Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris says working with Chad Weiberg is 'phenomenal'

STILLWATER — Even as rumors swirled about his boss, it was a fairly normal week for Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris.

Morris didn’t pay attention to the reports and speculation last week about athletic director Chad Weiberg’s job security being in the air. Weiberg hired Morris last November.

“I’m not a big social media guy,” Morris said Tuesday. “I don’t read stories, I got so many problems I’ve gotta fix on a day-to-day basis up here. I have my weekly meetings with Chad, and he’s been great as always.”

Morris said his focus has been building on the momentum his 3-1 football team has created. He said working with Weiberg to accomplish that has been “phenomenal.”

“Super thankful, just like I’ve said up here all the time for Chad and (OSU President) Dr. Hess for giving me this opportunity to go out here and lead this organization," Morris said. "Obviously, it’s super important for us to continue to build the momentum that we have right now. I tell my players all the time, you get momentum in sports, you want to keep it.”

Here are three takeaways from Morris' Tuesday press conference.

More: Why Drew Mestemaker may author college football's most unlikely story | Carlson

Braylin Presley won’t have a large role just yet

After joining OSU's team last week, receiver Braylin Presley is immediately eligible and could play against UCF on Saturday.

Presley was added to a team that has already played four games and been around each other since the winter. It's a tough situation for him to carve out a role.

“So we’ll see kind of when we can fit him in, where we can fit him in,” Morris said. “Obviously, extremely hard and really unfair to the kid, right in the middle of the season bringing him in. You're throwing him in trying to learn all this new verbiage when everybody's been doing it for 10 or 11 months now.”

Morris reiterated his dislike of the moving pieces and parts in college football in 2026. OSU's relationship with the Presley family made Morris' decision to add Braylin easier. Freshman safety Braeden Presley is on the team. Their older brother, Brennan Presley (2020-24), ranks fifth in program history with 3,315 receiving yards.

“But was comfortable mainly because of how high of character his family is,” Morris said.

Oklahoma State football OL Braydon Nelson will play vs UCF

After the bye week, junior offensive tackle Braydon Nelson, is available to play for the Cowboys. An offseason injury has kept him out so far this season.

Nelson, a North Texas transfer, started all 14 games last season, 12 at left tackle and two at right tackle. He started 11 games as a true freshman in 2024 at right tackle and right guard.

On OSU’s depth chart, Nelson, 6-foot-4, 327 pounds, is listed as an “or” at both tackle positions along with Ashton Lepo and Shaun Torgeson. Morris said all three players should play at some point against UCF but Lepo and Torgeson will start at tackle.

“None of those tackles, Torgeson or Lepo, has done anything for us to take them out of the game right now and so those are the guys that you’ll see we start the game with,” Morris said. “But have a ton of confidence in Braydon playing inside, playing some guard. He’s done that for us. Super smart. One of the smartest kids we have up front on the offensive line. You’ll see Braydon in this game in some capacity.”

Morris praises assistants for high school recruiting

Other than getting stuck in Waco, Texas, it was a good high school recruiting weekend for Morris.

Morris said he planned to see several high school recruits in Texas last week, but storms and President Donald Trump being in Denton, Texas, made travel difficult. Morris started one day in Waco and planned to move north into the Dallas metroplex, but ended up stuck in Waco for four or five hours.

Morris made it back to Oklahoma on Friday and visited Edmond North High School to watch the Huskies host Norman North and four-star quarterback Nash Henry, a four-star quarterback prospect in the 2028 class. Henry has received offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Kansas State and TCU among others. He has not posted an offer from OSU.

Three straight victories have propelled OSU up to No. 18 in the AP Poll. The winning is good for recruiting.

“Our coaches have done a phenomenal job, our recruiting staff has, as far as getting a ton of people to the games and involved, getting back in on recruits who didn’t really know,” Morris said. “Winning is gonna be super important — people want to come play for that — and then financially continuing to grow this place to where we can retain all these players that are going out and playing at a really high level for us. Reception was great.”

247 Sports ranks OSU No. 76 in the 2027 high school rankings and No. 14 in the Big 12. The Cowboys have 12 commits in the class so far, tied for the fewest commits among Big 12 teams.

Ben Hutchenscovers OSU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ben? He can be reached at bhutchens@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at@ben_hutchens_. Sign up forOSU Sports Minute newsletterto access more coverage of the Cowboys and Cowgirls. Support Ben's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris says working with Chad Weiberg is 'phenomenal'