Calvin Bundage: Baker Mayfield ‘Was Trying to Play Games with Me’

Calvin Bundage recalled what it feels like when he gets his timing right and can run wild on a blitz — when things just click.

“I feel unstoppable,” Bundage said. “I feel like I’m not going to be blocked at all.”

The sophomore Star linebacker went unblocked on multiple occasions during Saturday’s Bedlam game. A couple of those led to a career-high two sacks of the notoriously elusive Baker Mayfield.

And several other times he had the Heisman fave running for his life.

The aggression in his game has been apparent since Day 1 but the numbers have come along more recently with increased reps and experience.

With Star backer Kenneth Edison-McGruder or “starter 1A” as Glenn Spencer called him, missing time early in the season due to injury and then out again for the Texas game, Bundage (1B) has embraced the increased reps and paid it off with five tackles each against the Longhorns and the Mountaineers the week after.

This past outing against an Oklahoma team that Bundage spurned for Stillwater may be his best game yet. He logged a career-high six total tackles and tied a career high with four solo grabs to go along with the milestone tackle-for-loss and sack totals.

“Yeah, he had some tremendous, really tremendous effort plays,” Spencer said. “A few plays where you went ‘Wow, this kid’s playing very hard.’ Wasn’t perfect all the time.

“Just kind of seeing him grow in front of my eyes and maturing. He’s got a ways to go but yeah, he did some impressive things for us.”

And when his would-be piece of Bedlam folklore, the controversial incomplete pass fumble/scoop-and-score was overturned, Bundage didn’t fret.

“No, I wasn’t disappointed,” Bundage said. “I just want to be on the field as much as possible, so when they called the defense back out there I was happy.”

To Spencer’s point, Bundage wasn’t perfect early with two neutral-zone infractions in the first quarter, but that growth his coach talked about showed up in his ability to rebound and still make plays. According to Bundage it was all about timing.

“I think the jump is the most important part of the pass rush,” said Bundage “and I was trying to get it early and I was jumping offsides a little bit. But when I finally got it, I felt un-blockable.

“Every quarterback has their own little snap cadences they go by,” Bundage continued “the smarter quarterbacks, they play — try to play tricks with you.”

One of those smart quarterbacks took a couple of serious hits from the sophomore on Saturday, but according to Bundage there’s no bad blood.

“I love playing against him [Mayfield],” Bundage said. “He’s a competitor that’s what I like. I mean, I like him … I don’t think a lot of people like him. I like him. He’s fun to play against.”

“He was checking to me a lot and I see where he was trying to play games with me with the linemen but when I came into halftime I had to game plan for it and I made corrections,” said Bundage. “That’s when I started playing better.”

The sophomore explained his battle of wits with the extra-year senior QB, saying Mayfield had started to anticipate his blitzes. So he had to mix it up.

“So sometimes we’d bluff like I was blitzing then drop back,” said Bundage. “Or I would act like I was going to do a speed rush and I would come back inside. Or I would just speed rush. So, I was just playing games back and forth.”

Whether or not Bundage gets another crack at Mayfield, take comfort that we get to enjoy watching this young backer with a mean streak for the next two-plus years.