STILLWATER, Oklahoma: Saturday morning was the first scrimmage for the Oklahoma State football team, which is three weeks away from its season opener against South Dakota State.
Boone Pickens Stadium saw a longer than expected session with lots of opportunity for development.
Head coach Mike Gundy talked with the media after the scrimmage about the first two weeks of practice, the impending season, and other topics.
This is what the head coach stated on Saturday.
Have you begun getting ready for the upcoming two-minute warning? If so, what is your plan of action?The two-minute warning adds an interesting element. I may be repeating myself because I have discussed it a little. With the removal of half rules, college football is very different from NFL football. We’ve had to have studies and research done on it by NFL personnel, but the simplest way to say it is this: in college, timeouts at the end of half were (little); but, with the addition of the two-minute warning, you wouldn’t think it would have as much of an impact, but it does now have (large).
Numerous situations could occur. especially in college, as the NFL has a never-ending clock. In college, the timer pauses in the final two minutes, and the timeout is added. Thus, it’s a long period of time. There are numerous scenarios to consider. In fact, we’re now working on it. All of our end-of-half and end-of-game sheets are being redone. We’ll need to prepare for those in a variety of ways, both offensively and defensively.”
How did you feel about the team during the initial weeks, including today?
“We lacked discipline greatly today. had too many penalties and too many balls on the ground. We are overworked. We have experienced men who have returned and are good players; we simply need to clear up a lot of stuff before we can play again. Toughness and discipline have been the cornerstones of our success during the last 20 years here. In terms of toughness, I think we did okay today, but we lacked great discipline. Too many errors. I told them that to them today.
Do you set a higher standard for where you believe you should be now compared to previous years, considering how many guys are coming back?
“What you just mentioned served as the foundation for our conversation. I mentioned as much today. From a discipline perspective, we have much too many blunders for our experience and current status. That must be made better. We’ll retry (a scrimmage) on Tuesday, and then on Saturday, before retreating and beginning to prepare for a game, but we must improve our discipline significantly. I have conveyed to them exactly what you mentioned.”
Are you concerned that they may believe they are merely going through the motions?
“I don’t see any passivity in the way they practice, but as you indicated, even though you’ve been doing it for four, five, and six years, you can’t suddenly turn it on in the last week. I’ve discussed the topic with them.
Whether or not one of this team’s more challenging facets is sorting out snaps at safety
“The good news is that we’ll be playing a lot of guys. Keeping guys fresh is what we want to be able to accomplish. We anticipate that our depth will enable us to develop and keep the guys healthy. As you are aware, one of the problems we have is when a young athlete plays too much early in his career, which wears him out and hurts him. We already have considerable depth there, and we have several people who can rotate around, so that should be beneficial.”
On Rashod Owens expanding on his previous season
Rashid is in the same league as Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman, Brennan Presley, and a few other veteran players including Korie Black, Kody Walterscheid, and Nick Martin. If they want this squad to win this year, they need to practice, train, and work more than they have ever worked in their careers. And he has carried it out. He has one quality: competition. He competes when he takes the field. He competes when he’s on the practice field. He is not afraid of anything. The most crucial thing he can accomplish for our team is that.”
Regarding whether he finds the new surroundings stimulating
“It will alter once more. There are a number of factors that will come into place over the next four to six, twelve, or perhaps eighteen months as we move closer to the NFL and players get job contracts. There will be guidelines if she approves of this settlement and everything remains mostly as intended. After Title IX is reviewed and roster numbers and other items are scrutinized, the process will be completed. I find everything to be kind of fascinating now that it’s all new.
I think I’m past all of the new things now. These days, it’s intriguing because, well, it’s novel. As time goes on and players begin to work for real companies, the problem will be what to do with the NCAA. What position are they in? For the time being, they are irrelevant. What part will they ultimately play in our transition to an NFL model? Are they going to be a factor at all? That’s the truly intriguing part. That was a lengthy response, and I’m curious to see what comes next. I’m no longer truly surprised by anything. We’re attempting to maintain a slight advantage over the competition, which is challenging because we don’t yet know the parameters.”
Regarding whether he is excited about the on-field elements of a redesigned conference and a 12-team playoff
“Yes, it does. What makes it intriguing is the parity. Players can move as much as they wish, get paid for their services, and have free agency as of right now. That will, I suppose, only become more significant in terms of on-field performance. However, the fact that we won’t be playing Texas or OU this year makes things interesting.
People always say we don’t have Bedlam, but as you can see, we were getting used to playing Texas. For us, that was almost usual. When I watched games, I used to think, “These guys are going to be really, really talented.” In what way can we defeat them? How can we defeat them in the field? as defeating them just needs to be done once. With the new teams and the way things are going, things are different now. It will be intriguing to see the committee’s thoughts on certain bubble teams that make the playoffs. It will be interesting to see what forces them to enter and what prevents them from entering.”
