Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy explains why he sees little separation in QB race
STILLWATER — Mike Gundy is happy to have his current problem.
But eventually, the blessing of not being able to pick the best quarterback becomes a curse, so over the next week or so, the Oklahoma State coach knows he needs to see some separation.
The good part of the problem is that Gundy is pleased with the play of those in the competition — Alan Bowman, Garret Rangel and Gunnar Gundy.
“Guys are playing good. … Right now, you couldn’t do it,” Gundy said of the challenge of picking a starter following Saturday’s 100-play scrimmage at Boone Pickens Stadium. “As soon as we think that it’s beneficial to our team to make that decision — like if you would’ve watched today, you wouldn’t have been able to do it.
“We’ll let ‘em run at least another Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It’s not like none of ‘em are playing good. They’re all playing good. So that’s good news for us.”
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Gundy initially suggested he hoped to have a quarterback picked by the 12th practice of camp, which is early this week. But he also hinted at the idea of being willing to play two quarterbacks early in the season.
As they did in the spring, the offensive coaching staff is rotating the three quarterbacks with all of the first-, second-, and third-team offenses so they each get to work with a variety of other players.
For running backs and receivers in particular, that experience is beneficial.
“I feel like whoever wins, or if they decide to split time this year, I feel like we’re in good hands,” redshirt sophomore receiver Blaine Green said. “They rotate every practice so all of us get used to catching passes from every quarterback and they’re also good about putting in time, whether it be in the film room or off the field to get with us.
“Whoever it is, I’m gonna be happy for him and we’re gonna have a great season.”
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Oklahoma State football announces season-ticket sellout
With a renewed excitement following a disappointing finish to the 2022 season, Oklahoma State football fans have shown their determination to fill Boone Pickens Stadium this fall.
The school announced a sellout of season tickets — including suites and the club level — for the seven-game home slate. The schedule includes the final Bedlam game for the foreseeable future, a Friday night game against Kansas State and two visits from new Big 12 members, Cincinnati and BYU.
The only other recent season-ticket sellout was in 2013, though that year, the last tickets were not sold until after the season had already begun.
OSU has less than 2,000 single-game tickets remaining for each home game, some of which have fewer than 500 remaining.
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Veteran blockers relying on bond
When OSU eventually puts out a depth chart for the season opener against Central Arkansas, the offensive line slots stand to be filled by a slew of redshirt seniors.
Guys like Preston Wilson, Joe Michalski, Cole Birmingham, Taylor Miterko and Jake Springfield — all of whom came to OSU together as part of the 2019 recruiting class — are expected to be on the two-deep, most of them as starters.
Additionally, Dalton Cooper, who transferred from Texas State, is a redshirt senior and Jason Brooks Jr. is a redshirt junior. Both will be in prominent roles as well.
That group has a significant role to play, not only on the field in the coming season, but also in helping prepare the next wave of linemen.
Behind the seven players mentioned, the Cowboys’ other nine scholarship linemen are in their first or second season of college football.
As for the class of 2019 recruits, many of them have battled injuries, but all five are healthy and competing for playing time now.
“It’s just awesome to see,” Miterko said. “We’ve all been good friends since we got here 4 ½ years ago. To have everybody healthy for the first time in a while is awesome. Just to have guys you’ve been with year after year to compete against and play next to and have them out at practice, it’s a lot of fun. We’re all getting so much better.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football: Mike Gundy sees little separation in QB race
