Happy Thursday Cowboys! Tick, tick, tick….

We’re taught as kids that patience is a virtue. We learn as adults that patience isn’t the easiest thing to achieve, can I get an amen?

The clock is ticking for the return of Cowboy athletics and we are just 42 days away from the Orange and Black being live and in color for the 2023-2024 athletic calendar.

Today, we’ll get you primed up for the season, keep you updated on OSU alums, and celebrate some incredible successes.

What else is stirring in today’s edition of the Brew? Check it out!

🙌 New Friends and Foes
🤠 Pokes Pod With Our Leader
🏈 Countdown to Kickoff
🤠 And so much more!

🎧 OSU MAX PODCASTS

This past year was a record-setting year in so many ways for the OSU athletic department.

With the success across so many sports, OSU earned a top-25 ranking in the Learfield’s Athletic Director’s Cup for a third straight year, a record accomplishment for the department.

Leading the way for the surge of success has been Director of Athletics, Chad Weiberg.

Earlier this year, OSU Max sat down for an in-depth Face-to-Face Pokes Pod with Weiberg and his journey to Stillwater and his vision for the future.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Three’s Company. Can’t get the season started without some preseason hype, right?

A trio of Cowboys earned exactly that when they were named to the 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 team on Wednesday. Wide receiver Brennan Presley, linebacker Collin Oliver and safety Kendal Daniels all received recognition by the conference. 

Presley returns as the team’s leading receiver from a year ago, hauling in 67 catches for 813 yards and earning Honorable Mention All-Big 12 accolades. Oliver led the team last year with five sacks and 12 quarterback hurries, while his 7.5 tackles for loss ranked fourth on the team.

Daniels was the 2022 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and earned FWAA Freshman All-America honors. He played in all 13 games and finished the year ranked fourth among all FBS freshmen with three interceptions and fifth among all FBS freshmen with an average of 5.5 tackles per game.

🔼 New Friends and Foes. The turn of the calendar to July brought a new era to the Big 12.

Brand new flags are flying outside of Boone Pickens with BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF all being officially welcomed into the Big 12 for the first time.

2023-2024 will the first athletic year of the new look Big 12, with both Cincy and BYU visiting Stillwater for the first time as conference foes this fall.

Welcome aboard crew!

🔼 Locked and Loaded. Rising senior Maddison Hinson-Tolchard gets her first shot at the big names this weekend as the Cowgirl standout will compete at the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Golf Links, beginning Thursday. 
 
The Australian native has been playing perhaps the best golf of her career over the past few months, winning the individual title at the Big 12 Championship in late April and placing fourth at the NCAA Championship in May. Following the season, she was named Big 12 Player of the Year for the second straight season and a First Team All-American by the Women's Golf Coaches Association.
 
Currently 43rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Hinson-Tolchard earned her spot in the championship field after earning medalist honors at the Carrollton, Texas qualifying site immediately following her strong run at nationals.
 
With former Cowgirls Maja Stark and Pernilla Lindberg also among the field at Pebble Beach, Oklahoma State will be well represented throughout the weekend. Lindberg is the only player in program history to have won a major championship, doing so at the ANA Inspiration in 2018.

On Thursday, Hinson-Tolchard will begin her opening round on the 10th hole at 11:01 a.m. CT alongside Albane Valenzuela and Momoko Ueda. She will tee off on the first hole at 4:46 p.m. CT the following day.
 
Throughout the weekend, the U.S. Women's Open will be available for streaming on Peacock, USA Network and NBC. Live scoring will also be available on LPGA.com.

🔼 Not too shabby… Let’s check in with this year’s PGA Tour Season Money List….

And the LIV Golf League….

Yes, that’s right, OSU currently has three of the top-10 in the PGA Tour winners list this year and the top golf in the brand new LIV League.

Again, can we say #GolfSchool?

🔼 Leveling Up. What a difference a year can make, huh?

Last spring, Victor Mederos toed the rubber at O’Brate Stadium for the Cowboys.

One year later, Mederos, at just 22 years old, made his major league debut, tossing two innings for the Los Angeles Angels, striking out two and allowing just one hit.

Mederos was turning heads in the Angels organizations with 84 strikeouts in 71.2 career minor league innings.

He becomes the fifth Cowboy in the bigs this year joining Peyton Battenfield, Thomas Hatch, Andrew Heaney and Jonathan Heasley.

🤠 A YEAR TO REMEMBER

46 All-Americans. 23 Big 12 Individual Champions. 6 Big 12 Champions. School Record 10 Academic All-Americans.

What a year it was for OSU and on Wednesday, that got even better as the Cowboys set a new school record by finishing in the top-25 nationally in the final 2022-23 Learfield Directors' Cup standings.

It marks the first time since the standings were created that the Pokes finished in the top-25 nationally in three straight years. The Learfield Directors' Cup honors institutions having success in all sports in which the NCAA offers a championship, along with FBS football. All sports are weighted equally.

Because Oklahoma State does not sponsor women's volleyball and does not get credit for its performance in equestrian, it has only 17 sports eligible for Learfield Directors' Cup scoring, while most others count points from 19 sports. Operating with a two-sport handicap, Oklahoma State has still finished in the top 25 nationally in each of the last three years and has finished in the top three of the Big 12 in each of the last five years.

🏈 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 58 DAYS

One of the most accomplished OSU alums at the NFL level battled injuries throughout his time at Stillwater, #58 Dexter Manley.

His time at OSU didn’t hold a candle to what he put together during his professional career. Manley was selected in the fifth round of the 1981 draft by Washington.

He was a part of two Super Bowl victories (1982 and 1988) during his 11-year NFL career that included nine years with Washington and one each with Phoenix and Tampa Bay.

During his 11 years, he played in 143 games, starting 120 of those contests and racked up 103.5 sacks, including four straight double-digit sack seasons from 1983-1986. His 103.5 sacks rank in the top-40 all-time in NFL history.

His 1986 season was dominant and earned him First Team All Pro accolades and he finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. During that year, he started all 16 games and ranked second in the league with 18.5 sacks.

🤔 COWBOY TRIVIA

In February of 2022, Tre Flowers became the 28th former Cowboy to reach the Super Bowl.

Two years earlier, Emmanuel Ogbah became the 15th Cowboy to win the Super Bowl and hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Only two Cowboys have won multiple Super Bowls. As we mentioned above, Dexter Manley was one of those two (1983, 1988).

Can you name the other one?

Think you got it?

Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

🎥 OSU MAX

As fans, it’s really for all of us to get wrapped up in the wins and losses, the highs and lows.

Sometimes, we need reminders of what it’s truly all about.

On a sunny Saturday in early May at O’Brate, the OSU baseball teams and thousands of Cowboys fans got that reminder from several of the kids from our Cowboys vs. Cancer campaign.

Take a look back at this truly special OSU Max flashback.

🎥 OSU Access: A Reminder Of What It’s All About

📬 STICK WITH US

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🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Jon Kolb.

Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Super Bowl titles for Kolb as he was the leader of the Steelers’ offensive line during their incredible run in the late 70s.

He was a member of the 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1980 Super Bowl winning teams. He played in a 177 NFL games during his 13-year career. All of which came with Pittsburgh.

While in Stillwater, Kolb was a two-time All-Big Eight honoree and earned All-American accolades in 1968.

Keep going Cowboys, only one more day until Friday!