Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Meets With Media After Thursday's Scrimmage
August 20, 2015 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER, Okla. – The Oklahoma State football team held a scrimmage Thursday afternoon at the Sherman E. Smith Training Facility. After the practice, coach Mike Gundy shared his thoughts on the session:
Coach Mike Gundy
On the scrimmage:
"We had a 90-play scrimmage today and it went really well. The defense made some plays and then the offense made a few plays. I'm encouraged where we're at with our football team. We obviously need the work next week, and then we'll start to tempo down a little bit before we travel to Michigan. Our attitude is good, players are excited and comfortable with our coaches. We have to keep rolling and get ready for next week and get ready to play in a game."
On his biggest concern going into the season:
"You have some guys that have never played and they will be in an environment that they're not accustomed to playing in on the road. You just want to take care of the ball and play hard, other than that I'm not really concerned about a lot."
On defensive tackle:
"I've been pleased with Vince [Taylor], Motekiai [Maile], and Eric Davis. Those guys have made some plays inside. We need them to be strong in those A-gaps and let our ends make plays. Position-wise that is a concern because the guys playing at that spot haven't competed at this level, but for the most part they've had a good camp."
On freshmen potentially playing:
"Jeff Carr and Jalen McCleskey and [Kenneth] McGruder, I think I mentioned those guys a couple of weeks ago. They'll all play. Darrion Daniels I think will play, if we feel like we want to put him in there and get him some time. Those other guys I feel like will play in the first game."
On Jalen McCleskey:
"He's just making plays and we're hoping he can help us on special teams. When guys come in and compete and earn the right to play, we're going to put them in there."
On McCleskey and Jeff Carr:
"You know it's interesting, in recruiting, those were the two guys that in a lot of people's opinions weren't heavily recruited as other players in our class and other classes in the conference. They end up being the guys that it looks like are going to compete in the first game."
On the first time he saw Jeff Carr:
"I was at home and got a call the day before signing day and so I went in and had my son pull it up, because I don't know how to pull things up on the computer. He pulled [the highlight tape] up, watched it and we made the agreement that he was definitely good enough to play at this level."
On Carr:
"We're going to play him at running back. We're trying to teach him our offense, but we're going to give him 12 or 15 plays that work to his advantage and not force feed it all to him early. We'd like to have him up and running by the middle of October. He's done very well up to this point and we'll know a lot more in three to four weeks."
On potential return men:
"[Brandon] Sheperd, [David] Glidden, [Jalen] McCleskey, [Jeff] Carr. We use [James] Washington and [Jhajuan] Seales some."
On if this could be the fastest defense he's had:
"I think so, and again it could just be me getting old, but they move pretty fast out there. One, I think they are pretty fast and, two, there's a lot of depth. They're not getting as much work so it allows them to stay fresh. I think they run pretty well."
On Barry Sanders making the FWAA 75th Anniversary All-America Team:
"In my opinion, there's no knock on anybody, but if he's behind a line that was decent he probably rushes for 25,000 yards. I'm probably partial to him, but he was pretty good."
Coach Mike Gundy
On the scrimmage:
"We had a 90-play scrimmage today and it went really well. The defense made some plays and then the offense made a few plays. I'm encouraged where we're at with our football team. We obviously need the work next week, and then we'll start to tempo down a little bit before we travel to Michigan. Our attitude is good, players are excited and comfortable with our coaches. We have to keep rolling and get ready for next week and get ready to play in a game."
On his biggest concern going into the season:
"You have some guys that have never played and they will be in an environment that they're not accustomed to playing in on the road. You just want to take care of the ball and play hard, other than that I'm not really concerned about a lot."
On defensive tackle:
"I've been pleased with Vince [Taylor], Motekiai [Maile], and Eric Davis. Those guys have made some plays inside. We need them to be strong in those A-gaps and let our ends make plays. Position-wise that is a concern because the guys playing at that spot haven't competed at this level, but for the most part they've had a good camp."
On freshmen potentially playing:
"Jeff Carr and Jalen McCleskey and [Kenneth] McGruder, I think I mentioned those guys a couple of weeks ago. They'll all play. Darrion Daniels I think will play, if we feel like we want to put him in there and get him some time. Those other guys I feel like will play in the first game."
On Jalen McCleskey:
"He's just making plays and we're hoping he can help us on special teams. When guys come in and compete and earn the right to play, we're going to put them in there."
On McCleskey and Jeff Carr:
"You know it's interesting, in recruiting, those were the two guys that in a lot of people's opinions weren't heavily recruited as other players in our class and other classes in the conference. They end up being the guys that it looks like are going to compete in the first game."
On the first time he saw Jeff Carr:
"I was at home and got a call the day before signing day and so I went in and had my son pull it up, because I don't know how to pull things up on the computer. He pulled [the highlight tape] up, watched it and we made the agreement that he was definitely good enough to play at this level."
On Carr:
"We're going to play him at running back. We're trying to teach him our offense, but we're going to give him 12 or 15 plays that work to his advantage and not force feed it all to him early. We'd like to have him up and running by the middle of October. He's done very well up to this point and we'll know a lot more in three to four weeks."
On potential return men:
"[Brandon] Sheperd, [David] Glidden, [Jalen] McCleskey, [Jeff] Carr. We use [James] Washington and [Jhajuan] Seales some."
On if this could be the fastest defense he's had:
"I think so, and again it could just be me getting old, but they move pretty fast out there. One, I think they are pretty fast and, two, there's a lot of depth. They're not getting as much work so it allows them to stay fresh. I think they run pretty well."
On Barry Sanders making the FWAA 75th Anniversary All-America Team:
"In my opinion, there's no knock on anybody, but if he's behind a line that was decent he probably rushes for 25,000 yards. I'm probably partial to him, but he was pretty good."
Players Mentioned
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