Returning from Injury, Spencer Sanders Reassumes QB1 Role

Mike Gundy last week made headlines when he made mention of the possibility of playing two quarterbacks — both Spencer Sanders and true freshman Shane Illingworth — against Iowa State on Saturday and perhaps as a two-QB staple of the offense moving forward.

It seemed like gamesmanship when he said it. But sometimes Gundy speaks in gamesmanship, other times he keeps it so real he comes across as your crazy uncle.

Which side was he falling here?

Saturday proved it was the former against Iowa State, and probably moving forward, too. Sanders took every snap at quarterback against the Cyclones in returning from an ankle injury that had kept him out since the early portion of the first game of the season. OSU won 24-21, and he looked like the Sanders of old, making crisp, sharp passes and breaking loose on the ground when plays broke down.

“He was good,” Gundy said. “He made a mistake on the second interception, but his ability to run and make plays kept us in the game at times to convert first downs. We got some things out of him that he shows you in practice.”

It’s an experience to watch Spencer Sanders, to be sure. One second he’s throwing it right to the other team on the first play of a possession, another second he’s scampering for six points and a score. But the way he can put zip on the ball and add a lethal dynamic with his legs should ensure his return to QB1 for OSU is permanent. You take the bad with the good and hope the latter far outweighs the former.

Illingworth is one heckuva backup now, too, and OSU at the very least knows it has a competent gunslinger in its rotation to turn to if an injury occurs or if Sanders has an off day. The hope is that those off days — like his three-INT outing last season against Texas Tech — will be nonexistent. A year older and wiser, Sanders has weapons at his disposal and enough development separating him from last season to hopefully have matured into a smarter, more dynamic weapon.

“He might mistake something and get you in a bad play, but then he’ll turn around and make two or three really good ones and that is what we had today from him,” said Gundy. “His composure in this game was really good.”