UTSA Coach Larry Coker on OSU: ‘They Look Awfully Good’

We have reached the portion of Oklahoma State’s schedule where we all reminisce and make jokes about how Larry Coker coaches in Stillwater before Mike Gundy even showed up. Coker was the offensive coordinator there (with Gundy as QB) from 1983-1989.

Coker has yet to beat his former squad. He’ll give it a third go on Saturday afternoon in Boone Pickens Stadium.

“They look awfully good,” said Coker. “They’re awfully good at defensive end. Their front is outstanding. They’re a really good defensive football team.”

“I think they’re more explosive than they were a year ago,” Coker said earlier this week.  “The defensive front is probably better and I think the linebacker from Cibolo (Ryan Simmons) is a good player.  He was good last year.  He’s good this year.  Now we’ve got to see him again.”

He made a few jokes about the offense (just like the rest of us!) when talking about QBs 1 and 2.

“They have a really good quarterback in Rudolph and of course J.W. Walsh played against us two years ago, the young man from Denton, so we think they have two really good quarterbacks. They can get the ball to their receivers. Is Dez Bryant still there or is he gone?”

He also noted what a great stadium BPS is.

“I’m going to be in the third row, I’m not standing on the sidelines this year,” Coker joked. “It’s dangerous down there. I was there for seven years, you know it’s close, but I went back last year and said ‘wow I didn’t realize it was this close’ because you’re right there by the wall.”

“It’s a great atmosphere for college football. That’s the thing, I don’t know if that’s a good thing for us, but I like our players to have the opportunity to play in those types of places, in that type of atmosphere. That’s just a great thing, I think. It’s a great college venue. I know Mike [Gundy] well. I coached Mike and guys that are there so it’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s a tough atmosphere, it really is.”

And finally, on how many Texas players are on each roster (a combined 154!)

“They probably have more Texans on their team than we do.” Nope. UTSA has 96. OSU has 58.

“They have a ton of kids from Texas. Pat Jones, I don’t know if I totally agree with this, but Pat Jones always said, ‘You can have people recruit in Texas … go down there and get the players other schools don’t want and still recruit a good football team.’ There may be a little truth to that. These kids were not afterthoughts, they were very good players and had places to go when they came out.”

[Scout]