Three Things Spencer Sanders Said after Tuesday’s Practice

Spencer Sanders met with reporters for the first time this fall after the Cowboys’ Tuesday practice.

Entering his second season as Oklahoma State’s starting quarterback, Sanders chatted with reporters for about five minutes via teleconference. Here are some of the points he hit on.

Sanders’ Message to OSU’s Student Body Involving COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and college football have had their fair share of ups and downs the past few weeks.

As things stand, Sanders and the Cowboys will play against Tulsa on Sept. 12, but the Big 12 is one of only three of the Power Five conferences still scheduled to play this fall.

College football’s battle against the pandemic isn’t quite over yet, it seems. With students returning to campuses across the country, there is a fear that another spike in cases could still cancel what remains of the season.

Videos surfaced this past weekend of crowded bars in Stillwater ahead of the first week of classes. An entire OSU sorority house is also being quarantined after 23 of its members tested positive. OSU coach Mike Gundy declined to comment on the virus Monday.

“I know out there, there’s gonna be a lot of people that don’t want to listen and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, they wanna come to the game and cheer,” Sanders said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not discrediting anything they do or downing anybody. If that’s what you do, that’s what you do.

“You gotta think about it. Say, one of these kids goes to the strip and he’s got a grandpa and he gets COVID and he goes home to his grandpa that he lives with and he dies because he gets COVID. How is that person gonna feel knowing that maybe he transmitted this COVID to somebody? Or maybe what if that was his grandfather or his mother, his father, just anybody. I think once people put it in a certain perspective of ‘Is it gonna be your mother you’re passing it to? Or is it gonna be somebody else’s mother?’ I think that will give them a great viewpoint on how they would view it. Nobody wants to lose their mother of father.

“If you want to go out to the strip, you go out to the strip. You do what you want to do, but to the people that are staying in, wearing a mask and just having fun here and there, I thank those people because they’re probably the reason that we have a season right now. I do thank those people. The people that have been wearing a mask and went to the strip, if that’s you, that’s you, but just think if that was your mother or grandma.”

Sanders Not Worried about Chemistry with Receivers

With practice time ahead of the 2020 season being trimmed because of the virus, it’ll be interesting to see what kinks quarterbacks and receivers will have to work out in the first few weeks of play.

That isn’t necessarily something Sanders is worried about. OSU returns four of its five leading pass-catchers from 2019, so chemistry between those guys and Sanders should be good, and Dee Anderson is the only new receiver that is expected to contribute at this time.

“It’s not always about going out and throwing X routes and stuff like that,” Sanders said. “It’s about spending time with them and stuff like that, too. We just watched the fight together, just had a little party with just each other, the teammates, and watched the fight. That was a good time.

“I feel like we’ve all got a pretty good connection. I know when I’m wrong. I’ll come up to them and I’ll tell them, ‘Hey, I was wrong here. I need to put the ball here,’ or something like that. Or they’ll tell me, ‘I did this maybe a little bit slower.’ We’re pretty good on communication. I’d say chemistry with my receivers is pretty good. I feel like we’re all on the same page, and we’re all moving for the same goal.”

On Cameras Following Him Around

Sanders’ redshirt sophomore season, in all its craziness, will be well documented with ESPN’s “Our Time: Oklahoma State Football.”

The weekly episodic docuseries will be there to capture all the highs and lows of Sanders’ (and OSU’s) season.

“It’s kinda exciting,” Sanders said. “I’ve seen the trailer. I’ve seen the first episode. I think it’s pretty dope. I like it. I think it’ll bring some attention to Oklahoma State and kinda show how we work and what we do and how hard we work. I think this year is gonna prove how hard we work on the field.”