Cowboys Establishing A Pecking Order At Cornerback

On an experienced Oklahoma State defense, cornerback was a position group that looked to be among the deepest groups team-wide. Mike Gundy praised the unit in fall camp and cornerbacks coach Tim Duffie called it a “very even competition, even with Kevin (Peterson) in.”

“We’ve got some guys who can step in and play. There really hasn’t been a drop off, even with Kevin being the most experienced guy. He has proved that. We’ve got some guys who we can play at corner and feel good about.”

Kevin Peterson, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, was held out of the opener against Central Michigan, so I took a tally last Saturday against Central Arkansas to see just how even the split was between the Cowboy cornerbacks.

The result was a clear and defined pecking order: Peterson and Ashton Lampkin each played double the snaps of the next most-played corner, Ramon Richards.

By my count, here’s who Glenn Spencer and Duffie sent out against the Bears:

Kevin Peterson (Sr.) – 52 snaps

Ashton Lampkin (Jr.) – 43

Ramon Richards (So.) – 22

Michael Hunter (Sr.) – 17

Miketavious Jones (Sr.) – 11

Darius Curry (So.) – 5

My takeaways?

• Peterson is back to full strength. The leader of the secondary didn't look hampered at all against UCA.
• Lampkin is well ahead of Ramon Richards for the No. 2 spot. Of Richards' 22 snaps, just 10 were on two-cornerback sets.
• Maybe it was too much to expect Michael Hunter to be Tyler Patmon or Josh Furman, but he sure didn’t play much in the second game. The Indiana transfer played in just four meaningful snaps in the first half.
• The third-and-long personnel features Peterson, Lampkin, Miketavious Jones and Ramon Richards. Richards actually takes Tre Flowers’ spot and plays safety in those looks.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we don’t get that many plays in a game,” Duffie said. “There’s only about seven point-of-attack plays that they have to make, but on those plays, they’re remembered whether they win or lose. We’ve got to be strong when the ball comes at us.”

We’ll see if the rotation differs any against UTSA.