Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Discusses Signing Day Class
December 15, 2021 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy met with the media Wednesday morning to discuss the Cowboys' signing class. The class of 17 is ranked among the top 25 classes in the nation. Here is some of what Gundy had to say:
On the recruiting strategy:
"Quite honestly, I don't pay attention to stars. I'm not leading you in the wrong direction, I don't have a clue how many four stars we have. What we're looking for is young men who fit our culture. Ones that we know will work hard and come in here and do all the things I talk about. I don't need to repeat all that and stay here, unless they have a good reason to get in the portal and go somewhere else. We think that's very important with the trend and the way things are moving. Geographically, we want to stay as local as possible because we think that helps us keep young men here to push through times when maybe it's not as fun, to stay here and then it pays off in the end, like Devin Harper."
On winning recruiting battles against traditional blue-blood programs:
"As I scan here we had what could be five (signees) that were offered or pursued heavily. It kind of goes back to what I said two weeks ago, we have a chance right now at Oklahoma State, if it's handled correctly, to move to the top. If we do it right. I can't control that because I'm not in charge of the overall concept of what we're doing here, but we have a real chance if we're willing to move forward and take that step right now. This is a good example you brought up. I don't know we've ever signed, and you know better than me because you study it, but four or five players that had traditional offers from schools we don't beat."
On the defensive line class:
"We took three defensive lineman or defensive ends that it will be interesting to see how they develop. They're Collin Oliver and Trace Ford like, but a little bigger. They could push 280 pounds, we don't know. The ones we got, we really like, and I think it's pretty evident that our evaluation of that particular position over the past few years has been as good as anyone in the country."
On Landon Dean:
"They're not as big of a school. I had a nice visit with him, his family and his coach a week ago up there in Frontenac, Kansas… He's one of those players who is 6-4ish, I think he was 248 (pounds) the other day, but he might be 280 (pounds) in a year. He's athletic, used to be a basketball player. He can play both sides of the ball. Has a really good family and is a good fit in the culture for us.
On Ollie Gordon and CJ Brown:
"With your running backs, you have a nice mixture... You've got a powerful guy, Ollie's going to be 230 (pounds) someday, would be my guess. He was 208 (pounds) last week, once he starts training and eating, I'm going to guess he'll play at 230 (pounds). CJ was 177 (pounds) last week, I'm going to guess he's going to be 190 to 195ish, so we have a nice mixture of style of play with those guys. They'll give you some nice variety as they progress."
On Mason Gilkey:
"We've got some reach and some length at wideout... Valedictorian, 4.1 GPA student, basketball player, great football player and probably could do anything he wanted... We found from the principal and coaches and people in his facility that he's a fantastic person. So he becomes a marquee guy for us; it doesn't make a difference who recruits him… He's a local kid that really wants to be here."
On Calvin Harvey:
"He's a big man. He's every bit of 6-8, 320 pounds. He came to a game this year and we were over at the indoor doing our walkthrough on Friday and he walked in the door and I can tell you he is a big man. He had a minor knee injury, but they fixed it, he rehabbed and he is back and rolling right now. He missed a month or so, I'm not sure. He has a great future. When you're that size, if you'll develop some toughness over a period of time and learn to train hard and get some grit, then you have a real chance. I mean, you and I don't have that chance. He has that chance."
On Cameron Epps:
"It's an unusual body. He's 6-2ish, 190ish, who is long and rangy. He looks like Justin Gilbert, body wise. I was up there at St. Louis Chaminade a week ago. That's a heck of a school, too, it's pretty cool… I think he has a lot of room to grow and he is real rangy and very athletic. I don't know what his stars were. He played quarterback for them during the latter part of the year because they needed someone to score points and he made a lot of plays at quarterback, just like Justin Gilbert did. He's highly intelligent. Chaminade St. Louis is a private school that is rated very high academically and those guys that go there to play sports still have to achieve academically. I'm looking forward to getting him here."
On recruiting Gabe Brown, who played high school football against Coach Gundy's sons:
"I know more about Gabe Brown than anybody because I've watched him for four years. I've watched him in practice and seen him in games; same thing with the Shettron brothers. I know a lot about number 30 for us – Collin Oliver – because I watched him play against my kids for several years. DeSean Brown, same thing. That is an advantage for coach [Jason] McEndoo, myself and coach [Joe Bob] Clements to be able to watch these guys and see them live. So we know more about them than anybody because we get to see them more than everybody; particularly, the Stillwater kids."
On Braylin Presley's comparison to his brother, Brennan Presley:
"Same type of player. He's more right to left: tougher to two-blow in a phone booth, would be my guess. I don't know who's faster. They argue over it all the time. We'll race them this summer; we'll see who's faster. I'm guessing there's not going to be that much difference in either one of them. [Braylin and Brennan] are tough, highly competitive, love to play football, come from a great family – very athletic family – they understand right from wrong, mom and dad don't put up with any B.S. They're going to do what you tell them. They're going to love the team. Both of them could run a 40-yard dash under a table and not hit their head. That's what you get."
