Oklahoma State University Athletics
Watch Mike Gundy's Media Day News Conference
August 02, 2014 | Cowboy Football
Aug. 2, 2014
Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement:
"It's great to get out there and start getting involved with practices. There's a lot of enthusiasm out there, and the guys are excited to be back. We don't have any shoulder pads on at this point, though, so we're just out there running the plays without much contact. It's good to be back. It's good to have the guys out there and be around them. It's a fun time of the year for us where we can spend time with them and watch them develop each day. We're just looking forward to getting some pads on and playing real football."
On how his son's baseball team played this summer:
"They did very well. They went 8-0 in Utah and won that tournament so we were proud of them. The coaches did a great job, and the players had a lot of fun so it was a great experience."
On how he feels about the team's leadership this year:
"As a team, we've had a really good summer. That leadership will start to show up in the next seven to ten days, but we have enough guys on both sides of the ball to lead. The difference with this team will be how the young players adjust, monitor themselves, prepare and work hard through the middle of August in order to be ready to play. We're obviously playing a very good football team for our first game, and that'll be an adjustment we go through as a team this year. I feel good about [Ryan] Simmons, [Jhajuan] Seales and those guys. It's the young guys who are learning to play the game really fast."
On what he expects out of J.W. Walsh:
"Whoever we play, we hope that, most of the time, they'll play at a solid level. I think, as coaches, we're responsible for that. Our quarterback situation this year is a little bit different than what it has been in the past. We vary our style of offense based on who's in the game. We expect that player and that style to be involved enough to score points."
On the possibility of multiple quarterbacks earning playing time:
"It's a very good possibility."
On the team's youth:
"We just have to repeat a lot and kind of lead and direct them around. When you have a mature team, they lead themselves for the most part. When you have a young team, you've got a lot of players looking and watching what other guys do. It just takes a little bit of time to get them adjusted."
On what type of impression the team's younger players have made so far:
"We have a number of guys that should develop into really good football players. I like the body types of the athletes we have here. This is a large class, so there are a lot of players to look at. We have some real good walk on's who go together well with our scholarship players, and I think this is a very athletic class. In our meetings we've had prior to practice, we've been very positive in knowing that the measures, the speed, the jumping ability and things that are most important to competing at a high level are there with this team."
On if any specific players have caught the coaches' eyes early on:
"Not me, I've only been there one day. It'll take a few days for me to see that. Honestly, there are so many new guys out there that I don't even know who they are. I know who they are, but I don't know who they are under the helmet. A couple of guys made plays and I would ask about who they were, but I haven't even figured out the guys' numbers yet. We usually go into camp with about 18 or 20 guys, but there are 30 guys out there. I'm still trying to learn who is in each number."
On Kevin Peterson leading the secondary:
"Kevin is a mature player, he has competed in big games and he has had success in conference play. I've always said that there's no substitute for experience and maturity. He has been out there enough and competed in practice, so it's time for him to step up, lead and make some plays."
On what he expects out of Jimmy Bean:
"Jimmy falls under the same category as Kevin. He's been out there with the best of them. He has played in some big games, so he understands the demand of what it takes to be a college football player. He's young, but he's an experienced player. We expect him to compete and perform at a very high level."
On if the Big 12's defensive units have begun to catch up with high-paced offenses:
"From an x's and o's standpoint, I would say that they're catching up a little bit. The offenses in this league were at such a high level for a number of years because they were all NFL quarterbacks. If you're a college football team and you've got a quarterback who is good enough to be in the NFL, you're going to move the ball with success."
On opening the season against Florida State, the defending national champion:
"I'm sure the guys are excited about the game and are building it up, but we've got a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of us. We have to stay focused over the next 20 days until we get into a pattern and can back off. We also have to start a little earlier this year and get a little further into camp before we can back off, mainly because of our opening game."
On how camp is affected by the Florida State matchup:
"I think it can help with keeping the players focused. It might make things difficult later on in the season, like in November or October. With a team, it's more difficult for them to stay healthy later on in the season when you open with such a strong opponent."
On the offensive and defensive line:
"We have a very mature defensive line, and it has some quality depth. We feel like we were pretty good last year up front. If we have some young guys show up, we should be close to as good as we were last year. With the offensive line, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. We lost two players that were key contributors last year. One of them was a starter that graduated early and had an opportunity to get a good job, so he went out there in the real world. We're replacing some young guys, so we've got a lot of youth and not a lot of depth on the offensive line."
