Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Meets With Media
October 08, 2019 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy met with members of the media Tuesday after practice to discuss the team's status during the open week. Some of his comments
On the team's focus this week:
"Basic fundamentals, and getting a lot of quality reps for young guys who haven't gotten as much work on game days."
On the open week:
"It has been a pretty good stretch. I wish we would've had an open week earlier. I would have liked to have one after week three or four because you have to take August into consideration. Even if you got an open week after week three, that is still seven weeks of football, which is a lot for these guys. It came at a good time for all of us. Hopefully it gives the players a chance to enjoy themselves; go see their friends, families and get back to work on Sunday."
On having another open week in three weeks:
"I know we need this one right now for a lot of reasons. The one in three weeks will be good because we have it so we will make it good. The guys are all doing good. They're getting better each day. It gives us a chance to take a lot of guys who play a lot and have them hardly practice because rest is the only thing that can really heal their bodies."
On the difference in leadership from last year to this year:
"Defensively, it is similar. Offensively, I'd say we get a lot of leadership from Chuba Hubbard. Spencer Sanders is trying to learn on the run, compared to Cornelius, would be the only difference."
On the energy at practice being high after a loss:
"I haven't gotten over it. Young people are so resilient. We live in a world now where things go really fast with technology and social media. Coaches have to put their big boy pants on and get over it because players do. There is not any hangover with them, preparation-wise. That is why it is important for me in my job to stress to the coaches that they have to get over it, because the players keep rolling."
Thoughts on Baylor:
"They are a good football team. They've become a pure three-down defense. They are good football players. They are doing a lot of things differently coverage-wise from last year. Offensively, they got some skills on the perimeter but their quarterback is playing really well. He's in his third year and now he's figuring it out. He's a good football player. He was always mobile, ran around and made some plays. He's pretty accurate and pretty tough to deal with. You can tell he is experienced and he gets it. They are playing good football.
On the offensive line:
"They played average. I said this the other day, both sides of the ball, they all up average play up front. At some point, we put the defense on the field too many times at 18 possessions. I had to take into consideration how would they had played if they had 14 possessions, which is normal. Offensively, up front, we actually played better than what I thought after the game. But we played average. We're still trying to get seven on seven going a little bit. They are giving us a great effort and making plays, but it's a new time and things happen fast. You'll get better each game."
On Sanders advancing from Texas Tech:
"He needs to take care of the football in the pocket, that will solve half of his problems. We're going to coach that and drill that. We have a plan in place to correct that mistake. Essentially, you don't give yourself a chance at all when you turn the ball over in the pocket. Those mechanics need to be improved and we have a plan in place for that as well. Can we do that in two weeks? I don't know. But I feel like a month from now, it will be a lot better. That'll be a big help in that area. If you look at what happened, one ball got tipped and then intercepted. The other one got hit when he threw it. Now, I'm not trying to justify anything he did or we did offensively, but my job is to look at everything from a reasonable bipartisan point of view and make good decisions on it. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, it is what I do. So, he needs to learn to take care of the ball in the pocket and the rest of it will get better through the experience."
On handling a young quarterback:
"You just tell him the truth. This is where it is, this is what happened and this is where you fix the issue. This is the plan we have in place and we're going to start it right now. Hopefully we will improve considerably and faster than normal. It takes time to clean things up. We always just tell him the truth and where it is at. We need you to do these things to improve each week, and this guy needs to do these things to improve this week and put a plan in place. I always use the term "things don't fix themselves". So we have a plan for improvement in all those areas and he'll buy in. Sanders is a very prideful, emotional young man. He wants to do good every single play and what he has to learn is that quarterback is not that way. He needs to watch [other quarterbacks] and see how it happens and say 'You know what? I'm going to get better. But I can't make a play every single game, it's just not the way the game is played.' He'll learn that, it just takes experience."
On the team's focus this week:
"Basic fundamentals, and getting a lot of quality reps for young guys who haven't gotten as much work on game days."
On the open week:
"It has been a pretty good stretch. I wish we would've had an open week earlier. I would have liked to have one after week three or four because you have to take August into consideration. Even if you got an open week after week three, that is still seven weeks of football, which is a lot for these guys. It came at a good time for all of us. Hopefully it gives the players a chance to enjoy themselves; go see their friends, families and get back to work on Sunday."
On having another open week in three weeks:
"I know we need this one right now for a lot of reasons. The one in three weeks will be good because we have it so we will make it good. The guys are all doing good. They're getting better each day. It gives us a chance to take a lot of guys who play a lot and have them hardly practice because rest is the only thing that can really heal their bodies."
On the difference in leadership from last year to this year:
"Defensively, it is similar. Offensively, I'd say we get a lot of leadership from Chuba Hubbard. Spencer Sanders is trying to learn on the run, compared to Cornelius, would be the only difference."
On the energy at practice being high after a loss:
"I haven't gotten over it. Young people are so resilient. We live in a world now where things go really fast with technology and social media. Coaches have to put their big boy pants on and get over it because players do. There is not any hangover with them, preparation-wise. That is why it is important for me in my job to stress to the coaches that they have to get over it, because the players keep rolling."
Thoughts on Baylor:
"They are a good football team. They've become a pure three-down defense. They are good football players. They are doing a lot of things differently coverage-wise from last year. Offensively, they got some skills on the perimeter but their quarterback is playing really well. He's in his third year and now he's figuring it out. He's a good football player. He was always mobile, ran around and made some plays. He's pretty accurate and pretty tough to deal with. You can tell he is experienced and he gets it. They are playing good football.
On the offensive line:
"They played average. I said this the other day, both sides of the ball, they all up average play up front. At some point, we put the defense on the field too many times at 18 possessions. I had to take into consideration how would they had played if they had 14 possessions, which is normal. Offensively, up front, we actually played better than what I thought after the game. But we played average. We're still trying to get seven on seven going a little bit. They are giving us a great effort and making plays, but it's a new time and things happen fast. You'll get better each game."
On Sanders advancing from Texas Tech:
"He needs to take care of the football in the pocket, that will solve half of his problems. We're going to coach that and drill that. We have a plan in place to correct that mistake. Essentially, you don't give yourself a chance at all when you turn the ball over in the pocket. Those mechanics need to be improved and we have a plan in place for that as well. Can we do that in two weeks? I don't know. But I feel like a month from now, it will be a lot better. That'll be a big help in that area. If you look at what happened, one ball got tipped and then intercepted. The other one got hit when he threw it. Now, I'm not trying to justify anything he did or we did offensively, but my job is to look at everything from a reasonable bipartisan point of view and make good decisions on it. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, it is what I do. So, he needs to learn to take care of the ball in the pocket and the rest of it will get better through the experience."
On handling a young quarterback:
"You just tell him the truth. This is where it is, this is what happened and this is where you fix the issue. This is the plan we have in place and we're going to start it right now. Hopefully we will improve considerably and faster than normal. It takes time to clean things up. We always just tell him the truth and where it is at. We need you to do these things to improve each week, and this guy needs to do these things to improve this week and put a plan in place. I always use the term "things don't fix themselves". So we have a plan for improvement in all those areas and he'll buy in. Sanders is a very prideful, emotional young man. He wants to do good every single play and what he has to learn is that quarterback is not that way. He needs to watch [other quarterbacks] and see how it happens and say 'You know what? I'm going to get better. But I can't make a play every single game, it's just not the way the game is played.' He'll learn that, it just takes experience."
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