Memorable experience: LH grad Edenfield’s college football career began at Cal and ended with him playing for 16th-ranked Oklahoma State
There is much debate about the transfer portal in college football but you’ll hear no complaints from Ian Edenfield.
The Laurel Highlands graduate went on to play football at California University of Pa. and then wound up receiving an offer from Oklahoma State University as a red-shirt senior through the portal last year.
Edenfield wound up playing in 10 of the Cowboys’ 12 games this past season, finding himself on a team that wound up ranked 16th in the final AP Top 25 poll.
Edenfield, a tight end who played mostly special teams for OSU, embraced the chance to be part of a Big 12 program.
“We were ranked third in the country my junior year at Cal, but to be playing for a team ranked in the Top 25 from a Division-1 Power Five conference is pretty cool and unique,” said Edenfield, the son of Chris and Carla Edenfield.
Playing for the Cowboys pushed Edenfield to be his best.
“It’s a lot different going from D-2 to D-1,” Edenfield said. “There’s not just one or two guys at your position, there’s like three, four or more guys that are just as fast, just as big, just as strong, if not stronger. Everyone in that position room was really good and everyone played an important role, even if it was the scout team, a back-up at practice being a two or a three. Everyone was pretty competitive.
“I can’t complain. I had a good time. I enjoyed it.”
Edenfield was hoping to cap his collegiate career by playing in the Texas Bowl but an injury kept him on the sidelines at NGR Stadium during the Cowboys’ 31-23 win over Texas A&M, which completed a 10-4 season.
“It was the last five minutes of the last full-padded practice before the bowl game,” Edenfield recalled. “It was the same thing that happened to me at Laurel Highlands, I broke my fibula and tore ligaments. The same leg, it broke above the plate I had in there from that first injury. They had to take the plate out and move it up a little bit more.”
What made matters worse was that OSU had even inserted a play specifically for Edenfield in the bowl game.
“I had a play, too, for me where I go in disguised as kind of a left tackle eligible, act like I’m blocking then pop up the left seam,” Edenfield explained. “That was like a red zone play. That would’ve been pretty cool if I could’ve got in there for that play.”
OKlahoma State used the 6-foot-5, 272-pound Edenfield mainly as a blocker.
“Maybe in all of spring, all fall camp and all of practices, I had probably 20-25 catches,” Edenfield said. “It would’ve been too cool to get one in the bowl game, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
The season didn’t start out well for the Cowboys, according to Edenfield.
“There were a couple tough losses we had where if we could’ve won those we’d probably have played in a New Year’s Day Six bowl game,” he said.
Edenfield marveled at the atmosphere at some of the stadiums he played in this past season.
“Home games were really loud. The Oklahoma game and the Kansas State game, I couldn’t hear myself for three-fourths of the game,” Edenfield said.
The Cowboys defeated Oklahoma in “Bedlam,” the nickname for their rivalry, 27-24.
“Probably the coolest stadium was playing in the Big 12 (championship game) at AT&T Stadium,” Edenfield said of the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, which is the largest stadium in the NFL. “I was driving up to it and was like, ‘Wow, this place is huge.’ When I came out of the locker room and walked the field before warmups, I was looking at the stands and was just in awe.
“The bowl game was where the (Houston) Texans play, NRG Stadium, that one was pretty cool, too. My favorite, personally, was Arizona State (Mountain American Stadium), just for the view, the scenery, the desert in the background with some mountains, and there’s cactus all around. It was really different. I just loved the atmosphere at that place.”
Cheered loudly most of the time at home, Edenfield got to experience the other end of the spectrum also.
“At the beginning of the year we actually got booed a little. That was pretty loud, too,” Edenfield said with a chuckle.
Oklahoma suffered early-season losses at home to South Alabama and at Iowa State and was 2-2 and struggling after four games.
“It was a little weird at first at the beginning of the year because we had three quarterbacks. They kind of rotated a lot of guys,” Edenfield said. “Around week four we started settling on one guy at most positions but we lost at Iowa State, and that was just a tough place to play.
“Then we went in the bye week and figured out what we were going to do the rest of the year, and got really good at it.”
One key factor, according to Edenfield, was a suggestion from head coach Mike Gundy.
“After the bye week he told us we just don’t have spark before games,” Edenfield said. “So he decided to let us dance and go have fun in warmups to get ready and get hyped before the Kansas State game. After we beat Kansas State, we just started doing that every game and I think it really helped get us in the right frame of mind to be pumped up and ready to play.”
The Cowboys went 8-2 the rest of the season, including a win at West Virginia, which had a freshman wide receiver named Rodney Gallagher III, who is also an LH graduate.
“I saw Rodney before the game when they walked into the stadium and then I saw him real quick after the game,” Edenfield said. “I’m pretty sure we’re a couple of the only people who talked to each other after the game, everyone else just kind of shook hands and ran off.
“That’s not really heard of, having two players from the same school playing against each other at that level, in a Big 12 game. That was pretty cool. We’re good family friends. He grew up whenever I was in high school. My dad coached him the past couple years so we have a good relationship with him and his family.”
While Edenfield didn’t expect to hear from a Big 12 team when he entered the transfer portal, he admitted WVU was in the back of his mind.
“Before I went there, I was thinking, man, I’d love to go to WVU,” Edenfield said. “But now I’m Oklahoma State. Go Pokes.”
Edenfield, whose major is Social Studies Secondary Education, feels coaching could be in his future and learned a lot from Gundy and playing at OSU.
“He’s cool, he’s a players’ coach, real personable,” Edenfield said of Gundy. “If you ever had a problem you could just go talk to him. He’s the man. He’s funny.
“The facilities there, it’s just ridiculous. The locker room, weight room.There were a lot of kids that I played with at Cal that could’ve probably played at this level if they’d have had that training.”
Edenfield got a close-up look at some of the most talented players in the country while at Oklahoma State.
“There are guys I played against last year that are going to be first or second round picks (in the NFL Draft),” Edenfield said. “There’s 4.4, 4.5 speed everywhere. Linemen, these massive dudes, run like 4.9s or 4.8s. It’s just amazing.”
Edenfield was happy with how his career turned out.
“I had a couple bumps in the road throughout it with some injuries at Cal, too,” Edenfield said. “I was just happy I was able to get that opportunity to go out there. I can’t thank them enough for that, something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little kid.
“I enjoyed my time there and made a lot of good friends. I still talk to a lot of them and everyday we’re in a group message with the whole team from this past year.
“It was a good experience, I built good relationships and I’ve learned a lot to help me in the future with coaching.”