On if he expects the team to play faster this year:
"Well, it depends on the skill players, not how we respond up front. There are ten guys out there that have to function based on whatever the quarterback tells them to do. We won't really know unless we have a really experienced quarterback and a veteran group. We want to play as fast as possible, but we also don't want to extend ourselves out there and make ourselves vulnerable."
On if this year's team reminds him of any previous OSU teams:
"You can go back to early in my career when I was just starting up as a head coach. I don't remember the exact year since they all kind of run together, but with the turnover between last year and this year, we're pretty much back to base one. That's where we are as a football team in a number of areas. It has been a number of years since we've had that many starters depart and lose several guys that have contributed. Over the last four or five years, on average, we would go into an opener with about 45 players that we felt had competed and practiced at a high level. This year, we have 29, so it's a little different."
On how the team was affected by the NCAA's rule changes for the summer:
"The rule states that the summer is a meeting time only. There can't be any football-related activity, certainly not with the ball, so that's the way we follow the rules. We use it in a meeting-type setting."
On the changes in the team's schemes:
“We've changed up our approach on implementing schemes in all three phases. Just in my opinion, I think the worst thing a coach can do is asking players to perform and execute plays that they are not capable of at this time, so we just have to cut back and reduce and start from scratch until we develop these players and get them going.”
On how the Sherman E. Smith center helps practice:
“We have a tremendous facility. The last few days, it's been still kind of wet with the rain we've gotten and everything, with the heat and humidity rising, the moisture comes up through the grass. We were almost finished with practice today, and we used the turf field since it was still really wet out there. We have the flexibility now to stay on turf, and we don't have to change fields. The Sherman Smith Center has been tremendous for us for that reason. We can go in and out. Obviously, our first game is indoors, so we practice quite a bit indoors because that's the type of surface and environment that we'll play our first game in.”
On if the offensive line or a young roster is a bigger concern:
“Not one more than the other. When there are young guys playing, it's always a concern for a coach because you never know how they're going to respond until they're out there. We'll play seven or eight young guys on defense and six or seven young guys on offense; six really, and we just have to watch and see how they respond.”
On if he has seen anything special out of Devin Davis:
“Not yet, not until we get in pads. Not until we work him for an hour and twenty to an hour and 45 minutes in practice and see how he feels. We should know more about him in the coming weeks.”
On the level of physicality during practice with such a young team:
“It affects us some, but we have to be physical in order to get ready to play in a big game. There's a real fine line there in how much you hit to try to get ready to play against a quality opponent in the first game, and then how much you stay away from it. These young players aren't as adjusted as veteran players are to taking those hits in practice or early in the season. If you beat them down and they're out for two to three days of time because they're sore and they're hurt or beat up, then that's not helping our football team. It's a difficult time and it's not easy to deal with, so we'll have to be more physical than we want to be in a normal preseason camp.”
On watching film of Florida State:
“We've all watched Florida State extensively and have plans in place on what we need and what we think gives us the best opportunity for success in all three phases.”
On whether Mason Rudolph will redshirt or not:
“We're not sure yet. We'll have to let it play itself out and see how those guys develop. I watched him a little bit today, and I thought he was considerably better than he was when we finished in the spring.
On having a talented, but young team:
“We have talent, just immature. We still have inexperience in a lot of key positions.”
On the talent of the defensive side of the ball:
“We have some talented guys out there. They just haven't played yet, and they haven't been extended in practices and certainly not games.”
On the development of J.W. Walsh:
“J.W. has played in, you guys know better than me, is he even in double digits in full games? He's been in seven or eight games. I was pretty close there, but he still hasn't played one full season. He's been in a lot of practices. He came in a semester early, and he's been here a long time, so it's like he's been here for ten years. He hasn't competed in game settings, and he will continue to get better and develop as the season goes on. He'll play better this year than what he played last year, and we start to expect that. It's our responsibility to put him in that position where he can perform at a higher level. We have a lot of confidence in J.W.; I'm really excited about watching him play.
On Ben Grogan's improvements over the offseason:
"I haven't seen him. We're not out there with him. I watched him kick this morning with a few PAT field goals. Over the summer, they said he was stronger and had built some distance on his kicks, but I haven't been out there with him."
