but not employed by OSU Athletics to vote on the final honorees.

The post Oklahoma State Adding Five to Its Hall of Honor appeared first on Pistols Firing.

I wouldn’t call it luck, but the Cowgirls have been on a tear since St. Patrick’s Day.

No. 6 Oklahoma State defeated Tulsa 10-0 in five innings on Wednesday, enacting the mercy rule. The win extends the Cowgirls’ streak to eight dating back to OSU’s March 16 loss at UT Arlington. The Cowgirls moved to 25-6 on the season and are 3-0 in Big 12 play.

In six of those eight wins, the Cowgirls won by run rule. The game is called if either team leads by at least eight runs after five innings. The Cowgirls had two runs to spare on Wednesday night.

Sydney Pennington bookended the Cowgirls’ offensive outburst walking in OSU’s first run of the game, starting off a four-run first inning, and then she put an exclamation on it with grand slam in the fifth inning to set up the mercy rule.

Penning already wore OSU’s home run crown, but this was her first career grand slam and just her second five-RBI game (2019 Baylor).

After Pennington’s walked-in run in the first, Karli Petty hit a two-RBI single scoring Chyenne Factor and Kiley Naomi. And then Pennington scored herself on a Tulsa error, completing the four-run inning. Factor crossed the plate again in the third when Chelsea Alexander was hit by a pitch. Miranda Elish reached base in her 11th consecutive game, a team-high, and scored a run.

While the bats have gotten plenty of praise of late, you have to be stingy in the circle to earn run-rule victories, and Morgan Day was just that. She moved to 6-2 with the win, allowing no runs on two hits in three innings. Elish struck out two Tulsa batters in the fourth, allowing no hits or walks, and Kelly Maxwell struck out two more in the fifth.

Tulsa’s Makayla Jackson walked in the final inning before Kennedy Cramer doubled putting two of the Golden Hurricane in scoring position. But Maxwell struck out Haley Morgan looking on a 3-2 count to keep the scoreboard clean and retire Tulsa.

OSU has scored 10 or more runs five times this season and shut out opponents 10 times. This was the team’s ninth victory by run rule.

The Cowgirls will look to continue their streak this weekend — in their first road game since that loss on March 16 — when they head to Waco to start a three-game series against Baylor. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

The post OSU Softball: Cowgirls Defeat Tulsa 10-0 appeared first on Pistols Firing.

For years, the Daily Bullets have been sponsored by Hoboken Coffee, and what a wonderful partnership it has been for us at PFB. We’re incredibly grateful for their partnership but that time is coming to an end this month.

For one last time – swing by their site and get 20% off your first order at this great locally owned business in Guthrie. 

Scores

Softball: Cowgirls 10, Tulsa 0

OSU Bullets

• The top-five quarterback recruits of the Gundy era – Bobby’s not included (PFB)

• A couple of places have the Pokes as a team to “sell” your stock in them (ESPN and 247) – outside of the obvious (losing Jim Knowles and a slew of talented defenders) this seems to be one of the bigger reasons why:

… matching one of the best campaigns in program history feels like an impossibility given some of the breaks last season (beating Missouri State, Tulsa and Boise State by an average of 4.3 PPG) and that’s where many preseason prognosticators have the Cowboys this spring among the 10- or 15-best teams in college football.

[247 Sports]

• Lindy Waters scored 25 last night for the Thunder against his old high school teammate Trae Young -Lindsanity (ESPN)

• A surprise 2022 five-star basketball player has the Pokes in his top-ten (PFB)

• Checking out the wide receiver depth of this next Cowboy Football team (PFB)

• New Cowgirl head coach Jacie Hoyt added a national champion from Baylor to her coaching staff

• Cowboy golfer Eugenio Chacarra has climbed to No. 1 in the world amateur rankings:

Non-OSU Bullets

• David Brooks on lasting friendships is terrific (NYT)
• Some kindness stings (faith-based)

The post Daily Bullets (Mar. 31): Selling the Pokes, Lindy Goes for 25 appeared first on Pistols Firing.

It’s not often five-star prospects come out of nowhere, but that’s kind of the case with Leonard Miller.

Miller, a 6-foot-10 forward from Ontario, Canada, included Oklahoma State in his Top 10 on Wednesday along with Gonzaga, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, Kansas, TCU, Providence, the G League and Overtime Elite, according to On3’s Joe Tipton. Miller comes out of nowhere because he is unranked on 247Sports and Rivals, but On3 lists him as the No. 11 player in the 2022 class.

According to On3, Miller is a guard in a big man’s body. The new recruiting services says he has a 7-foot-3 wingspan while shooting 40% from 3 and averaging 32 points a game for Fort Erie International Academy.

OSU does have ties to Canada, and Ontario in particular. Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, who will be a junior next season, hails from Mono, Ontario. And OSU assistant coach Larry Blunt spent some time in the Canadian province while coaching at the high school level.

