Why Mike Gundy says Oklahoma State football fans should be ‘thankful’ for Leon Johnson III

STILLWATER — Leon Johnson III could have easily preserved his redshirt status.

Seriously.

Oklahoma State’s latest breakout star at wide receiver could have told Cowboys coaches he wanted to keep it, even with the receivers corps. depleted by injury.

Instead, he’s become a very important piece of OSU’s offensive puzzle.

“The OSU people need to be thankful for guys like him for what he did,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “If he says he wants to redshirt, we really can’t tell him no. College football’s not that way right now.

“I couldn’t be any more proud of him.”

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Johnson caught nine passes for 132 yards in Saturday’s wild 40-34 double-overtime win against BYU to clinch the final spot in the Big 12 Championship Game for the second time in three seasons.

The 6-foot-5 receiver who transferred from Division III George Fox is up to 27 receptions and 446 yards this season — all in the past five games. 

Until then, he was expected to redshirt and extend his career a year with the Cowboys.

But that’s no longer an option — barring a possible waiver being filed and granted, but there’s no guarantee that Johnson pursues that — and Johnson was good with that.

He was going to spend a year working under strength coach Rob Glass and offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn, who still oversees receivers.

But Johnson was needed.

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Now, he’s a tremendous part of the offense.

And he’s going to be playing in Arlington, Texas, for a Big 12 title. He never really saw that coming.

“It sounds awesome,” Johnson said. “Honestly, it wasn’t something I was ever thinking about in my life. It’s real. It’s next week.”

Jacob Unruh covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jacob? He can be reached at junruh@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @jacobunruh. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Jacob’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.

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