OSU Tackling Machine Bryan McCoy Isn’t Satisfied, Still Chasing Down His Standard of Excellence

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State experienced both ends of the college football spectrum in the first two weeks, facing FCS foe UT-Martin and national championship contender No. 6 Oregon.

One thing that hasn’t changed was the play and intensity of linebacker Bryan McCoy, who paced all tacklers in both games this season and currently ranks fifth in the nation, averaging 11.5 per contest.

“Bryan is a wild dude,” OSU linebacker Brandon Rawls said. “Bryan is 100% a football guy. He is very aggressive all the time. He really has no off button, anything he does, he is going to do 100 miles per hour. So when he makes a mistake, he is going to beat himself up at 100 miles per hour.”

That pursuit of perfection was on coach Mike Gundy’s mind when he walked to the locker room alongside McCoy following the 69-3 loss at Oregon.

“Young people, just like our own children, want to be reassured,” Gundy said. “And they want to know it’s OK and life’s going to go on and all those things. And he has the mental makeup to, like, beat himself up all the way on the way on the plane home because it’s so important to him, and I just wanted him to know that, that I get it, I understand it.”

Due to the nature of the position, sometimes linebackers fall into high tackle numbers, but he is anything but a stat filler. McCoy hasn’t missed a tackle yet this season, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

PFF also grades McCoy as the 21st-best tackler in the nation, 11th among Power Conference players, with a grade of 88.4. It’s hard to know what that number means exactly, but no Cowboy in the last four years has graded out higher. In fact, prolific as Malcolm Rodriguez was, his highest season grade finished at 83.2.

“All it takes is watching film, film study, and a little work,” McCoy said. “Nothing real crazy, just some work and the willingness and effort to do it.”

Gundy thinks the secret to McCoy’s consistency is even simpler than that.

“It’s really important to him — like really important,” Gundy said. “You know you have friends or colleagues, people you work with, they get upset for no reason. You’re like, ‘Why are you so worked up?’ Because everything matters to him — like everything all the time. He wants it to be perfect all the time. He wants to do good so bad.”

Monday wasn’t the first time Gundy took time to praise McCoy. Earlier this season, the linebacker from Akron made it clear that compliments from the head coach meant a lot to him.

“I came in trying to prove that to him, and Gundy is a hard man to appease,” McCoy said. “He is not an easy man to appease. I had to work my tail off to show him that I do enjoy playing this game. I do love playing this game.”

Although Gundy’s been positive about this team’s attitude, even following the loss to Oregon, it’s clear McCoy brings a different level of intensity to the program.

“He’s so serious, and we’ve discussed it with him,” Gundy said. “It’s a good thing, but like on the sideline, he wants everybody doing it right. We know that in society and in life, the world doesn’t work that way. He’s learning and growing as we go, and I’m definitely glad that he’s on our team and he has that type of attitude.”

Rawls feels the same way. After an offseason filled with weight-lifting competitions between the two, the 240-pound linebacker had to admit that McCoy got the better of him. On Monday, Rawls went so far as to describe his fellow linebacker as ‘one of the strongest guys I’ve ever met.’

“It is like every day, you can go in the locker room and he’s always competitive,” Rawls said. “He’s always working, he’s always headphones in, he’s always ready to go.”