On the role Braylin Presley will play:
"He's going to be a slot. He's a slot receiver. He gets quick passes. We can throw it to him in the flat, throw it to him behind the line of scrimmage. He'll catch it and then you've got to come tackle him in space. That's what his role will be. Punt return and kick return, too."
On recruiting junior college products in Xavier Benson and Tyrone Webber:
"We're losing the two guys inside, right? Twenty and 16, I don't know if there's been any pair of linebackers in the country that just showed up that have been as valuable as those guys have been for us. Malcolm Rodriguez should have been a first-team All-American. Devin Harper's been fantastic. We have good young guys behind them; there's several guys, but we needed one mature player to come in because we don't play two guys. We want to play four. So, we needed one guy to come in that's mature. [Xavier Benson] has had a bunch of reps. He's older. He gets it. He's 230-something pounds. He's physically mature. He's excited about being here. He comes in and gives us some maturity to let us develop some of those younger guys at that position. Tyrone [Webber] is playing for the national championship here soon. Canadian, we've had success with Canadian kids. Mature. He's got a really good base. Uses his hands, uses his feet well. He's able to give a nice blow with the coil punch. Doesn't cross his feet much on tape; very athletic. We feel like once he gets here and gets with Coach [Rob] Glass for six months, he's going to completely change his body and his strength levels, just like we did with number seven when he came in."
On Garret Rangel:
"Nice size, 6-2. Going to develop. His body is thin right now, which more high school quarterbacks are. He should push up around 190 in a year or so. Throws a nice ball, competitive. He's got a good demeanor. Mom and dad raised him right. He wants to be here. He understands our culture. He understands being unselfish. He's not into all that B.S. He just wants to come here to play football and get an education."
On Tabry and Talyn Shettron:
"The wide receiver is obviously a guy that was a national, marquee guy. We like Tabry [Shettron]. He's 227 pounds right now. I think he's going to be 255 [pounds] in 18 months. He'll develop into being a good football player for what we ask him to do. I think it's important we don't try to make him something he's not, but we have to be patient with him. He played cowboy back at Edmond Santa Fe and they split him out some to do some different things, but playing that position here is much different. So we need to give him time as his body develops and all that. I'm going to say 250 in 18 months; should run under 4.8 [seconds]. Comparison: Tracy Moore type of body."
On the recruiting strategy:
"Quite honestly, I don't pay attention to stars. I'm not leading you in the wrong direction, I don't have a clue how many four stars we have. What we're looking for is young men who fit our culture. Ones that we know will work hard and come in here and do all the things I talk about. I don't need to repeat all that and stay here, unless they have a good reason to get in the portal and go somewhere else. We think that's very important with the trend and the way things are moving. Geographically, we want to stay as local as possible because we think that helps us keep young men here to push through times when maybe it's not as fun, to stay here and then it pays off in the end, like Devin Harper."
On winning recruiting battles against traditional blue-blood programs:
"As I scan here we had what could be five (signees) that were offered or pursued heavily. It kind of goes back to what I said two weeks ago, we have a chance right now at Oklahoma State, if it's handled correctly, to move to the top. If we do it right. I can't control that because I'm not in charge of the overall concept of what we're doing here, but we have a real chance if we're willing to move forward and take that step right now. This is a good example you brought up. I don't know we've ever signed, and you know better than me because you study it, but four or five players that had traditional offers from schools we don't beat."
On the defensive line class:
"We took three defensive lineman or defensive ends that it will be interesting to see how they develop. They're Collin Oliver and Trace Ford like, but a little bigger. They could push 280 pounds, we don't know. The ones we got, we really like, and I think it's pretty evident that our evaluation of that particular position over the past few years has been as good as anyone in the country."
On Landon Dean:
"They're not as big of a school. I had a nice visit with him, his family and his coach a week ago up there in Frontenac, Kansas… He's one of those players who is 6-4ish, I think he was 248 (pounds) the other day, but he might be 280 (pounds) in a year. He's athletic, used to be a basketball player. He can play both sides of the ball. Has a really good family and is a good fit in the culture for us.
On Ollie Gordon and CJ Brown:
"With your running backs, you have a nice mixture... You've got a powerful guy, Ollie's going to be 230 (pounds) someday, would be my guess. He was 208 (pounds) last week, once he starts training and eating, I'm going to guess he'll play at 230 (pounds). CJ was 177 (pounds) last week, I'm going to guess he's going to be 190 to 195ish, so we have a nice mixture of style of play with those guys. They'll give you some nice variety as they progress."
