Gundy Knows Cowboys Have to Develop More Depth

STILLWATER – We continue a drumbeat that we started on Sunday in wrapping up the 29-22 loss to TCU. Oklahoma State is beat up and the depth chart is being tested. In fact, so far this season Oklahoma State has started eight different players on the offensive line. Only three of those had started a game previously at Oklahoma State and one of those was injured in the first half against Tulsa and hasn’t played since. Injuries happen to football teams all the time. It is a fact of life and a hazard that is omnipresent in the sport. In other words, deal with it. However, the offensive line at Oklahoma State had been down previously due to a lack of care in recruiting. Through the efforts of the two most recent line coaches, Josh Henson and the current offensive line coach Charlie Dickey the numbers were back, but the experience wasn’t.

"The guys that are playing there for us right now is the third wave,” head coach Mike Gundy explained of the offensive line. “We have eight guys that have not been available that were available to us in June.”

Most every Oklahoma State fan can recite the losses. Returning starting tackle Dylan Galloway opted out because of chronic shoulder pain. Returning starter Bryce Bray and back-up tackle Jacob Farrell were let go for violating team policy.  

“Once we started doing some of our OTA stuff they started falling out,” added Gundy. “As of this last game we had eight guys that were not available. So, we're into the third wave of the offensive line.”

First-game starters Hunter Anthony (right tackle) and Cole Birmingham (right guard) were injured in the first half of the Tulsa game and haven’t played since.  

“That's a little different. We, the coaching staff, have to be really patient as we develop those guys,” Gundy said. “They came from just hanging out at practice, drinking some Gatorade, looking forward to lunch, to all the sudden you're the starter. That really is a difficult situation for them. (Jake) Springfield was a guy that we celebrated him being a walk-on freshman and gave him a scholarship, and it was an awesome deal, and then two weeks later he's starting.

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Jake Spingfield (61) has now started seven games this season,

"So, you have two different waves that we're dealing with right now,” continued Gundy. “Sixty-one (Jake Springfield), 70 (Hunter Woodard) and 74 (Preston Wilson), as freshman, for what they're doing right now, based on where they're at in their careers, they're playing their asses off. It's awesome! Now, they get beat, they get pushed back, but they're not backing down from anybody and they're getting a little better every game. They just don't have enough meat on that chicken bone right now."

They are getting better, but they can’t be dominating. That means that defenses, like TCU on Saturday can dictate what an offense can or can’t do with how many defenders they put in the box. TCU kept the Cowboys from running productively in the second half. The incoming recruiting class, which Gundy can’t discuss until after the letters of intent hit the computers next Wednesday, includes a potential difference maker on the offensive line in Butler County C.C. standout tackle Caleb Etienne, a 6-8, 320-pound potential NFL prospect. Jordan Moko at Snow C.C. is another prospect Oklahoma State is battling on. There are two high school signees coming in Jenks Logan Nobles and Silas Barr from Pottsboro, Texas. That and all the development with younger players this fall.

The secondary has been the other area that has taken hits with starters going down, recently in the middle of games. Corner Rodarius Williams and safeties Tre Sterling and Kolby Harvell-Peel get ready to play, during the game the injury comes back to claim them and it’s on to the depth.

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Jarrick Bernard-Converse and the OSU secondary are battling stopping big plays.

"If you exclude the offensive line, a little bit late in the year here we've had a lot of reps by what would be our twos with Tre (Sterling) and (Kolby) Harvell-Peel and Rodarius (Williams) and some other guys being banged up a little bit,” Gundy explained. “As a coach, I fully expect that second wave to be ready to go in and compete where we can execute our defense. I don't think any of us should say that you're going to take a guy like Rodarius, which should be a relatively early round pick, and another guy go in that's going to be the exact same. Anybody that says that probably is not worth listening to when they're talking.”

No, but you have to have depth that keeps you in the game and doesn’t all of a sudden open up the field for a barrage of chunk pass plays. The youngsters in the current Cowboys depth chart are promising. They need experience, but the excitement I see is that added to those guys, some freshman this year like Jabbar Muhammad and Korie Black are a group of five players bound for the secondary in the upcoming class like new commitment Lyrik Rawls, Cam Smith, Makale Smith, Raymond Gay, and Ty Williams.

"I'm as excited now as I ever have been about what we have,” Gundy said on his Zoom call Monday morning in answering my inquiry. “Here's the good news, we talked about 13 (Thomas Harper) and 25 (Jason Taylor II) and 6 (Jabbar Muhammad) and 4 (Korie Black), some of those guys playing on defense, that's kind of the second wave. That's normal, we'll get past all that.

Then Gundy worked his way back again to the offensive line.

“The good news about this is those three freshman (Springfield, Woods, and Wilson), they're getting a lot of live reps. So, when they go into January and February offseason conditioning for eight weeks with coach (Rob) Glass, they're going to know, 'I better get a lot stronger, because I don't want to get my ass thrown around like I did last year.' Until you get in the fire, sometimes you don't get it. Well, they've been in a fight now, so they know what that street fight's like, and they're getting tons of reps that you just can't get when you're a backup. That's an exciting time, and we're getting some guys back. 67 (Cole Birmingham) and 77 (Hunter Anthony) are kind of limping around practice now and they might get a little bit of work this week, and maybe a little more next week, so that's exciting for us.

“With all the young guys that are getting some work, we should be pretty close to … well we'll have two centers, three guards, and three tackles in spring ball that we feel really comfortable with based on experience, strength levels will increase and their reps,” Gundy concluded. “So, I get excited about that."

I do to, but I’m also excited about what is about to be added. The program needs it and this season has proven that.