Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: Bruce Waterfield
Gundy, Cowboys Preview First Road Game at South Alabama
September 04, 2017 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy and selected players met with media Monday in Stillwater to preview the Cowboys' Friday night game at South Alabama. Their comments:
Coach Mike Gundy
Opening Statement:
"Not a lot of changes from the game and what we saw watching the tape. My postgame comments were really accurate and there's not really anything that's worth discussing that was different. Offensively, we had a good game. On special teams, we missed a field gold and made one, had one terrible decision on a punt return. Defensively, they help up well. They minimized big plays, so it was a good game to open. I thought the guys played well and that the crowd was fantastic, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us. It's a good team that we're playing this week and I know the score was maybe a little lopsided against Ole Miss, but athletically they're as good as half of the teams in our league, in my opinion. Last year, they beat Mississippi State and San Diego State and then lost some they probably felt like they should've won. We've got to go on the road, so we'll pack our guys up and head down there early on Thursday and get ready to roll Friday night."
On South Alabama:
"I've watched some of their film. They have a returning quarterback from last year that was injured, so they have another guy playing now. They have good team speed. It's like every other game and if you look at the scores from last week, it's all about preparation. Fans and media may get tired of hearing that, but that's the way it is. We have to maintain our focus, because if you let your guard down, you can get beat. We need to be ready to go Friday night and have a good week of practice."
On the team's hunger to continue to get better:
"I'm confident that we have good leadership and that there's enough, for lack of a better term, peer pressure to want to perform at a higher level. These guys care about each other and we have some great team chemistry early in the season."
On maintaining a balance on offense:
"We're getting back on track to having balance on offense. You guys know that, for me, balance is very important. We're developing a little bit of depth on the offensive line. We still have a year or two to get back to where we need to be, but we have good running back play. Obviously, Justice Hill was able to make guys miss in space last week. There were a couple of the young guys that got out there as well. I like where they're at right now. The balance is going to be important. We're not going to be able to go out and throw for 500 yards and rush for 75 and be able to win games. I thought, for the first game at least, our running game worked out well."
On if Justice Hill has improved his ability to make defenders miss:
"I think he certainly did against Tulsa. Only time will tell as we move forward through the next month though. The guys that we're playing Friday night are pretty athletic, so as we move forward we're going to find out whether that's true or not."
On the team's ability to handle a tough road trip better than in the past:
"I think we're a better team now. That was really early in my career and how we got to this point I'm not sure. When you go play down there, the field is still 52 yards wide. I think our organization and our program is more mature now than it was in years past. We're still vulnerable at all times, and it's never as comforting to play on the road as it is to play at home. Our players understand that and we've had those discussions. We're holding them responsible for preparation and playing like we're playing at home."
On backup running back J.D. King:
"A young player at any position, but particularly the running back spot, being physical is always a concern. You are going to take a considerable number and more physical tackling than at the high school level. Up to this point, he's taken care of the ball. That's important for us, and his mental approach has been excellent for his age. He reminds me a lot of Joe Randle in his approach of the game. Sometimes you'll have a talented player that gets swallowed by the level you're at. At this point, I don't think it has really affected him.
On the performance of the cornerbacks:
"Well, they limited big plays, which is important. We've got a lot of work ahead of us in that area, and as I said during the summer, the majority of that comes from experience. You're out there on the field, you make mistakes, you correct them, and you work each week. I thought the transition with Ramon Richards at safety worked really well. I thought his eyes were on his guys better than they have been his whole career. After one game, it looks to be a promising group. Those guys look to have some ability and a future. We just want it to happen a little faster than what they may be capable of with the learning curve at this level."
On why Mason Rudolph has been able to limit his interceptions:
"I think he has become a student of the game and I think he is throwing to really good players, so a combination of both of those things would contribute to that. He's got a good feel, most of the time, of what's going on because of his experience. His circumstances are the opposite of the corners and he's got a lot of time out there."
