Oklahoma State football’s adjusted emphasis on tight ends shows in 2025 recruiting class

STILLWATER — A few years ago, Oklahoma State had some good tight ends, but no real tight ends. 

In the 2019-20 seasons, the Cowboy tight end roster looked something like this:

• Jelani Woods, a converted quarterback.
• Logan Carter, a walk-on who played offensive tackle and defensive end in high school.
• Dayton Metcalf, a walk-on who was a high school quarterback.
• Braden Cassity, a converted defensive end.

All four were viable players who provided value in different areas.

Woods ultimately went on to be drafted by the Indianapolis Colts and is entering his third year in the NFL. Carter was ultra-reliable and Metcalf was a consistent performer when called upon.  Cassity was young back then, but developed into a stalwart blocker who could occasionally catch some passes, too.

More: Why Kenyatta Wright is an ideal fit as financial director for Oklahoma State football

All four were solid players, but none of them came to OSU as tight ends.

That’s a change in coach Mike Gundy’s recruiting philosophy over the last couple of years as his offense has begun to lean more heavily on help from that position — and the 2025 recruiting class is another step in that direction.

With few exceptions, the Cowboys focused throughout the majority of the 2010s on trying to minimize their recruiting investment in the position, looking for players who were physical with good size and could be molded into the role.

It worked out with guys like those mentioned above and a few others along the way, like Blake Jarwin, who walked on after a strong high school career at Tuttle. 

But particularly after the struggles OSU faced offensively in 2022, Gundy’s focus turned to getting more from the tight end.

Last year, OSU turned to the transfer portal to get an instant infusion of talent at the position, led by UMass transfer Josiah Johnson. And he had a strong season, which catapulted him to an NFL free-agent contract after the draft in April.

The Pokes will try to replicate that with Ohio transfer Tyler Foster this season, a big, experienced player with one year of eligibility remaining.

More: Colorado’s Deion Sanders looking forward to facing Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State football

Last December, the Cowboys signed Stillwater’s Josh Ford, who was one of the freshmen creating some buzz during spring ball because of his physical attributes.

The Cowboys currently have four tight ends on scholarship, all of whom played the position before coming to OSU. 

And now, the 2025 class has a pair of commitments.

OSU landed Jordan Vyborny in early May. He’s a 6-foot-5, 230-pound recruit out of Draper, Utah, with good athletic traits who is polishing his tight end skills.

Just over a month later, the Pokes got a commitment from Isaiah Butler-Tanner out of Killeen, Texas. The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder is among the top five highest rated recruits in the class, according to 247Sports, and has shown great versatility in high school.

Over the previous 12 recruiting classes, OSU has signed six tight ends from the high school or junior-college level. 

More: Oklahoma State football way-too-early, game-by-game predictions for 2024 Cowboys season

The 2012 class was the last time OSU added two tight ends, signing Zac Veatch from Broken Arrow and Blake Jackson from Scottsdale (Arizona) Community College, and both filled their roles well during their time as Cowboys.

With the emphasis of how the tight end is used in the offense now — aligning both in a traditional end-of-the-line position as well as today’s more common wing or fullback roles — the players needed for the spot need diverse skills, but also the brute physicality to do battle in the trenches.

The receiving element of the tight end game might or might not rise going forward. 

Johnson had 166 receiving yards on 22 catches last year, the most yards by an OSU tight end since Jarwin had 309 in 2016. And Johnson played 66.2% of OSU’s offensive snaps, with 398 of his 698 total snaps on passing plays.

So blocking remains task No. 1. 

Still, the Cowboys’ investment in the position has clearly grown, so the next step is further increasing the impact on the field.