On the adjustments he makes in practice to help the guys play at a faster pace:
"Well, we really haven't changed that part of our practice. We have a standard way that we believe in practicing to prepare to play at a high level and play with a lot of speed. Then, if we want to back off, it's a lot easier to back off than it is to try to get them to play faster, so we haven't really changed that. They learn on the run. They won't have that many mental busts, but it's just how they handle it in the game with the pressure, competing against quality opponents and thinking fast when they're tired. That game experience is where we'll really find out what we're capable of executing in the season."
On how high school players have adapted to a fast-paced style of play:
"I think it's at every level. You see younger kids that are literally bigger, stronger and faster than you could ever imagine, and then you see guys moving into high school and moving into our level that are physically more ready to play than what we've seen in a long time."
On the NCAA's new rules covering coaches walking onto the field:
"I think we should all stay off the white and make it consistent. If you cross over, you get flagged, and that stops that. If you let some people do it every once and a while, then guys are on the field and it goes right back to the way it is. Right now, there are too many coaches on the field after plays, and guys just need to stay off the field. They just need to tell us what to do and make us do it and then we'll all abide by the rules."
On the Big 12 hiring its first female official:
"I think it's awesome. I don't know who she is or where she came from, but Walt Anderson's in charge, and if she made it through, then I'm sure she's qualified to get out there and do it. You know we live in a world today where people from all different backgrounds are doing things differently than they ever have before. The way I see it is, if it's important to her, which obviously it had to be because it probably wasn't easy for her to get to where she is now, then she must be really good at what she does. The consistency of the officiating, no matter who they are, is what's most important for all of us. We always just want them to get it right, but they're human and they're going to make mistakes. Honestly, I won't even know because you know how I am. I'm sure she'll have a hat on probably and her hair tucked in, and I won't even know who it is out there. If she can do the job, then more power to her."
On if the team will hold extra practices on the new turf:
"We'll come in here four times before the first game."
On if the turf in BPS is similar to the turf in the training center:
"It is. There is a little difference on the surface and the layers underneath it. But they're quite similar."
On the positives and negatives of playing more than one quarterback:
"I think it's the same. If you play more than one, sometimes you have to vary what you do on offense a little bit because they do things differently, but we haven't really been in that situation in a number of years. If you end up with two or three guys that can play, the good thing is you have more than one guy that can play."
On if getting more practice time back helps with the team's level of youth:
"I think it's good to get it back from a PR standpoint, but it really wasn't going to be that big of an issue with us. We had missed about 45 minutes from what we had in the past, so we're glad to get it back. Maybe from a marketing or PR standpoint it made a bigger impact than it did for our team and the way we function as a group, but it's good that we got it back."
On the team's younger guys being heavily involved with a fast-paced team:
"A lot of things factor into it, with defense being one of them. There's a lot of variables to look at to see what fits and who we are this year. We have a blueprint for what our offense and defense is, and we know what Oklahoma State football is, but we have to vary that based on who's involved in the games. That changes a little bit each season, and certainly our defense factors in."
On if his expectations of the players have changed after having such a successful run over the last five years:
"These players expect to win and expect to play on a high level. Confidence builds success, and success brings more success. Our players have been around and have been in the locker room and bowl games and what not. Some of the guys haven't played at this level, but they were around teams that expected to win. I don't think there's any question that that helps."
On getting to know the large amount of new players:
"There's just so many of them. I have a pretty good idea of who they are, but when I'm standing across the field while they're wearing their numbers, I could tell it was my first day out there. Sometimes they change their numbers from high school, so when I see them from a distance, if we have a class of 12 to 14 and we have two running backs and one of them is short and one of them is tall, I pretty much know who they are. We had a group of wideouts and some of them are the same height so I don't know exactly who they are yet, but we'll learn them quick. The good thing is there's a bunch of them out there running around, and we like the class."
On Brandon Garrett's return from injury:
“He's got a long way to go, he had a very serious knee injury and he's done very well in his rehab. But he hasn't been in the contact setting with pads, exerting himself or been out there for an extended period of time. The only way to find out is to work him through it over the next six to eight days and then hopefully in two weeks we'll find out where he's at. They're all different you never really know, some guys are able to compete quicker than others and some guys it takes a little bit longer. There's really not an answer for that except he's out there, and we'll slowly work him over the next six or eight days.”
