Final Week of Offseason Has Glass and Staff Testing Progress
STILLWATER – With no spring break on the academic calendar for this semester that has Oklahoma State athletes still on campus this week unless they play basketball or baseball and then they are either on road trips like the men’s and women’s basketball teams either at or soon to be on their way to NCAA bubbles. The Cowboys football team will finish out offseason training this week and then on Sunday (March 21) they will hold the first of the 15 NCAA-allotted spring football practice dates.
Assistant athletic director for athletic performance Rob Glass told us earlier this semester that the absence of a spring break would give his staff and the athletes in football going through the winter offseason program some security in completing the program despite weather issues. It turns out it is allowing Glass and his staff to do something they don’t always do in the spring and sometimes have to move to the summer. This week with the program complete, they are testing athletes.
One of the skills tested on Monday was the vertical jump, a measurement good for testing explosion in gridiron and any other athletes. We saw a number of players test including running back LD Brown and quarterback Spencer Sanders, who both looked like they tested well.
Just reported freshman quarterback Gunnar Gundy improved 2.5 inches on his vertical as he tested 30-inches when he reported and jumped 32.5-inches in testing on Monday.
On Tuesday the players will get in some of the max tests on lifts. It is also expected that they will do some speed testing on Tuesday afternoon. There will be some other tests this week as well as some position drills that don’t involve the use of a football.
The footballs will come out on Sunday for the first spring practice. Some other key dates for the spring include the Pro Day and NFL Combine Day on Thursday, April 1. That same day the coaching staff will host a coach’s clinic on campus for high school and other football coaches. Interested coaches can contact the football office at 405-744-5737.
The spring game marking the conclusion of spring football will be at noon on Saturday, April 24 and will be inside Boone Pickens Stadium. Details on crowd and format for the spring game have not been finalized.