The Five Most Fitting Football Numbers of the Mike Gundy Era

There is the possibility that this is a ridiculous and maybe even ridiculously dumb blog post that nobody will ever care about, but 1. Posts like this are what this site was founded on! and 2. I needed an easy re-entry point after my weeklong hiatus at the U.S. Open. Also 3. (if you needed another point) it’s the offseason.

So we’re going to discuss the five most fitting football numbers of the Mike Gundy era. That is, which players can you not even remotely envision in another number when they were at OSU? Which players’ numbers make the most sense?

I dove into the archives a bit for this one, and here’s what I came up with.

1. Dez Bryant (1): Dez is literally the reason for this post and undisputedly the best player-number match of the Gundy era. I still remember going to the recruiting roundup — this little presser Gundy used to do for fans where he talked about players — the year Dez was signed.

My buddy Sheets and I were driving out to wherever it was, and I said, “What number do you think De …”

“One!” he yelped from the back seat.

So it shall be. So it was.

2. Zac Robinson (11): Maybe it’s because he was the only QB of the triumvirate who didn’t switch numbers (Weeden went from No. 4 to No. 3, Rudolph went from No. 10 to No. 2), but I always thought No. 11 was perfect for Zac. It honestly seemed weird to me when Wes Lunt borrowed it for a year.

3. Chad Whitener (45): Maybe it was the neck guard. Maybe it was the middle linebacker spot. Maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of Friday Night Lights. Whitener just seemed to be the perfect fit at LB and wore the perfect number for him (and really any MLB). I can’t imagine him ever rocking anything different.

4. Lucien Antoine (31): I don’t know why this one kept popping in my head, but it did. It always felt like Antoine’s, physically anyway, is what Tre Flowers was supposed to be. Flowers was probably a better overall player, but I thought the No. 31, which both wore admirably, was absolutely perfect for Antoine.

5. David Glidden (13): He epitomized the long string of white receivers wearing numbers between 1-25 in OSU’s history. Anthony Parks (4), Josh Cooper (25), Austin Hays (17) and now Dillon Stoner (17). Only Colton Chelf is exempt. But I always thought the 13 was ? for Glidden, and again I could not have imagined him in anything other than that (which was essentially the criteria I used for this entire list).

Also considered: Donovan Woods (8), Justin Blackmon (81), Markelle Martin (10), Richetti Jones (99), Kendall Hunter (24), Patrick Lavine (4), Joe Randle (1), Josh Stewart (5), Jimmy Bean (92), Marcell Ateman (3), Jordan Sterns (13), A.J. Green (4), Chris Carson (32), Jhajuan Seales (81), Calvin Bundage (1).