Oklahoma State football safeties have wealth of experience. Who will step forward in 2024?

Scott Wright, The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Perhaps the most interesting revelation to come from Oklahoma State football’s spring practice was the news that safety Kendal Daniels was spending some time at linebacker.

It’s only an experiment for now, as the Cowboys look for the right puzzle pieces to get their 11 best defenders on the field.

And coach Mike Gundy describes it as more of a timeshare situation, with Daniels still playing the middle safety position he anchored last year, while also getting some looks in a linebacker-type role closer to the line of scrimmage where his 6-foot-4, 230-pound body can be impactful.

So that leaves the question as to who would move into the middle safety spot when Daniels isn’t there.

That answer is not so clear.

OSU's Kendal Daniels (5) celebrates a fumble recovery in the first half against BYU on Nov. 25 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.
OSU's Kendal Daniels (5) celebrates a fumble recovery in the first half against BYU on Nov. 25 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.

Gundy says the defense has several “hybrid” players who can fill multiple roles.

“We have an unusual group of those guys,” Gundy said. “There’s packages where we can let Kendal play in the middle, and there’s time where we’ll invert him and there’s time where if we wanna drop him down, we can.

“We’re experimenting with some of that now, and we have enough flexibility that we don’t have to purposely move guys to another position. Ty (Williams) is a hybrid guy. Lyrik (Rawls) is a hybrid guy. (Trey) Rucker could be a hybrid guy if we needed him to. (Cameron Epps) is a hybrid guy.

“We’ve got enough to have some flexibility without just saying, ‘Hey, you’ve got to change positions.’”

So, projecting what the Cowboys’ trio of safeties will look like from snap to snap is hard to do, but here’s a look at the position group as spring practice winds down:

More: Will Oklahoma State football do away with spring game? Here's what coach Mike Gundy says

Oklahoma State's Kobe Hylton runs though drills during an Oklahoma State University Cowboys spring football practice at Sherman E. Smith Training Center in Stillwater, Okla., Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
Oklahoma State's Kobe Hylton runs though drills during an Oklahoma State University Cowboys spring football practice at Sherman E. Smith Training Center in Stillwater, Okla., Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Season rewind

Based solely on numbers, the safety group was one of the weaker positions in the Cowboy defense last year, and it’s not surprising for a couple of reasons.

For one, the safety roles in coordinator Bryan Nardo’s 3-3-5 are uniquely different from what most safeties have run in the past.

And two, the Cowboys dealt with injuries, and ended up with multiple first-year starters on the field at the position.

Even Rucker, who was a fifth-year senior and is returning for his super-senior year, was a first-time starter for the Cowboys at the beginning of last year.

Rawls was stepping into a starting role, then tore his ACL, which led to Cameron Epps’ emergence as a starter, and eventually led to Dylan Smith abandoning his redshirt year to be a part-time starter as well.

So the position saw a lot of bodies come through, and though a variety of them had big plays at key times, the overall inconsistency is the looming concern moving forward.

Roster management

Who’s out: Nick Sessions, Lardarius Webb Jr.

Who’s in: Kobe Hylton, RSr.*, Landyn Cleveland, Fr., Willie Nelson, Fr., David Kabongo, Fr.

The take

One additional key that impacted the statistics of the safety group last season was OSU’s inconsistency in getting pressure on quarterbacks, often leaving safeties in coverage for too long and resulting in big completions.

So, between the experience gained and the emphasis from Gundy to improve the pass rush, the safeties should be in position to take a step forward.

Seeing how Daniels is used will be a new wrinkle. Rawls’ ability to get back to full health from his torn ACL will remain a question until September. And the impact of a player like Hylton, a super-senior transfer from UTEP who has a lot of on-field experience but not at the Power Four level, will be a storyline to follow as well.

But even beyond those players, the Cowboys have others with game experience they are confident in.

“I found out that I could really go out there and compete with the best guys in the country,” Epps said. “As a group, we’re returning a crazy number of starters. I feel like we’ve got a lot of maturity on the team. A lot of guys had to step up last year due to injuries. I was one of them. So we learned you’ve got to be ready and prepare like you’re a starter every day.”

More: Oklahoma State football kicker Logan Ward has had many roles. Why he has one focus in 2024.

Lyrik Rawls (6) stretches out during an Oklahoma State football practice in Stillwater, Okla., on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
Lyrik Rawls (6) stretches out during an Oklahoma State football practice in Stillwater, Okla., on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

Depth chart

The starters

  • Kendal Daniels, RJr., 6-4, 230

  • Lyrik Rawls, RJr., 6-1, 215

  • Trey Rucker, RSr.*, 6-0, 215

The reserves

  • Kobe Hylton, RSr.*, 6-0, 210

  • Cameron Epps, RSo., 6-2, 200

  • Dylan Smith, So., 6-0, 185

  • Ty Williams, RJr., 6-0, 200

  • Raymond Gay II, RJr., 5-10, 180

  • Parker Robertson, RJr., 5-11, 180

  • Kam Franklin, RFr., 6-2, 200

  • Tywon Wray, RFr., 6-1, 210

  • Landyn Cleveland, Fr., 6-0, 185

  • Willie Nelson, Fr., 5-8, 170

  • David Kabongo, Fr., 5-10, 185

*Super-senior

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football safeties leaning on experience in 2024

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