Mike Gundy Says OSU ‘Might Even Play Both’ QBs Moving Forward

The Cowboys could use Spencer Sanders, Shane Illingworth or some combination of the two against the Cyclones this weekend.

On Monday morning, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said the Cowboys could use Sanders and Illingworth together moving forward.

“You’re happy, you’re glad you got two guys,” Gundy said. “I’ve been without anybody at times. We’re glad we got two guys. We just continue on with what we’ve done. We’ve split the reps for a number of weeks now, so we just continue to move forward in that fashion and might even play both guys, just depends on where we’re at.”

This could just be some gamesmanship on Gundy’s part as a way to keep Iowa State guessing as to which quarterback the Cyclones should prepare for. Preparing for Sanders is quite a bit different than preparing for Illingworth with Sanders’ ability to run the football and Illingworth being more of a traditional pro-style passer.

Gundy has said for a while now that the two quarterbacks have been splitting reps, which could also be a smokescreen.

But on the off chance Gundy and OSU do use two quarterbacks, it would be interesting to see just how it went.

Would it be like the 2015 Mason Rudolph (Illingworth)/JW Walsh (Sanders) situation? That would make Sanders a red zone quarterback, which seems a little farfetched, but that’s the biggest data point that stands out right now.

Sanders was in a position battle with Dru Brown entering last season, but Sanders was the Cowboys’ outright starter with Brown only seeing action in garbage time until Sanders’ thumb injury.

Sanders hasn’t played a ton of live football in the past calendar year after suffering a thumb injury toward the end of last season and an ankle injury early this season.

Here are Sanders’ and Illingworth’s numbers stacked up against each other in the past calendar year.

Gundy was also asked bluntly on if he had one he’d pick to start over the other.

“If I did, I wouldn’t tell you,” Gundy said.