STILLWATER — Kasen Carpenter looked down at his phone and realized he was already getting his first recruiting call after putting his name in the transfer portal.
How quickly did the first one come?
Carpenter hadn’t yet left the University of Tulsa compliance office, which handled his portal entry information.
“Things started rolling quickly,” Courtney Carpenter, Kasen’s mother, told The Oklahoman.
Among the early phone calls Kasen received was one from Oklahoma State, which triggered immediate interest for the 6-foot-3, 290-pound offensive lineman who had just completed his redshirt freshman season at Tulsa.
So the quick reaction from OSU’s recruiting staff led to an equally speedy commitment, and now, Kasen Carpenter is among the 22 transfers already on campus and set to go through spring practice with the new-look Pokes.
More: What will Oklahoma State football roster look like for 2025 spring? Here’s a breakdown
“Kasen was a kid growing up who loved Cowboy football, so it was a pretty easy decision when they came knocking on that day and to tell Kasen, ‘Hey, we’ve got an eye on you and we’ve got a place for you and this is what we want,’” Courtney said.
“Stillwater is the culture that fits Kasen. He’s kind of got an old soul, and that’s the speed of town and the culture of a team that he really had his eye on as a little boy.”
The family didn’t need to concern itself with a campus visit. Kasen had been attending OSU coach Mike Gundy’s lineman camps for years, driving up from his hometown of Midlothian, Texas, every summer.
But Kasen’s life has taught him that his timing is right when it needs to be, even if it’s not on the schedule he might’ve hoped for.
And that trend goes back to Kasen’s early years.
His father, Craig, was on the coaching staff at Midlothian Heritage High School, and Kasen was the team’s ballboy. But Craig understood the dangers of youth football, so he and Courtney kept Kasen in flag football until seventh grade.
While many college offensive linemen have been the biggest kids on their team since an early age, it wasn’t that way for Kasen.
He was a fullback and linebacker on his junior-high teams, then he moved to tight end as a high school freshman — beginning his trend as a late bloomer.
More: What is in Mike Gundy’s new contract as Oklahoma State football coach?
“I knew where he was heading and where he needed to be,” Craig said. “Eventually he would be there. He started playing offensive line more consistently his sophomore year in high school.”
Kasen weighed 230 pounds as a sophomore, but because he was so athletic, he was an ideal fit at offensive tackle.
“He was still such a baby at that point,” Courtney said. “We go back and look at pictures and we just laugh.
“His junior year, when he finally started getting some college looks a little bit, I’d go with him on a couple of visits. They’d weigh him in and he’d be 235, 240. His film looked great to people, then he’d get in front of them and he was still a little light.”
He finally hit a big growth spurt in the spring of his junior year, and his recruiting picked up even more.
“Coaches wanted him to be certain measurables when he showed up on visits and he wasn’t quite there,” said Craig, who played defensive line at Sam Houston State.
While his late-bloomer status might’ve been difficult to accept in those moments, Craig believed it would pay dividends in the future.
“It worked out perfect for Kasen,” Craig said. “He’s learned how to overcome those things and earn it and battle through.
“Bad times and bad things happen, and we gotta learn how to battle through adversity.”
More: Oklahoma State football mailbag: What will be the Cowboys’ identity on offense in 2025?
That’s what happened for Kasen at Tulsa.
After a coaching change led him to finish his high school career in Allen, Texas, he joined the Tulsa program of Kevin Wilson. And though Kasen started the entire 2024 season and played 873 total snaps — second-most on the team — Wilson was let go in late November.
“That creates chaos for the players,” Courtney said.
But the timing was finally coming together for Kasen. His body had developed. He had proven himself on the field. And he was ready for the opportunity that presented itself.
“It was pretty easy for him to see that OSU is where he wanted to be,” Courtney said. ”He’d had his eye on them for a long time, and he said, ‘They seem to really want me. They have a plan for me and it’s personalized.’ They knew who he was and what he was and what he could do for them, and weren’t just calling because of what he looked like in the portal.”
“Maybe not being the right size at the right time worked out for him to go play and get a starting spot at Tulsa as a redshirt freshman and prove that he has what it takes.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU football was right place at right time for Kasen Carpenter