Which rival might take the place of OSU-Texas or Bedlam?
“Maybe we don’t know that yet. As of right now, we are aware of the problem with South Dakota State. That’s what I have always said. We absolutely have our sights set on them and them alone at this point, as they are a team that hasn’t dropped a game in a significant number of years. And perhaps after playing in this league for a few years, we’ll be able to identify a game that “fits the role of what we talked about.” However, I believe it would be unjust to make that claim right now, as it isn’t something that is decided upon in a year or even before we begin.”
Does a Big 12 club need to win all of its games or only one to qualify for the playoffs?When all is said and done, I believe the committee will attempt, within reason, to share the riches through the conferences. Now, your conference champion will automatically go in if teams in your conference are stomping all over each other. The other guys won’t stand a chance after that.
Seeing exactly what they’re searching for and how they feel about it is going to be part of the exciting experience. The fact that the Big 12 plays nine conference games gives us a distinct advantage, in my opinion. I believe that non-conference scheduling will play a larger role than it has in the past. This is advantageous for us, since we have excellent scheduling going forward. And I believe that will play a more significant role.”
Is it crucial to give a young player game reps to see what he can do?
“Yeah, that would be great to do. In practice, they’re receiving a lot of repetitions. You know, you’ve watched me for a very long time, so it’s not quite the same. When we find a position, we’ll insert additional players and allow them to play, all right? Guys aren’t left in to boost the score or for statistical purposes. That’s never what we did. We want more guys to come in and play. First, because they’ve practiced earning it. Playing games is what they want to do. Their parents should be able to see them play, and the experience kids gain from competing is invaluable. We are unable to replace that.”
Is that even more important this autumn? After all these seniors graduate, you might be looking at a whole new team in six months.
As you can imagine, we have a large number of veteran soldiers as well as a large number of new individuals that will need to find employment. Hopefully, we can help with that in some way. Once more, I will return there now that there is much parity. It’s less common now, especially in the last three or four years. We were able to do that three or four times a year, maybe even five times a year, for a number of years here.
We were able to do that three or four times a year, maybe even five times a year, for a number of years here. Although there are fewer games like that now that free agency and money have transformed the game, we still want that to happen. In the spring, we will have to scrimmage a lot if not. We need to figure out how to give those guys some in-person practice.”
Aside from all the depth you started camp with, have you seen in the past week that some guys have emerged?
Yes, there are some guys on our team that are succeeding. While some young males are performing exceptionally well at an early age, they are still learning the ropes. A player is performing well when he is in a basic fundamental; a big guy is performing a task that he has performed throughout his career; a back is performing well if he is carrying the ball. However, the other side of it, We have some really good young players that are developing, and we have veteran players who are coaching our younger players, which is something we’ve always felt helps our organization and helps build our culture—our veteran guys are helping to coach them and bring them along, which has been a positive for us lately. However, they may not have the knowledge necessary to play at this level.
What are the appearances of Kendal Daniels and Collin Oliver, who are playing multiple positions?
“Kendal will occasionally come down and occasionally play back. We demonstrated some of that in the bowl game, so that aspect will rely on the individuals the offense is using, various formations, and the players we are playing. After that, Collin will roam around and engage in some second-level action. We’ll approach him on foot. We’ll bring him from depth, a little bit. Shifting those folks about and attempting to employ every skill set they now possess. Who we play will determine most of it.”
The offensive line is quite seasoned and veteran. How else would you coach that unit differently?
We’ve come a long way with those guys, and they’ve had a great camp so far. I can look back and see how mature and experienced they are. Furthermore, I see that group cooperating and producing results far sooner than in previous years. We’ve had issues with wide receiver and offensive line health for the past four years, as I’ve mentioned. Currently, those men are collaborating and performing admirably. Their communication experience is evident, and for that reason alone, I can’t wait to take them to the first game and see them.”
What is linebacker Nick Martin’s next course of action?
“As I mentioned the other day, Nick is a huge football fan. He’s a classic tough man. He would give free football games. Since he altered his physique, I believe he is currently at 220 or higher. He doesn’t care what happens to his body while he plays; he is violent, quick to run, and eager to be merciless with it. I think that in order to play college football, a player must be willing to put their physical well-being on the back burner in order to focus on the game, and he does this throughout practice as well as games.”
“As I mentioned the other day, Nick is a huge football fan. He’s a classic tough man. He would give free football games. Since he altered his physique, I believe he is currently at 220 or higher. He doesn’t care what happens to his body while he plays; he is violent, quick to run, and eager to be merciless with it. I think that in order to play college football, a player must be willing to put their physical well-being on the back burner in order to focus on the game, and he does this throughout practice as well as games.”
