How DeQuinton Osborne made it to OSU MOTOR ON
STILLWATER — DeQuinton Osborne blasted out of his stance, feet churning, hands pushing.
He didn’t stop until he reached the quarterback.
But even after he sacked South Alabama’s signal caller on the first defensive play of the game last week, the Oklahoma State defense tackle kept moving. He stomped his feet. He nodded his head. He clapped his hands.
His celebrations have been almost as demonstrative as his play this season.
“A tremendous motor,” Cowboy defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer said of Osborne.
Through two games, Osborne has seven tackles, most among OSU defensive linemen and tied for third most on the team. His three tackles for loss are a team high. And when the Cowboys head to Pitt for their biggest test of the young season with a linebacker corps severely thinned by injuries and suspension, Osborne and the defensive line must help pick up the slack.
That Osborne finds himself in this position is a testament to that motor his defensive coordinator loves —it has driven Osborne on the field and off.
While at South Grand Prairie High in suburban Dallas-Fort Worth, Osborne received several scholarship offers from Power 5 schools. Texas Tech was interested. Ditto for Baylor. Buthe needed three As and a B in his last semester to qualify academically.
It’s something he’d never done.
Until then.
Fresh off his academic triumph, Osborne signed with Missouri, then spent a year as a redshirt in Columbia. But at the end of that year, his academic eligibility had again become an issue, forcing him to transferto Kilgore Junior College.
Osborne calls his timeat the east Texas school the best worst experience of his life.
“It was a tough two years for me,” he said. But ...
“I had to just be consistent and persistent in what I wanted to do and where I wanted to play ball. Looking back on it,
I think it was something that definitely helped me grow as a man.”
Osborne initially signed with Baylor in February 2016, but when the football program’s rape scandal hit a few months later, Baylor granted him a release.
He quickly signed with OSU.
Spencer liked his explosivenessat the snap, but as much as anything, the Cowboys were sold on Osborne because of hisrelentlessness. He didn’t give up. He didn’t let down.
“You don’t take a guy with his size,” Spencer said, “unless he’s got that motor.”
Osborne is listed at 6-foot, 305 pounds, but that height must’ve been measured when he was wearing cleats. Standing on concrete.
And yet, when Osborne is on the field, you don’t really notice how tall (or not) he is.Instead, you notice how active he is. How effective. How disruptive.
“You talk to a lot of offensive linemen,” Spencer said, “and they’d just rather see a big heavy body than a guy who has a motor like him.”
After playing in 11 games a year ago, Osborne earned a starting spot this season.
Even though he ranked third on the team last season with 3.5 sacks, he senses a significant change in his performance.
A year ago, he was learning and adjusting and thinking so much thatit slowed him down. Now?
“I just feel like I’m stronger, I’m faster, I’m playing a lot better using my eyes, playing what I see,” he said. “I just feel like I made big improvements.”
And when things go well, Osborne doesn’t hesitate in celebrating those moments. It’s a reflection of what he and the Cowboys are doingon the field —but for him,it goes beyond the moment.
It goes back to the road that he traveled to get to this point.
“We just put in so much hard work every day, day in and day out,” he said. “We just really grind.”
DeQuinton Osborne surely has. There have been bumps. There have been detours. There have been twists and turns that could’ve derailed him. But hedidn’t stop. His motor never quit.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at (405) 475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/ JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.