It Looks Like Gundy’s ‘Basketball Team’ Will Keep Stoner in the Slot

STILLWATER — After the open spring practice, Mike Gundy brought up the idea of moving Dillon Stoner to the outside to fill the role Tyron Johnson left. After three days of fall camp, Gundy said he isn’t sure that’s needed anymore.

The group of Jordan McCray, Patrick McKaufman and C.J. Moore seems to be in a good position to contribute in 2019, despite all three having little to no experience at Oklahoma State. The three surely have their own strengths and weaknesses, but something they all have in common is size. McCray is listed at 6-6, 187 pounds, McKaufman is 6-6, 200 pounds and Moore is 6-5, 175.

“The basketball team that plays over there for us on the left side, I think they’re gonna be OK, and Dillon can stay inside,” Gundy said at OSU Media Day on Saturday. “I don’t know all their names, they’re all 6-6, though. I call them the basketball team. But no, I do, I’m just joking with Jordan and C.J. and Pat. I think they’re doing OK, but again, I don’t want to overstep because they haven’t played. So, we’ll see how they’re doing in a couple weeks. And then can they make a play? We can throw Stoner out there on the drop of a hat, and he’ll do fine. He knows what to do.”

Gundy said he was a little shocked when Johnson, who played opposite Tylan Wallace last season, told him he wasn’t coming back. Gundy said he was hopeful for Johnson’s prospects as a Cowboy in 2019, but it also left OSU inexperienced at the position. That lack of experience led the OSU bringing in McCray from South Alabama.

“I sure wish (Johnson) would’ve stayed,” Gundy said. “I felt he could’ve caught 80 balls this year on the other side of (Wallace). When he left, we just felt like we needed a little maturity because (Moore, McKaufman and Braydon Johnson), none of those guys have played. You like their body, you like their effort, you like what they bring to the table, but we don’t know anything about them. Jordan has at least played at this level and has had a lot of reps and had some success. He gave us a little bit of maturity at that position. If we need the young guys to be brought along, we have somebody that we can use to bring them along.”

McCray’s stats coming into OSU might not be anything amazing to OSU’s standards, but he played in 34 games in the past three seasons at South Alabama. In 2018, McCray reached career highs in receptions (29), yards (273) and touchdowns (four). Also, wide receivers coach Kasey Dunn noted that the offense he was playing in at S. Alabama wasn’t exactly the same he’ll be playing in at OSU. More jet sweeps than fly routes.

Moore has been a fan favorite since his arrival to Stillwater last fall. He came in as a four-star prospect from Union High School, but despite having height on his side, Moore needed to add weight.

In his redshirt season, Moore said he gained 38 pounds. And as beneficial as his redshirt year was for his physical growth, he said it might have been more beneficial for his mental growth.

“The first couple of weeks, I was falling everywhere,” Moore said. “Then the falling caused me to be mentally out of it. I was going to practice down all the time. I was like, ‘Well yesterday I had a bad practice, so today I’ll probably have a bad practice.’ Fall camp was a little tough for me, but once I got into the season, I got more comfortable around the guys, and they kind of just opened their arms up to me. They helped me.”

Moore said he and the other two guys in contention for the open spot are supportive of one another. As the young guy of the three, Moore also went as far to say he hopes McCray and McKaufman get a chance to shine in the years they have left as college football players.

“We’re all friends,” Moore said. “We all want to see each other succeed. If you asked any of the guys who they want to start, nobody would say himself. We’re all pretty much selfless. To me, it doesn’t really matter who plays. Honestly, I kind of hope one of them two play before me because I still have years. … May the best man win at the end of the day.”