On anything he is concerned about after the first game:
"Well, I'm not very happy with turning the ball over. I want Mason (Rudolph) to stay in his world, his box. He got out of his box and looked what happened. That's not the world he lives in. I'm not happy with how Jalen McCleskey handled the ball on the punt returns. He made about three bad decisions in the span of about eight seconds. Those kinds of plays concern me. If we play in a game and someone beats us, then that's the way the game goes, but I'm not interested in beating ourselves. I don't want to make crucial mistakes. In order for us to be successful, we have to be a smart football team. We lost our touch of reality on those two plays."
Defensive Coordinator Glenn Spencer
On his thoughts about the defense against Tulsa:
"That was three practices ago, but obviously we were a little disappointed in our third-down defense. We were spread out everywhere is what I thought. We had a linebacker pushed out to coverage one time, so we got spread out everywhere. It was enough to come in the next day, get rid of all those warm fuzzy feelings and correct it."
On the defense's team speed:
"We've had fast defenses before. I think a lot of defenses are fast. I've said this before - if you put our guys on the clock and other guys on the clock, it's probably the same and there's probably a lot of teams faster than us. It's pursuit angles and fundamental football. It's fundamentals, pursuing the football, having good pursuit angles and desire. I don't know what 'team speed' really means. Does it mean we look fast closing down toward the football? Nobody ever writes down 40-yard dash times and compares them. It's about how you chase down the football."
On how he feels about the defense's speed to the football:
"It's week by week. Thursday night, it was pretty good. A couple of those third downs though, we had some bad pursuit angles and we had some lineman that didn't have enough speed to keep contain and linebackers that didn't have enough speed on their pursuit angle and didn't have a good pursuit angle for the tackle."
On the defensive line's ability to control Tulsa's running game:
"It was good. A couple of young guys got out of their gaps, but overall that first-team defense was pretty good. If you stop the run, it's not just the defensive lineman though. It's the linebackers and the secondary as well. There's a defensive back and a linebacker involved with every play in run support. So as a group, I thought they performed well."
Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On his thoughts about the offense last week:
"There's always room to improve. There's things that we need to do better. There hasn't been a perfect game executed yet offensively and we're always chasing that. You just have to take the good, eliminate the turnovers - we can't have those happen. You can't turn it over right before the half when it's not like you're trying to win the game there. That's just situational football and awareness of where you're at. Overall, we just want to keep getting better as an offense."
On Mason Rudolph's success at OSU:
"Thinking about all of the Oklahoma State quarterbacks from Coach Gundy on up, I'm sure it's a heck of an honor for him to be mentioned alongside them. I think it's a tribute to the team though. You can't get there without pass protection, and good receivers and good running backs, so it's a team deal. We don't really get into too many individual awards and things like that."
On Justice Hill's growth:
"He's done a great job competing and he's a tremendous talent. He's a huge weapon for us offensively and we've got to keep going toward him. It has been a natural growth for him, but he came to us as a very mature guy already. He's grown as anyone has, but he's just going to continue to grow. He's got a lot of growing still to do because he's still a young player. He does everything off the field exactly right and he's just a very mature guy that you love to have on your ball club."
Quarterback Mason Rudolph
On watching other teams on TV:
"If you're going to watch the game you might as well get something out of it, so I try to watch it the way I would watch film. It's hard because it's a different cut, it's a TV cut, so a lot of times you're just kind of enjoying. You know you don't want to overload yourself because that can happen."
On South Alabama:
"I think any game, no matter the ranking or who you're playing or where you're playing. If you've got veteran leaders, experienced guys who have been through all types of game situations where you're expected to win, you're the favorite, it's great. You know how to kind of approach each and every game each and every environment you're going to play in whether it's a hundred thousand in Austin or 30 or 40 (thousand) down in Mobile. It's definitely a plus."
Wide Receiver Tyron Johnson
On playing close to home:
"Mobile is about two hours away from New Orleans so a lot of my family would be at the game."
