STILLWATER — Caleb Hawkins exploded onto the college football landscape as a freshman phenom at North Texas, but before that, he was an Oklahoma State fan.
How serious was his fandom, while growing up in Shawnee, an hour south of the OSU campus?
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“Growing up, I always got to watch them online, on TV and everything,” the new Cowboy running back said. “As I got older and saved up a little money, I got to come to the Bedlam game, which was great. Core memory, for sure.
“The very last Bedlam. The best one.”
And was he part of the field-storming that ensued after OSU’s win over OU in that 2023 Bedlam game?
“Absolutely I stormed the field,” he said with a smile. “I was very excited.”
Hawkins rushed for 1,434 yards and set the FBS freshman record with 29 total touchdowns at North Texas, and will be a key cog in the Morris offense and Oklahoma State.
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A 2025 graduate of North Rock Creek High School, Hawkins is one of the new faces at OSU, but he’s obviously not new to OSU.
“There’s not too much change,” he said in his first meeting with OSU media since transferring to join former North Texas coach Eric Morris in January. “I grew up here, I’ve been here my whole life. This is, like, my roots. I love Oklahoma.”
More: These Oklahoma State football players are poised for a breakout 2026 season
OSU running back Caleb Hawkins speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.
Mestemaker calls pressure a ‘privilege’
After his fantastic redshirt freshman season at North Texas, where he led the nation in passing yards, new OSU quarterback Drew Mestemaker knows he has eyeballs on him to perform.
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He has already experienced how much attention OSU fans are paying when fellow students have recognized him on campus or children asked for his autograph at public appearances like the wrestling dual he attended recently.
That type of attention comes with pressure, but at least for now, Mestemaker doesn’t appear concerned.
“This is what I’ve dreamed of,” he said. “You look back and you think about all those times when I was emailing schools and they said they didn’t have a quarterback spot for me, and you know, now you have the privilege of having that, all that pressure on you.
“It’s everything you could have dreamed of.”
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Jaleel Johnson motivated by ‘unfinished business’
Among the 25 OSU players who returned from last year’s team, defensive end Jaleel Johnson is part of a small group of redshirt seniors who have been with the Cowboys their entire careers.
And the Oklahoma City native wouldn’t have it any other way for his final season of college football — especially after how the last two have gone for the Pokes.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Johnson admits he wondered if he should stay after the firing of longtime Cowboy coach Mike Gundy last September, but ultimately believed OSU was his home.
“Obviously, seeing Coach Gundy go, it hurt, because he’s the one who gave me an opportunity to play here,” Johnson said. “But ultimately, it’s gonna be changes, even in the NFL. People come and go all the time.
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“I decided that me staying here would be my best choice, because I have unfinished business here. The past two years haven’t been great and I wanna be the reason why we change the narrative.”
Even with that, Johnson didn’t know until he met with Morris whether he’d be welcomed back, and that created some nervous moments ahead of their first discussion.
“We didn’t know each other,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know what he was gonna think about me or how he felt about me. There was a chance he didn’t want me to be here. There was those nerves. But when I got on the phone with him, we had a conversation that was good, so it made me feel good.
“Feeling like being wanted makes anybody want to come back. He expressed to me how he wants me to lead the defense and he wants me to be here and be a part of this 2026 team.”
OSU defensive end Jaleel Johnson speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.
Malik Charles knew ‘after Tulsa’ he wanted to remain at OSU
When defensive end Malik Charles sought a new college football destination in December of 2024, he wanted to find a place he could stay for his final two years of college football.
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So even in late September, when Gundy had been fired and the season appeared to be going off the rails, Charles already knew he wanted to be a Cowboy in 2026.
“I kinda knew I was gonna stay here, like, after the Tulsa game, honestly,” he said. “I’m telling y’all, I really didn’t have any thought of leaving here. I love it here.”
Like Johnson, that meant Charles had to have a conversation with Morris to find out if he’d be allowed to stay.
“I was extremely nervous,” Charles said. “I was sitting on the couch, and I went in to meet with him, and I was just like, ‘Oh man, what if they don’t want me here?’ I was just kind of getting ready to hear that in my head if I had to.
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“But when I went in to talk to him, he eased my nerves. He kinda let me know that I was a guy they wanted to keep around here. That made me excited.”
And like Johnson, Charles wants to be part of the team that changes the trajectory of Oklahoma State football.
“I don’t think the way people talked about us is how we played,” he said of the 2025 team. “We showed up every Saturday. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but the guys who stayed, we’re here to try to turn it around. Loyal and true to the end.”
Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker takes a photo with fan during a college wrestling dual between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Iowa State Cyclones at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on X at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU football’s Caleb Hawkins recalls storming field at final Bedlam
