How a Couple of New Faces Have Made a Big Difference On The Edge For Oklahoma State

Kyle Porter here. We have ANOTHER Kyle on board. Kyle Cox, whose work you may have enjoyed on Cowboys Ride For Free, will be a contributor for us starting this week. This is his first piece.

Pittsburgh quarterback Nathan Peterman was trucking his uniquely-styled offense down the field. He had just pulled a keeper and ran out of bounds at the Oklahoma State 40-yard line, picking up seven and giving his team a manageable third down and five.

The ball is snapped. With about three seconds to look down the field he suddenly had that creeping feeling, like when you see something out of the corner of your eye and your body starts to move before your head can turn around. It was a 6-foot-5, 250-pound blur who had just stepped over a James Conner block attempt.

Seconds later, while most Oklahoma State fans were cheering the Cowboys’ seventh sack of the year, about half of them were wondering, “What’s a Walterscheid?”

That Pittsburgh offensive line had only given up one sack in its first two games. They let the young sophomore have two that day to go along with four tackles for loss. By the way, those two sacks account for half of the Panthers’ total allowed sack count through six games.

Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer had some big questions to answer about his squad coming into 2016. None were bigger than how to replace his two stud defensive ends, Emmanuel Ogbah and Jimmy Bean. Even with Bean missing the last five games due to injury, the two still combined for 28 tackles for loss and 18.5 sacks in 2015.

We knew or at least thought that the defensive tackle position would be in good shape. So far, it appears we were right on the money. Vincent Taylor is a playmaker inside and he’s not the only one. We’ve seen big plays from Motekiai Maile, Darrion Daniels, Vili Leveni and newcomer DeQuinton Osborne. Osborne currently leads the team in sacks with 3.5.

But what about that end position vacated by Ogbah and Bean? Projected starter Jordan Brailford has still yet to see the field because of injury, but there have been a couple of interesting developments on that front. Namely Cole Walterscheid and Tralund Webber.

Walterscheid, the redshirt sophomore who was apparently recruited based on a very interesting line of thinking that involves Mike Gundy diving into genetics has impressed early and often. Halfway through the season he has already accumulated two sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss, two QB hurries and a forced fumble. He has a nose for the ball.

While Walterscheid had his breakout game against Pitt, junior juco transfer Webber has put up numbers all year. He leads the team in tackles for loss with six and is second in sacks with three (including two against Iowa State), without starting a single game. He’s also broken up three passes.

You’ve also got redshirt sophomore Jarrell Owens who starts opposite Walterscheid. He has been consistent with 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks and tackle Vili Leveni who started on the edge against Texas. He has 1.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

The Cowboys are second in the Big 12 in sacks (18) and first in tackles for loss (50), also good for ninth nationally thanks, in part, to a couple of new faces. If Jordan Brailford can get healthy for this November stretch, the Cowboys should be in good shape on the edge.