On Mason Gilkey:
"We've got some reach and some length at wideout... Valedictorian, 4.1 GPA student, basketball player, great football player and probably could do anything he wanted... We found from the principal and coaches and people in his facility that he's a fantastic person. So he becomes a marquee guy for us; it doesn't make a difference who recruits him… He's a local kid that really wants to be here."
On Calvin Harvey:
"He's a big man. He's every bit of 6-8, 320 pounds. He came to a game this year and we were over at the indoor doing our walkthrough on Friday and he walked in the door and I can tell you he is a big man. He had a minor knee injury, but they fixed it, he rehabbed and he is back and rolling right now. He missed a month or so, I'm not sure. He has a great future. When you're that size, if you'll develop some toughness over a period of time and learn to train hard and get some grit, then you have a real chance. I mean, you and I don't have that chance. He has that chance."
On Cameron Epps:
"It's an unusual body. He's 6-2ish, 190ish, who is long and rangy. He looks like Justin Gilbert, body wise. I was up there at St. Louis Chaminade a week ago. That's a heck of a school, too, it's pretty cool… I think he has a lot of room to grow and he is real rangy and very athletic. I don't know what his stars were. He played quarterback for them during the latter part of the year because they needed someone to score points and he made a lot of plays at quarterback, just like Justin Gilbert did. He's highly intelligent. Chaminade St. Louis is a private school that is rated very high academically and those guys that go there to play sports still have to achieve academically. I'm looking forward to getting him here."
On recruiting Gabe Brown, who played high school football against Coach Gundy's sons:
"I know more about Gabe Brown than anybody because I've watched him for four years. I've watched him in practice and seen him in games; same thing with the Shettron brothers. I know a lot about number 30 for us – Collin Oliver – because I watched him play against my kids for several years. DeSean Brown, same thing. That is an advantage for coach [Jason] McEndoo, myself and coach [Joe Bob] Clements to be able to watch these guys and see them live. So we know more about them than anybody because we get to see them more than everybody; particularly, the Stillwater kids."
On Braylin Presley's comparison to his brother, Brennan Presley:
"Same type of player. He's more right to left: tougher to two-blow in a phone booth, would be my guess. I don't know who's faster. They argue over it all the time. We'll race them this summer; we'll see who's faster. I'm guessing there's not going to be that much difference in either one of them. [Braylin and Brennan] are tough, highly competitive, love to play football, come from a great family – very athletic family – they understand right from wrong, mom and dad don't put up with any B.S. They're going to do what you tell them. They're going to love the team. Both of them could run a 40-yard dash under a table and not hit their head. That's what you get."
On the role Braylin Presley will play:
"He's going to be a slot. He's a slot receiver. He gets quick passes. We can throw it to him in the flat, throw it to him behind the line of scrimmage. He'll catch it and then you've got to come tackle him in space. That's what his role will be. Punt return and kick return, too."
On recruiting junior college products in Xavier Benson and Tyrone Webber:
"We're losing the two guys inside, right? Twenty and 16, I don't know if there's been any pair of linebackers in the country that just showed up that have been as valuable as those guys have been for us. Malcolm Rodriguez should have been a first-team All-American. Devin Harper's been fantastic. We have good young guys behind them; there's several guys, but we needed one mature player to come in because we don't play two guys. We want to play four. So, we needed one guy to come in that's mature. [Xavier Benson] has had a bunch of reps. He's older. He gets it. He's 230-something pounds. He's physically mature. He's excited about being here. He comes in and gives us some maturity to let us develop some of those younger guys at that position. Tyrone [Webber] is playing for the national championship here soon. Canadian, we've had success with Canadian kids. Mature. He's got a really good base. Uses his hands, uses his feet well. He's able to give a nice blow with the coil punch. Doesn't cross his feet much on tape; very athletic. We feel like once he gets here and gets with Coach [Rob] Glass for six months, he's going to completely change his body and his strength levels, just like we did with number seven when he came in."
On Garret Rangel:
"Nice size, 6-2. Going to develop. His body is thin right now, which more high school quarterbacks are. He should push up around 190 in a year or so. Throws a nice ball, competitive. He's got a good demeanor. Mom and dad raised him right. He wants to be here. He understands our culture. He understands being unselfish. He's not into all that B.S. He just wants to come here to play football and get an education."
On Tabry and Talyn Shettron:
"The wide receiver is obviously a guy that was a national, marquee guy. We like Tabry [Shettron]. He's 227 pounds right now. I think he's going to be 255 [pounds] in 18 months. He'll develop into being a good football player for what we ask him to do. I think it's important we don't try to make him something he's not, but we have to be patient with him. He played cowboy back at Edmond Santa Fe and they split him out some to do some different things, but playing that position here is much different. So we need to give him time as his body develops and all that. I'm going to say 250 in 18 months; should run under 4.8 [seconds]. Comparison: Tracy Moore type of body."
Players Mentioned
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