Identifying Oklahoma State football's most unexpected concerns, top breakout players

STILLWATER — Through three games, the Oklahoma State football season certainly hasn’t gone the way anyone expected.

So let’s address some of the unexpected, good and bad.

The Oklahoman’s Scott Wright and Jacob Unruh will make their picks on unexpected breakout players and unexpected concern as the Cowboys prepare for their Big 12 opener at 3 p.m. Saturday at Iowa State:

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Who is Oklahoma State football's most unexpected breakout player?

Unruh: This might seem odd to some considering the general feeling of the quarterback battle, but I'm genuinely surprised about Gunnar Gundy's emergence.

Hear me out here.

Nobody really expected Gundy — a walk-on who is playing for his father — to be in the quarterback battle or rotation or whatever we're calling it at this point. A year ago, he was far from ready and struggled in big moments, especially the Iowa State game in which he was benched in the fourth for an injured Spencer Sanders to save the day.

But Gundy is now having some success.

The numbers don't jump off the screen or page. Still, the offense seems to have a promising rhythm at times with him taking the snaps. He can run better than Alan Bowman and Garret Rangel, too.

Will he win the job? Hard to tell and I still would label him the underdog. But to even be in the battle at this point is wild.

Wright: I’m going to the defensive side of the ball with cornerback D.J. McKinney. A redshirt freshman, McKinney played in his four games while redshirting last year, primarily on special teams.

But as August went along, the backup cornerbacks we kept hearing the most buzz about were Kenneth Harris, the Arkansas State transfer, and Midwest City product Kale Smith. Yet McKinney has worked himself firmly into the rotation with starters Korie Black and Cam Smith.

At 142 snaps played, he’s actually been on the field more than any cornerback other than Black, and McKinney has the best coverage grade, according to Pro Football Focus. A 6-foot, 174-pounder from Colleyville, Texas, McKinney could be ready to step to the front of the line behind Black as the Cowboys’ next high-level cornerback.

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What is Oklahoma State football's most unexpected concern?

Wright: Let’s go ahead and remove offensive line play from the list of options, because with the same group of players who struggled last year in most of the starting roles, it shouldn’t be an unexpected concern.

With that off the board, I’ll go with tackling. Based on PFF stats, OSU has missed 51 tackles through three games, an average of 17 per game. That number is notably higher than the 13.7 misses per game last year, when OSU was considered a poor tackling team.

But there’s light at the end of the tunnel for this squad. They seem to be getting better, and they’re relying on guys who are getting their first taste of significant playing time. Nick Martin and Lyrik Rawls are getting in position to make plays and both are physical enough to finish tackles as they get used to doing it more frequently.

Collin Oliver is finding himself in space more regularly than ever before, so that’s an adjustment. But the team has the speed and physicality to be better tacklers than it has shown, so look for that 17 average to drop soon.

Unruh: It's alarming to me the number of drops from the receivers. Sure, there were some big losses in the transfer portal from that group, but there was so much talent left.

The drops feel uncharacteristic for a talented group. Jaden Bray has had his moments and is wrongly blamed for larger issues. But so have other receivers. Even Brennan Presley, perhaps the most sure-handed receiver of the group, muffed a punt last weekend.

It's a troubling trend that can perhaps be easily corrected more than others. There's just too much talent in that room.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football's most unexpected concerns, breakout players