Football Recruiting: OSU offers rising 2022 defensive tackle

He may be a 2022 prospect, but defensive tackle Walter Nolen’s recruitment is suddenly heating up just like the temperatures in the south this time of year!

Nolen picked up his first offer from Tennessee back on April 27th. Since then, LSU, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Nebraska, and Memphis have all offered, but OSU extending a scholarship opportunity on Tuesday.

Nolen was actually in Stillwater for the spring game.

Nolen appeared in four games for the Varsity team at Olive Branch as a freshman, racking up 37 tackles, including six TFLs and three sacks.

OSU continues to target offensive lineman

Even with now three offensive line commits for the 2020 class, Oklahoma State is still looking to add at least one more. The latest target three-star offensive tackle Tyler Bailey, who picked up his offer back on May 29th.

As a junior, Bailey was named a first-team all-district selection for Robert Vela High in Edinburg, Texas after helping his team go 12-1 and finish as state runner-ups.

Bailey’s offer list isn’t long, but it’s solid with OSU, USC, LSU, Oregon, Missouri, Texas Tech, Houston, SMU, and North Texas all in pursuit.

Bailey reportedly doesn’t have a favorite as of yet, but plans to make a final decision sometime this summer after visiting some of his offer schools.

OSU offers linebackers for the future

Oklahoma State also handed out scholly offers to two linebacker prospects; 2020 in-state recruit Jeff Roberson and 2021 three-star Derrick Harris.

Let’s start with Harris who picked up his offer on June 2nd after a visit to Stillwater.

Harris was just one of dozens of prospects who visited for the first of Oklahoma State’s two on-campus mini-camps for recruits, but he’s one we missed the first time.

According to Harris, the offer came from Mike Gundy himself.

“It was pretty good because I didn’t really see [coach Gundy] throughout the day, he was kind of scattered,” Harris told GoPokes about the offer. “So, when [the coaches] said come here, I was wondering what was going on and then I saw [it was coach Gundy] and was ‘Oh, this is pretty awesome right here.’

OSU joins Baylor, Miami, Tulsa, and SMU in pursuit, but I would expect that list to grow. The Cowboys are reportedly recruiting Harris to play the hybrid edge-rusher role that belonged to Jordan Brailford.

During his sophomore season with New Caney, Texas, Harris recorded 83 tackles, including 21.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks. He also had six pass break-ups and two interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown. It all lead to being named the named the District 9-5A-I Newcomer of the Year.

The other guy to pick up an offer recently was unranked 2020 prospect Jeff Roberson of Choctaw.

Despite no star-ranking, the inside-linebacker has 13 offers from schools like Nebraska, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Memphis, and Kansas, with eight of those coming in the last couple of weeks.

Minnesota has an edge so far, with OSU, Texas Tech, and Kansas all getting serious interest. Roberson has also made a visit to Nebraska that he called “awesome.” The good news is we won’t have to wait long to learn his decision.

“I want to make a decision before football starts this year for my senior season,” Roberson told GoPokes.