As good as that may sound for the Cowboys, Miller has a larger tie elsewhere in his Top 10. His brother, Emanuel, was a junior on TCU’s roster this past season.

“I have seen Coach (Mike) Boynton plenty of times, he came down to watch me, and I have had great talks with him,” Miller told On3. “We talked about he will hold me accountable, and he has the staff in place to hold me accountable to help me keep becoming a better player. He talks to me about being a good person as well. I have watched them a lot this year, they are in the same conference as my brother, so I have seen them play TCU already this year.”

OSU coach Mike Boynton is looking to put the finishing touches on his roster, but OSU’s scholarship situation is a little murky because of the NCAA sanctions. OSU has reached out to a handful of players in the NCAA transfer portal, a portal that is growing by the hour.

Boynton said after the season that he wants to add a point guard and 3-point shooting to next season’s roster, but when he said that, I’m not sure anyone was thinking that would come from a 6-foot-10 player.

The post Five-Star Forward Leonard Miller Includes Oklahoma State in Top 10 appeared first on Pistols Firing.

Mike Gundy put Oklahoma State on the map as a team known for its high-octane offense.

Often times the biggest cogs in those offensive juggernauts were quarterbacks, and Gundy and his staff have recruited some darn good ones over the years. Here is a look at the Top 5 quarterback recruits of the Gundy era, based off 247Sports Composite scores, and how those guys’ careers shook out in Stillwater.

1. J.W. Walsh — 0.9430

Now an assistant on OSU’s staff, J.W. Walsh was a highly regarded recruit in the 2011 class.

Walsh chose Oklahoma State over offers from LSU, Arizona State, Arizona, Baylor and others and went on to have a solid career with the Cowboys. He was the No. 115 player in the class, ranking seventh among dual-threat QBs.

Despite seemingly always being in a position battle with Clint Chelf, Wes Lunt, Mason Rudolph or some combination of the three, Walsh finished his playing career rubbing elbows with some of OSU’s elite passers. His 61 touchdowns responsible for rank fifth in program history, just above Barry Sanders.

Walsh also completed 63.1% of his passes, which ranks third in program history among players with at least 200 attempts (trailing Brandon Weeden and Mason Rudolph). And Walsh’s 36 passing touchdowns rank eighth in program history.

Walsh’s best season came as a redshirt freshman in 2012 when he threw for 1,564 yards and 13 scores to just three INTs. He ran for another seven touchdowns that season, as well. He had a crazy stat line against Kansas in 2015 (when he was the red zone QB). Against the Jayhawks, Walsh was 5-for-5 with two passing touchdowns, and six of his rushing attempts ended in scores. That’s efficient.

2. Spencer Sanders — 0.9311

Spencer Sanders is still writing the book of his college career, but he was a big-time get for OSU in the 2018 class.

The No. 171 player in his class, Sanders chose Oklahoma State over offers from Texas A&M, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Penn State, TCU, Texas Tech and others.

After redshirting in 2018, Sanders will enter his fourth season as OSU’s starter in 2022 (and he could return in 2023 because of COVID). Thus far, Sanders ranks fifth in program history in passing yards, sixth in passing touchdowns, fourth in completion percentage, fourth in yards of total offense and is tied for sixth in TDs responsible for. The big blemish on his career thus far is that he is tied for fourth in interceptions thrown in program history, as well.

The 2021 season was Sanders’ best so far, throwing for 2,839 yards and 20 touchdowns while running for another six scores. He went scorched earth in the Cowboys’ Fiesta Bowl win against Notre Dame, throwing for 371 yards and four touchdowns while running for another 125 yards.

3. Shane Illingworth — 0.9295

Sanders’ backup the past two seasons, Shane Illingworth is off to see whether the pastures are greener at Nevada.

Illingworth was the No. 164 player in the 2020 class, and the California native picked OSU over offers from Arkansas, Washington State, Louisville, Arizona, Arizona State and others.

He played in six games as a Cowboy, throwing for 939 yards and seven touchdowns to two interceptions. He entered the transfer portal this offseason and has since made the move to Reno to be with the Wolf Pack.

4. Mason Rudolph — 0.9004

Mason Rudolph’s career passing records are going to be tough to touch, even if Sanders spends six seasons in Stillwater.

The No. 269 player in the 2014 class, Rudolph turned down LSU, Ole Miss, Louisville and others to go to Oklahoma State, and it worked out well for both parties.

Rudolph is OSU’s career leader in completions, passing yards, passing TDs, yards of total offense and touchdowns responsible for. That led to the Pittsburgh Steelers using their third-round pick on Rudolph in 2018. He is still with the Steelers and will have an opportunity to battle with Mitchell Trubisky for the starting job in Pittsburgh this offseason.

