The topic of discussion was spur of the moment. So was the lone tattoo on D.J. McKinney’s right hand.
“BEAST,” it reads along the medial side of his index finger.
There wasn’t much that went into that one, he said. Perhaps the others that came up, all part of a full sleeve that begins at the wrist and extends to his shoulder, perfectly embody McKinney’s time on the Oklahoma State football team thus far.
The first, outlined in red on the inside of his bicep, says “RARE.” That one is there, McKinney said, because he tries to be rare in everything he does. The second, visible on his forearm, is “BLESSED.”
“I like this one, too,” McKinney said, stretching his left arm across his body and pointing to the outside of his bicep. “It says life is gonna test me. I gotta stay 10 toes down. It’s not what’s on me, it’s in me.”
That’s only fitting for a redshirt freshman who hasn’t backed down from a challenge yet. If McKinney had, a stay in Stillwater and a spot on the Cowboys’ roster likely would’ve never happened.
He was a sophomore at Colleyville Heritage High School in northeastern Texas when he took the field for a life-altering Week 6 matchup with Red Oak. The opposing offense had Raymond Gay, an explosive receiver who Oklahoma State was already recruiting.
McKinney was Colleyville’s best when it came to man-to-man coverage. He wanted the assignment that night, and he got it. That led to Gay, who’s transitioned to safety since arriving at OSU in August 2021, informing Cowboys cornerbacks coach Tim Duffie about the man behind his quieter-than-usual night.
“Afterwards, he was just telling Coach Duffie how I covered him all game, wasn’t giving him a lot of targets for the quarterback to get to him,” McKinney recalled. “Duffie gave me a call, and here we are. I’m here now.”
Three years later, McKinney is beginning to leave his mark at OSU.
He played close to 100 snaps through the Cowboys’ first two games of 2023 – wins over Central Arkansas and Arizona State. In the season opener, McKinney tallied five tackles (all solo) and two pass breakups, one of which prevented a touchdown. Another pair of tackles came during a Week 2 trip to the desert.
The heavy dose of playing time is drastically different from a year ago. There aren’t too many freshmen who see the field at OSU; Cowboys coach Mike Gundy usually prefers to play someone with experience in the system. That group included McKinney in 2022, with him appearing in four games and recording a mere two tackles.
“It’s way, way more fun than just sitting on the sidelines and watching,” he said. “It’s just real exciting. It’s just real exciting to be on the field this year.”
Some in his position would’ve transferred elsewhere during the winter. Today’s college football landscape suggests most would have.
Not him, though. McKinney was in it for the long run.
“I learned real early as soon as I got here that it’s a lot of stuff that goes into the process,” McKinney said. “I just took that into my mindset. … So, when my time would come, I was prepared.”
Having an early breakout of such was always in McKinney’s cards. He figured as much, anyway.
Throughout this offseason, he didn’t place a great emphasis on improving his technique, which he feels has always been his strong suit – something evident since the night he effectively blanketed Gay. This summer was about McKinney showing the coaches – everyone, really – that he’s more than fancy footwork and a wing span longer than his 6-foot frame.
“I definitely had a main goal, and that was just showing what I bring to the table: being a guy that my team can depend on,” McKinney said. “That one’s my main goal right now.”
So far, he’s done exactly that, and it’s helped him stand out in what’s considered to be a loaded defensive back corps, one that McKinney says is competitive, not combative.
OSU ushering in first-year defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo, whose 3-3-5 scheme doesn’t necessarily require as many cornerbacks on the field at one time as other approaches, made playing time even more valuable.
McKinney enters the Cowboys’ Week 3 matchup with South Alabama still listed on the depth chart in the same place he was to start the season: right behind veteran Korie Black and redshirt sophomore Cam Smith.
He’s more than a backup. McKinney has made that quite clear through fall camp and early parts of the still-young campaign. Gundy and Nardo have no choice but to let the upcoming star see the field on Saturdays.
That’s been the plan all along.
“I was just prepared, just ready for them to call my name,” McKinney said. “I just took advantage of the opportunity they gave me. I’ve just been ready ever since.”
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