We all know that NIL has changed college football forever, but just how much money are teams paying their top players? A new ESPN report dove into the details of the estimated payments for top players at each position, and we all know that the quarterback position is the most valuable in college football. And ESPN noted that Oklahoma State spent a small fortune to land transfer quarterback Drew Mestemaker from North Texas, joining his head coach, Eric Morris, in Stillwater.
According to the ESPN report, “Darian Mensah was once again the extreme outlier, with his unprecedented deal with Miami that was believed to approach $8 million before his settlement with Duke. Now-former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby and LSU’s Sam Leavitt pushed the top of the market into the $4 million to $5 million range, with Josh Hoover (Indiana) and Drew Mestemaker (Oklahoma State) not far behind them as coveted passers in the portal. South Carolina and Cal had to pony up to retain LaNorris Sellers and Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, respectively.”
So while there have been questions around Stillwater as to whether or not Oklahoma State was ready to play in the deep end of the NIL and transfer portal pool, at least for off-season No. 1 for Eric Morris, this ESPN report would suggest that Mestemaker is one of the highest-paid players in all of college football. And the fact that they brought along weapons like Wyatt Young and Caleb Hawkins suggests the pockets in Stillwater may be deep, even without T. Boone Pickens around any more.
Oklahoma State fans should be thrilled by this news. The Cowboys were expected to be one of the top teams in the Big 12 Conference under its new 16-team iteration following the departure of Oklahoma and Texas. But the last two seasons were absolute disasters under Mike Gundy, who seemingly never adjusted to or embraced the new era of college football. And that’s OK, but it was time for everyone to move on.
But the donors and boosters have also clearly stepped up at a critical time in the program’s history. OU is in the SEC and fresh off a College Football Playoff appearance, and the time is now for the Pokes, under new leadership, to not fall behind in the arms race. And while the spending doesn’t guarantee wins, it certainly puts this team and program in a much better position to compete at the highest levels of the Big 12 Conference.
As I shared in one of our recent YouTube videos, Oklahoma State over 5.5 wins feels like a lock to me. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here! And after this new ESPN report, I only feel even more confident with that assessment.
