Daily Bullets (July 9)

Simmons Status

The Oklahoman sat down with former Cowboy head coach Bob Simmons – revealing a key difference between then and now.

Oklahoma State had not won in 10 years. We obviously played them at Colorado and they had some great players, but when I took over the program, most of the guys they had were from junior college. So it was really starting from the beginning. [NewsOK]

Therein lies one of Gundy’s biggest marks as opposed to his predecessor: the capacity to build and be successful with four-year players.

Best of the Best

Completely unsurprisingly to us all, preseason college football guru Phil Steele has the Pokes atop his wide receiver rankings.

1. Oklahoma State Cowboys
James Washington (1,380 yards, 19.4-yard average) turned down the NFL (as did QB Mason Rudolph) and that alone puts them near the top. Marcell Ateman had 766 yards (17.0 average) in 2015 but missed 2016 and is back.

Jalen McCleskey was No. 2 in 2016 with 812 yards (11.1 average) and he is back. The Cowboys add LSU transfer Tyron Johnson. [ESPN Insider $]

Lost in the fray of impossible-to-guard tandems is the insane depth across the board, depth that’s a proven commodity with the production to prove it.

OSU and NCAA Notes

USA Today ranked schools by on-field success and academic progress (OSU was 65th)….Collaborative replay is spreading through college football….Big 12 averages third highest in revenue between member schools….Group of Five teams most likely to make it to the New Year’s Day games

Dizzy went deep.

Nothing wrong with a little post-workout softball action at @osusoftball Stadium. Check out @thomas3dzi smack this triple. #okstate

A post shared by Oklahoma State Mens Basketball (@osumbb) on Jul 8, 2017 at 10:10am PDT

This guy should be fun to watch for the next few years at defensive end.

Keith Haney Auto Group Football Defensive Player of the Year is Brock Martin of Oologah. #allworld2017 #okpreps https://t.co/jQ6kyfdibT pic.twitter.com/4tIe3b2rUO

— OK Preps Extra (@okprepsextra) July 8, 2017

Fun to see the Pokes doing work in DFW.

https://twitter.com/CasperPoke11/status/883389934458945536

What You Missed on PFB

• An ESPN analyst thinks OSU has a shot at the national championship
• Get to know more about Cowboy linebacker Chad Whitener
• Come be our intern this year at PFB