Oklahoma State’s Quarterback Competition Remains Open Entering Fall

ARLINGTON, Texas — For the first time since 2018, a player not named Spencer Sanders will enter the season as the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. But the world will have to wait a bit longer to officially know who that is.

Day 1 of Big 12 Media Days took place Wednesday in AT&T Stadium, where Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said the quarterback competition will continue into the fall among Michigan transfer Alan Bowman, redshirt freshman Garret Rangel and redshirt sophomore Gunnar Gundy.

“We’re gonna go through [fall camp] a couple weeks, halfway through, see where we’re at,” Gundy said. “If there’s somebody we feel like they give us the best chance for early season success, we name it. If not, we don’t do it. And I don’t really know right now. Like, people think, ‘Well, he knows. He’s just not saying it.’ Why wouldn’t I say it? I’ve said it before in the spring, said it before in the summer. I don’t know right now.

“I think competition is healthy. The flip side of that is somebody says, ‘Does your team have direction in who’s there quarterback? Is it productive or not?’ I don’t know, but I know that if we don’t know for sure right now, then we can’t name one. So that allows me to make that decision.”

If Vegas was putting odds out, Bowman would likely be the favorite. Entering his sixth season of college football, Bowman is by far the most experienced of the group, having played in 24 career games. In 19 games at Texas Tech from 2018 to 2020 Bowman threw for 5,260 yards and 33 touchdowns. He then transferred to Michigan. Although he didn’t play a ton in Ann Arbor, he was part of two College Football Playoff teams. He also gained experience under center with the Wolverines, a tactic the Cowboys will see an uptick in this season.

Rangel and Gundy split time last season when Sanders was out with injury.

Rangel played in four games as a true freshman where he threw for 711 yards and four touchdowns. Gundy also played in four games, throwing for 247 yards and three scores.

“They’ve worked hard,” Mike Gundy said. “They’re out there. We’re rotating guys with ones, twos, threes. They’re getting a lot of work. We’ll run this thing through half of fall camp, somewhere in that area, and if we feel like we know what direction we want to go, I’m going to be for making that decision at that time. If we don’t feel like we know, then we won’t make that decision. I can’t really tell you right now, and nothing has really changed over the summer because they’re essentially training on their own.”

Whichever quarterback it is, will be tasked with leading the Cowboys into the new-look Big 12 with the league at 14 teams after UCF, Houston, BYU and Cincinnati joining this offseason. That quarterback would likely also be the starter for the last Bedlam game for the foreseeable future with OU leaving for the SEC after this season.

“Fortunately I’ve done this along time, and I have faith in Coach (Tim) Rattay, I have faith in Coach (Kasey) Dunn, and I’m guessing that once we get halfway through the August practices, we should have a good idea,” Gundy said. “They have to be able to lead the team and be effective to throw the football and what we’re asking them to do, basic things that we all know, and us feel comfortable with their ability matching up with our style of play with who we are personnel-wise, to have the best opportunity to score the most points in September.”