On his first catch as a Cowboy being a touchdown:
"It felt good. Everybody was expecting me to score. My teammates believed in me, and it was a wonderful feeling. I'm finally getting into a groove on my team."
Linebacker Kenneth Edison-McGruder
On defensive speed:
"It's helping us a lot, our defense being able to fly around and make plays. A fast defense is a great defense. So that's what we take pride in being fast."
On whether he could tell this defense was faster:
"Oh yeah. We've got a lot of guys that can fly around. Our D-line runs to the ball. We take pride in running to the ball. We don't want yards after contact. So we take pride in running to the ball, and that's what all our guys do."
Wide Receiver Jalen McCleskey
On what Mason Rudolph said to him after a botched punt return:
"He just said, 'You're fine; you don't really make mistakes like that. Just get ready for the next play.'"
On taking advantage of catches as a receiver:
"You always have to take advantage of anything. No matter if it's the run game, our O-line doing a great job, running backs, Mason throwing the ball, but if you get that one opportunity, not even just because you might not get anymore touches, just because that might be the one opportunity that helps the team win. That might be the touchdown to bring the team forward and get the momentum back. So you always have to take your opportunities no matter what it's for or why."
Linebacker Chad Whitener
On South Alabama's quarterback play:
"He was really good. He seemed very composed. I mean he played last year against a ranked team as well – San Diego State – and came out with a win. You know what you're going to get. He's a better passer and I'm really excited for the challenge."
Safety Ramon Richards
On opportunities at safety vs. corner:
"I get my opportunities. I get more opportunities to peak into the backfield than I did when I was at corner. I get my opportunities to look in the backfield and read the quarterbacks eyes and go make plays."
On preparing for South Alabama:
"Obviously different than Big 12 football, obviously different than what we will see in conference, but Coach Spencer does a tremendous job. He's been doing this forever so he's going to prepare us for that game."
On his preparation:
"I feel like I get better every day. Whether it's mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, any of that. I feel like I get better every day. I critique Tre Flowers, he critiques me. We kind of watch each other. We critique each other all day during practice and come game day. It never stops."
Coach Mike Gundy
Opening Statement:
"Not a lot of changes from the game and what we saw watching the tape. My postgame comments were really accurate and there's not really anything that's worth discussing that was different. Offensively, we had a good game. On special teams, we missed a field gold and made one, had one terrible decision on a punt return. Defensively, they help up well. They minimized big plays, so it was a good game to open. I thought the guys played well and that the crowd was fantastic, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us. It's a good team that we're playing this week and I know the score was maybe a little lopsided against Ole Miss, but athletically they're as good as half of the teams in our league, in my opinion. Last year, they beat Mississippi State and San Diego State and then lost some they probably felt like they should've won. We've got to go on the road, so we'll pack our guys up and head down there early on Thursday and get ready to roll Friday night."
On South Alabama:
"I've watched some of their film. They have a returning quarterback from last year that was injured, so they have another guy playing now. They have good team speed. It's like every other game and if you look at the scores from last week, it's all about preparation. Fans and media may get tired of hearing that, but that's the way it is. We have to maintain our focus, because if you let your guard down, you can get beat. We need to be ready to go Friday night and have a good week of practice."
On the team's hunger to continue to get better:
"I'm confident that we have good leadership and that there's enough, for lack of a better term, peer pressure to want to perform at a higher level. These guys care about each other and we have some great team chemistry early in the season."
On maintaining a balance on offense:
"We're getting back on track to having balance on offense. You guys know that, for me, balance is very important. We're developing a little bit of depth on the offensive line. We still have a year or two to get back to where we need to be, but we have good running back play. Obviously, Justice Hill was able to make guys miss in space last week. There were a couple of the young guys that got out there as well. I like where they're at right now. The balance is going to be important. We're not going to be able to go out and throw for 500 yards and rush for 75 and be able to win games. I thought, for the first game at least, our running game worked out well."
