Offensive Starters Returning: QB Bobby Reid, RB Dantrell Savage, WR Adarius Bowman, TE Brandon Pettigrew, OL Brady Bond, OL David Koenig, OL Russell Okung, OL David Washington

Defensive Starters Lost: DT Larry Brown, DT Ryan McBean, DE Victor DeGrate, DE Darnell Smith

Defensive Starters Returning: LB Chris Collins, LB Rodrick Johnson, LB Patrick Lavine, CB Jacob Lacey, CB Martel Van Zant, S Andre Sexton, S Donovan Woods

Starting Specialists Lost: none

Starting Specialists Returning: K Jason Ricks, P Matt Fodge

Coming off a 4-7 season in Coach Mike Gundy’s first campaign, the Cowboys improved to 7-6 in 2006. In year three of the Coach Gundy era, everybody expects more improvement. The offensive will be explosive under quarterback Bobby Reid, wide receiver Adarius Bowman and running backs Dantrell Savage, Keith Totson and Mike Hamilton.

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2007 Oklahoma State Offense:

After a tumultuous freshman season, Reid developed into a quality quarterback as a sophomore, throwing for 2,266 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. With another year of experience, the dual threat will be a major a pain for the opposing defenses. And it helps that Bowman came back for his senior season. The wide receiver caught 60 passes for 1,181 yards and 12 touchdowns and will be a well known receiver on the national scene by the time the season is over.

As if Reid was not a big enough running threat on his own, Oklahoma State has a trio of backs who can handle the load. It took Savage a little while to get into things after suffering an early injury, but once he did, the senior took a majority of the carries and led the team rushing for 820 yards and eight touchdowns. He will once again be on top of the depth chart, but Totson and Hamilton have proven they can handle 100 carries on the season.

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2007 Oklahoma State Defense:

The offense is potent and deep, yet the defense has a few more questions. OSU will take risks on the defensive side of the ball, but they still need to be a little better at not giving up the big play. And that should be less of a problem this year with the return of their entire starting linebacker corps and secondary. Led by seniors Jeremy Nethon and Rodrick Johnson and Freshman All-American Patrick Lavine, the linebackers are deep and talented. The secondary returns corners Jacob Lacey and Martel Van Zant, as well as backups Perrish Cox and Quinton Moore, and safeties Donovan Woods and Andre Sexton.

The secondary is the group that needs to prevent the big plays, but they need help from the front line, which lost all four starters. On the ends, Nate Peterson and Marque Fountain have starting experience and are expected to be full time starters in 2007. The interior part of the line is where the big questions arise. Jeray Chatham and Maurice Cummings have the experience, but the Cowboys will need junior college transfer Tonga Tea and sophomore Jonathan Lewis to make an immediate impact.

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The Bottom Line for the 2007 Cowboys:

Last year the offense was good and the defense was decent. This year, the offense will be great and the defense should be better. As long as the front four can get some pressure on the quarterback, the entire unit will improve and Oklahoma State will become a dark horse candidate for a Big XII title. There is probably too much talent in the rest of the conference for that to happen, but the Cowboys can at least make things interesting.

by Joel Welser