The Top 5 Quotes from Mike Gundy’s Thursday Media Availability

STILLWATER — If you listen close enough, you can almost hear the sound of paddles thumping against the padding of the west end zone in Boone Pickens Stadium.

As Stillwater is filling up with students ahead of classes starting next week, the Oklahoma State football team is deep within its fall camp regime. OSU coach Mike Gundy met with reporters after Thursday’s practice. Here are five quotes that stood out with a video of his news conference at the bottom of this post. (Looking for an Ollie Gordon update? We did a standalone post on that here.)

1. ‘All [the Jackrabbits] Have Ever Done Is Win’

With Aug. 31 growing ever closer, more South Dakota State talk has found its way into these media sessions.

More than the fact that the Jackrabbits are reigning back-to-back FCS champs, Gundy was asked Thursday about the style of play South Dakota State will bring to Stillwater and whether he thinks his squad is taking proper precaution when welcoming the Jackrabbits into BPS.

“They’re physical, they’re tough, they’re not out of place much,” Gundy said. “They’re very well-coached. The point spread they went through last year was huge. They’re very capable of playing a Power Four conference schedule, I’ll put it that way. Teams that haven’t lost a game in a long time are difficult to play because they don’t know how to lose. All they’ve ever done is win. So you have to take the game away from them. They’re not gonna give you the game. …

“[OSU players are] very aware of who this team is and they’re very aware of the success they’ve had, and they’ve watched tape on them. So the good news for us as coaches is when they watch them on video, they see that, ‘Yeah, Coach Gundy’s not BSing us.’ This deal’s legit. They have enough players — they’re physical enough in the box to play at this level. They have a very experienced quarterback that’s a playmaker. So it’s a dangerous challenge for us.”

2. Quarterback Update

Unlike last season, there isn’t a battle happening this fall to take over the Cowboys’ quarterback duties. Alan Bowman is the guy.

But unless Bowman gets a ridiculous eighth year of eligibility after this season, the Pokes will need a new quarterback next season. Gundy was asked how his younger passers have looked this fall — namely Garret Rangel and Zane Flores.

“They’re all doing good,” Gundy said. “I mean, Bowman’s further ahead based on the game experience that he got last year. And Rangel and Zane are all working with the ones, so they’re getting good, quality reps.”

3. Defense Further Along in the Tackling Department

It didn’t feel like OSU gave up a league-worst 441.8 yards a game last season, but anyone could see there was some room for improvement for the Cowboys’ defense heading into Year 2 under coordinator Bryan Nardo.

There have been talks this offseason of the Cowboys using some more four-down looks outside of Nardo’s base 3-3-5 scheme. And Collin Oliver moving between linebacker and defensive end while safety Kendal Daniels moving up and playing some linebacker have also been fun musings. But all along this offseason Gundy has said what will really help this group is tackling better from the jump as opposed to ramping up in that department as the year goes on. Speaking broadly about the defense Thursday, Gundy said the tackling is better now than it was last August.

“They’re doing well,” Gundy said. “They’re tackling better now than they were at this time last year. That’s something that we’ve stressed that we’ve gotta get guys down. It’s challenging going against our offense. There’s a lot of experience out there, but every day they’re getting a little better.”

4. Lyrik Rawls ‘Doing Well’

After a strong Guaranteed Rate Bowl to close out the 2022 season, Lyrik Rawls was one of the defenders the OSU fanbase was most looking forward to last season.

But Rawls played in just the first three games of the season in 2023 before missing the rest of the year to injury. In those three games, Rawls made 20 tackles and had an interception. Extrapolating that out, he would’ve finished with about 93 tackles had he stayed healthy and brought similar production to the Cowboys’ remaining 11 games.

Rawls is getting back into the swing of things this fall, now listed as a 6-foot-1, 210-pound redshirt junior.

“He’s doing well,” Gundy said. “He’s much better now than he was two weeks ago. I would say that that should continue — two weeks from now, he should be even better. Middle of October, if he stays healthy, he should be somewhere where he was before he was injured. Takes a little bit of time, but he’s coming along. His competitive nature is really good.”

5. On Linebackers

Similarly, it was anticipated that Tulsa transfer Justin Wright was going to have a lot to do with OSU’s success in 2023, but he too went down injured.

After accumulating 254 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks in five seasons at Tulsa, Wright played in just two games last season, his first with the Cowboys.

OSU’s linebacker room is in a bit of a state of transition. Gone is Xavier Benson, who provided the Pokes with 65 tackles last season. Then Oliver is set to bounce between linebacker and defensive end this season, and Daniels is set to come down and play some linebacker. Even with all that movement, it could open up some snaps for others in 2024.

“We’ve got quite a few guys that are playing that spot, and they’re doing well,” Gundy said. “Justin Wright’s back in there, trying to feel his way through, kinda like Lyrik, working his way back into it. The other guys are getting good quality reps. We have decent depth at that spot.”