On if Justice Hill has improved his ability to make defenders miss:
"I think he certainly did against Tulsa. Only time will tell as we move forward through the next month though. The guys that we're playing Friday night are pretty athletic, so as we move forward we're going to find out whether that's true or not."
On the team's ability to handle a tough road trip better than in the past:
"I think we're a better team now. That was really early in my career and how we got to this point I'm not sure. When you go play down there, the field is still 52 yards wide. I think our organization and our program is more mature now than it was in years past. We're still vulnerable at all times, and it's never as comforting to play on the road as it is to play at home. Our players understand that and we've had those discussions. We're holding them responsible for preparation and playing like we're playing at home."
On backup running back J.D. King:
"A young player at any position, but particularly the running back spot, being physical is always a concern. You are going to take a considerable number and more physical tackling than at the high school level. Up to this point, he's taken care of the ball. That's important for us, and his mental approach has been excellent for his age. He reminds me a lot of Joe Randle in his approach of the game. Sometimes you'll have a talented player that gets swallowed by the level you're at. At this point, I don't think it has really affected him.
On the performance of the cornerbacks:
"Well, they limited big plays, which is important. We've got a lot of work ahead of us in that area, and as I said during the summer, the majority of that comes from experience. You're out there on the field, you make mistakes, you correct them, and you work each week. I thought the transition with Ramon Richards at safety worked really well. I thought his eyes were on his guys better than they have been his whole career. After one game, it looks to be a promising group. Those guys look to have some ability and a future. We just want it to happen a little faster than what they may be capable of with the learning curve at this level."
On why Mason Rudolph has been able to limit his interceptions:
"I think he has become a student of the game and I think he is throwing to really good players, so a combination of both of those things would contribute to that. He's got a good feel, most of the time, of what's going on because of his experience. His circumstances are the opposite of the corners and he's got a lot of time out there."
On anything he is concerned about after the first game:
"Well, I'm not very happy with turning the ball over. I want Mason (Rudolph) to stay in his world, his box. He got out of his box and looked what happened. That's not the world he lives in. I'm not happy with how Jalen McCleskey handled the ball on the punt returns. He made about three bad decisions in the span of about eight seconds. Those kinds of plays concern me. If we play in a game and someone beats us, then that's the way the game goes, but I'm not interested in beating ourselves. I don't want to make crucial mistakes. In order for us to be successful, we have to be a smart football team. We lost our touch of reality on those two plays."
Defensive Coordinator Glenn Spencer
On his thoughts about the defense against Tulsa:
"That was three practices ago, but obviously we were a little disappointed in our third-down defense. We were spread out everywhere is what I thought. We had a linebacker pushed out to coverage one time, so we got spread out everywhere. It was enough to come in the next day, get rid of all those warm fuzzy feelings and correct it."
On the defense's team speed:
"We've had fast defenses before. I think a lot of defenses are fast. I've said this before - if you put our guys on the clock and other guys on the clock, it's probably the same and there's probably a lot of teams faster than us. It's pursuit angles and fundamental football. It's fundamentals, pursuing the football, having good pursuit angles and desire. I don't know what 'team speed' really means. Does it mean we look fast closing down toward the football? Nobody ever writes down 40-yard dash times and compares them. It's about how you chase down the football."
On how he feels about the defense's speed to the football:
"It's week by week. Thursday night, it was pretty good. A couple of those third downs though, we had some bad pursuit angles and we had some lineman that didn't have enough speed to keep contain and linebackers that didn't have enough speed on their pursuit angle and didn't have a good pursuit angle for the tackle."
On the defensive line's ability to control Tulsa's running game:
"It was good. A couple of young guys got out of their gaps, but overall that first-team defense was pretty good. If you stop the run, it's not just the defensive lineman though. It's the linebackers and the secondary as well. There's a defensive back and a linebacker involved with every play in run support. So as a group, I thought they performed well."
Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On his thoughts about the offense last week:
"There's always room to improve. There's things that we need to do better. There hasn't been a perfect game executed yet offensively and we're always chasing that. You just have to take the good, eliminate the turnovers - we can't have those happen. You can't turn it over right before the half when it's not like you're trying to win the game there. That's just situational football and awareness of where you're at. Overall, we just want to keep getting better as an offense."
On Mason Rudolph's success at OSU:
"Thinking about all of the Oklahoma State quarterbacks from Coach Gundy on up, I'm sure it's a heck of an honor for him to be mentioned alongside them. I think it's a tribute to the team though. You can't get there without pass protection, and good receivers and good running backs, so it's a team deal. We don't really get into too many individual awards and things like that."
On Justice Hill's growth:
"He's done a great job competing and he's a tremendous talent. He's a huge weapon for us offensively and we've got to keep going toward him. It has been a natural growth for him, but he came to us as a very mature guy already. He's grown as anyone has, but he's just going to continue to grow. He's got a lot of growing still to do because he's still a young player. He does everything off the field exactly right and he's just a very mature guy that you love to have on your ball club."
Quarterback Mason Rudolph
On watching other teams on TV:
"If you're going to watch the game you might as well get something out of it, so I try to watch it the way I would watch film. It's hard because it's a different cut, it's a TV cut, so a lot of times you're just kind of enjoying. You know you don't want to overload yourself because that can happen."
On South Alabama:
"I think any game, no matter the ranking or who you're playing or where you're playing. If you've got veteran leaders, experienced guys who have been through all types of game situations where you're expected to win, you're the favorite, it's great. You know how to kind of approach each and every game each and every environment you're going to play in whether it's a hundred thousand in Austin or 30 or 40 (thousand) down in Mobile. It's definitely a plus."
Wide Receiver Tyron Johnson
On playing close to home:
"Mobile is about two hours away from New Orleans so a lot of my family would be at the game."
On his first catch as a Cowboy being a touchdown:
"It felt good. Everybody was expecting me to score. My teammates believed in me, and it was a wonderful feeling. I'm finally getting into a groove on my team."
Linebacker Kenneth Edison-McGruder
On defensive speed:
"It's helping us a lot, our defense being able to fly around and make plays. A fast defense is a great defense. So that's what we take pride in being fast."
On whether he could tell this defense was faster:
"Oh yeah. We've got a lot of guys that can fly around. Our D-line runs to the ball. We take pride in running to the ball. We don't want yards after contact. So we take pride in running to the ball, and that's what all our guys do."
Wide Receiver Jalen McCleskey
On what Mason Rudolph said to him after a botched punt return:
"He just said, 'You're fine; you don't really make mistakes like that. Just get ready for the next play.'"
On taking advantage of catches as a receiver:
"You always have to take advantage of anything. No matter if it's the run game, our O-line doing a great job, running backs, Mason throwing the ball, but if you get that one opportunity, not even just because you might not get anymore touches, just because that might be the one opportunity that helps the team win. That might be the touchdown to bring the team forward and get the momentum back. So you always have to take your opportunities no matter what it's for or why."
Linebacker Chad Whitener
On South Alabama's quarterback play:
"He was really good. He seemed very composed. I mean he played last year against a ranked team as well – San Diego State – and came out with a win. You know what you're going to get. He's a better passer and I'm really excited for the challenge."
Safety Ramon Richards
On opportunities at safety vs. corner:
"I get my opportunities. I get more opportunities to peak into the backfield than I did when I was at corner. I get my opportunities to look in the backfield and read the quarterbacks eyes and go make plays."
On preparing for South Alabama:
"Obviously different than Big 12 football, obviously different than what we will see in conference, but Coach Spencer does a tremendous job. He's been doing this forever so he's going to prepare us for that game."
On his preparation:
"I feel like I get better every day. Whether it's mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, any of that. I feel like I get better every day. I critique Tre Flowers, he critiques me. We kind of watch each other. We critique each other all day during practice and come game day. It never stops."
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