Gundy and Rangel Battling for Back-up Quarterback and Thursday Gundy Had a Highlight

STILLWATER – After an off day on Wednesday, Oklahoma State football was back in the Sherman Smith Training Center on Thursday morning for their second full pads practice of fall camp. The two-and-a-half-hour practice really majored more in the run game and on the defense stopping the run game.

However, the most scintillating play of the practice was a pass as left-handed Gunnar Gundy fired a ball downfield in front of red-shirt sophomore receiver Rashod Owens, who was well-covered, but the ball in front of him allowed the 6-2 Owens to make a diving grab as he was really the only one that could get to the ball. The entire offense was fired up with the big play. Gundy has had a good camp, but so has freshman quarterback Garret Rangel of Frisco (Lone Star), Texas.

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Rangel had a tremendous day throing the ball on Tuesday in full pads.

In fact, on Tuesday in the first day in pads, Rangel was on fire in two back-to-back segments at quarterback. His sideline route to Langston Anderson was a thing of beauty, thrown with velocity where only Anderson could get it as he toe-tapped to make the catch a good one. Both Gundy and Rangel are making the competition for the back-up role behind Spencer Sanders very intriguing.

“It’s a long camp and it is hot and stuff, and I’m just worried about doing what I can to make myself better,” Gundy said last Saturday on football media day and his first opportunity to do interviews as an Oklahoma State player. “Rangel is a great player. He is athletic and fast. We’ve built a great bond together, he’s a really cool guy to be around, but I just have to worry about what I can do each day to make myself better. I’ve enjoyed it so far.”

Gundy started playing quarterback at Stillwater on the varsity as a freshman. I remember seeing him looking like a middle school or junior high quarterback and big defensive linemen crashing into him. He bought into strength training while as a Stillwater Pioneer and he remains dedicated to the process. It has rewarded him as the one-time 150-pound scrawny quarterback is 6-2 and 205-pounds. The one-time 4.9 forty runner clocked a handheld 4.6 before fall camp. There may be some snickers from those people that always like to make fun of nepotism and the situations created. You know the guys that will say, “he’s only playing because his daddy is head coach.” To pull out a partial one-time famous Gundy quote, “That ain’t so.”

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Gundy is much faster than you would think. He is much faster than his dad was playing quarterback.

“I think so. I don’t think people realized how quick I am to a certain extent,” Gundy answered when I asked if he thinks he has surprised some people with his physical skills. “You know that all goes back to Coach (Rob) Glass as he has been busting our butt in the weight room and such, working us hard with the running outside, and the stadium steps. All the credit goes to him for working on me and he is the best.”

How about this” Spencer Sanders, who is a 4.5 and change in the forty and he and Gundy have some good competitions on gassers run in practice, is a 290-pound bench presser. Gundy has his bench press up to around 270-pounds, and Rangel is over 200-pounds on the bench press. Okay, don’t go comparing them to the offensive line, defensive line, or linebackers, but for quarterbacks that is solid material.

Now, Gundy could have gone somewhere else, although he was severely underrecruited because most schools and their coaching and recruiting staffs felt he was going to Oklahoma State to play for his dad. Several times I tried to talk him into going somewhere else, but it was a waste of time. Gunnar Gundy wanted to be at Oklahoma State, and he wanted to play for his dad, Mike Gundy.

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Gundy gets close up to special teams, but he watches quarterbacks from a distance.

“Well, it’s extremely difficult for both of us, but what I do is try to stay away,” said father and head coach Mike Gundy of the situation. “I’m not down there and I’m not around the quarterbacks. Tim (Rattay) does a great job. It is best for me to stay away and let him coach them and for them to function throughout the day. (I need to) let him make freshman quarterback mistakes, mistakes a freshman quarterback would make, and then let him grow and develop without me being down there and involved with it. I don’t know if I’m right because this is the first time that I’ve done it. I just stay away and let it all take place, and don’t get involved in it. I think that is the best way to handle it.”

Honestly, the father and son do still talk some football. It happens occasionally at home and then Gunnar does know the way to the head coach’s office. Gunnar is careful because he has worked hard as has his dad to make sure Gunnar is not just treated like one of the guys, but even the appearance of any kind of nepotism is avoided.

“A lot of that goes toward the guys and the coaching staff,” Gunnar said. “They’ve just taken me in and act like I’m a normal guy and not his son and not playing for his dad. The transition from year one, there’ve really been two transitions. The transition of the game and then getting me in there and acting like I’m just another player and not his (Mike Gundy’s) son.”

They do work hard at it. Gunnar never acts entitled, in fact, just the opposite as he acts like he barely deserves any consideration, but that pass today to Owens and many others as well as his uncanny ability to pick up blitzes and scramble and make big yards prove otherwise. Gundy is a legitimate prospect to be the back-up and someday even the starter at Oklahoma State.

Just in case you were wondering, and you were. The defense had a good day. They came up with a trio of interceptions. As I wrote in the first paragraph there was a lot of work on the run game and defensive front especially Tyler Lacy and Collin Oliver were active.

Gundy, Rangel, and the rest of the Cowboys will be on the field again Friday morning full pads. The weekend includes a practice Saturday in helmets and shoulder pads, and then a Sunday special teams practice followed by a newcomers practice.