Rudolph had 10 games of at least 400 passing yards in his college career, including a 540-yard outing against Pittsburgh as a junior, the most in a game in school history.

5. John Kolar — 0.8999

John Kolar came to Stillwater as a highly touted prospect, but it just didn’t quite work out.

A four-star prospect in the 2015 recruiting class, Kolar was the No. 286 player in the cycle. The Norman North product ended up with only two pass attempts in his college career, coming in a game against Southeastern Louisiana in 2016.

After four seasons with the Pokes, Kolar transferred to Iowa State to play with his brother, Charlie Kolar.

The post The Top 5 Quarterback Recruits of the Mike Gundy Era appeared first on Pistols Firing.

The Cowboys will be without Tay Martin, their leading receiver from last season. But, overall, the group should be stronger, deeper and more formidable in 2022.

As Oklahoma State kicked off Week 2 of spring practice, Mike Gundy was questioned about the state of his wide receiver group which was thin and green at the beginning of 2021. A lot of youngsters were thrown into the fire early and there were some growing pains, but ultimately he said he thinks that will bode well for the offense this fall.

“Well, we’ll benefit from it,” said Gundy. “It was scary last year, as you all know, but we’ll benefit from it because they had live reps. There is no substitute for live reps and experience, and that’s what they gained. So now they should play faster in practice and the game should should slow down for them some. Last year they’re just scrambling to get lined up and function.”

Oklahoma State’s offense stumbled out of the gate in 2021, thanks in large part to that decimated receiving corps. As the Cowboys got healthy and more experienced at wideout, the points went up.

Fortunately, last year’s OSU defense was one of the best in the country and was able to buoy the Pokes while the offense got its kinks worked out. Now, with some turnover on defense — both at coordinator and playmaker — the hope is that OSU’s offense can start off with a bang.

“Well, hopefully we won’t be as thin,” Gundy said. “We ran into some issues preseason, which is scary. Hopefully we won’t have that issue, and we’ll have more depth and we won’t have to play young players that aren’t ready to get on the field.”

While injury concerns are omnipresent in sports, the biggest question remaining is who Spencer Sanders will look to as his No. 1 option. There are some enticing candidates starting with leading returning receiver Brennan Presley. He hauled in 50 passes for 603 yards and five scores in the air. He’s also one of the more dangerous return men in the country.

Somewhat unbelievably, the speedy slot man is a junior and one of the leaders of the receiving group this spring. He’s happy with how the group looks so far and he’s taken on that leadership role.

“I’ve just been trying to teach the younger guys what I know because at the end of the day we’re all a team and you want everyone to succeed and everyone to get better,” said Presley. “So, whatever I can do give down to help anybody, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Presley is joined by redshirt senior Braydon Johnson who looked poised for a featured role last year but was hampered due to injury. Langtson Anderson is also an upperclassman who should figure in for increased reps. Aside from them, are a slew young wideouts who should benefit from those early reps last season.

“Spring has been really good,” said Presley on Monday. “We have a bunch of older guys stepping up since the seniors left, and we have a bunch of new guys stepping in from the freshmen that have come early. It’s been really cool to see the older guys giving to the younger guys and them learning what it means to be an OSU Cowboy.”

Jaden Bray is one of the young receivers that Gundy referred to above who could vie for Martin’s vacated deep threat role. He showed he was capable of making plays in his first collegiate outing. In Week 1 against Missouri State, the true frosh caught two passes for 52 yards. A week later, he caught four for 84, including his first touchdown. He also had three catches in the Big 12 Championship game and a nine-yard touchdown catch in the Cowboys’ Fiesta Bowl win over Notre Dame.

“It’s almost like day and night,” said Presley of Bray’s rookie success. “Just being able to come in here, especially at a Division-1 level, to come in here with two years of football. To most people, it would’ve been intimidating, but he’s came in here rolling with full effect. He’s stepped in, he’s made plays, he’s not scared of the moment at all, he embraces it and he works on his game all the time. I think with his maturity and his raw athletic ability, the sky is the limit for him.”

Expect other young receivers like John Paul Richardson, Rashod Owens, and Bryce and Blaine Green to look another year older and more seasoned. Each has shown flashes of playmaking ability. If the group, as a whole, takes the next step, OSU could have one of the more salty receiving corps in the Big 12.

The post OSU’s Receiver Depth, Experience Should Be a Strength in 2022 appeared first on Pistols Firing.

Carson Cunningham and Colby Powell discuss Mike Gundy’s new contract, improvements to Boone Pickens Stadium and the future of OSU athletics.

You know what helps the show and helps us make more shows? When you rate us on Apple Podcasts or subscribe to our pod: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher | SoundCloud | Overcast

As always, we appreciate our sponsor Chris’ University Spirit.

The post PFB Podcast Ep. 454: Gundy’s Raise, Future of OSU Athletics appeared first on Pistols Firing.