Gunnar Gundy Has a “Blue-Collar” Mentality as He Heads Into Season With Emporia State

STILLWATER – Former Oklahoma State quarterback Gunnar Gundy entered the transfer portal following the 2023 season, landing at Ohio University for only a short period of time before returning home to Stillwater. Upon returning, Gunnar went to classes and worked in the football offices. 

During most of that time, starting in December, Gunnar had been in contact with Emporia State head coach, Garin Higgins, eventually verbally committing to play for the Hornets this fall.

Well, the middle Gundy child held true to his word to Higgins, who spoke about landing the redshirt junior out of Stillwater (OK) High School and Oklahoma State.

“I knew I had Chase [Ricke] coming back, but I also felt like I owed it to that position to get the best possible players I could get to come in and compete because competition makes players better,” Higgins said at MIAA Media Days. “[Gunnar] was in the [transfer] portal, and I recruited him there in December and he went and played in the [Texas] Bowl and got to play in the game, which probably hurt us. I really felt confident over the break that we’d have a chance to get him, and he ended up going to Ohio. For whatever reason, it just didn’t work out. I think there was always a connection there with our program, myself and Gunnar, just the simple fact he has a couple [Stillwater high] teammates on our team.”

Gunnar worked his way through the depth chart at Stillwater High, improving his game and taking the Pioneers to back-to-back state title games. He spent a year on campus at Oklahoma State going to classes and working out on his own before joining the program as a second-year true freshman. He also spent three years in the program, playing only a handful of snaps across the 2022 and ’23 seasons, throwing for 569 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions.

Not too many football players would be willing to put in that much work on his own, then spend three seasons as a backup.

But that mentality is something OSU fans knew about, and something Emporia State found out about really quick as Gundy spent the summer up in Emporia working out and getting to know his teammates.

“He’s got a blue-collar mentality, we’re a blue-collar program, there’s a natural fit. We’re excited about him…He’s been [here] all summer, he’s fit in with our players because of who he is,” Higgins said. “He’s a great human being, along with being a very good quarterback.”