Lunt Goes Home
By John Ladner
Wes Lunt, the prized recruit for Oklahoma State in 2012 has decided on a school after he wasn’t given much of a choice by Oklahoma State Head Coach, Mike Gundy.
Lunt chooses the University of Illinois.
Gundy had given Lunt restrictions as to where he would be allowed to transfer to. Lunt could not go to any SEC school nor could he go to any Big 12 or PAC-12 school. Lunt was also blocked from Southern Miss and Central Michigan. Gundy has caught a lot of heat from several different people for trying to ‘dictate’ (as some might say) what Wes Lunt could do. Gundy, however, was backed by rival head coach Bob Stoops for giving restrictions to Wes Lunt on where he could go to school after he left Oklahoma State.
The recruiting process is a long one that requires a lot of time and money to scout a kid, make visits and spend countless hours dissecting game film. Not to mention, by doing so, missing out on other recruiting opportunities. So for anybody to ‘hate’ on Gundy is ludicrous and shows complete lack of knowledge of the situation.
Wes ends up deciding on his home-state university. The University of Illinois. Lunt goes to Illinois and will have to sit out this year. I bet Nate Scheelhaase is happy about Lunt sitting out a year. Scheelhaase, a senior for Illinois will only have to compete with Junior QB, Reilly O’toole who split time at QB last season. O’toole will need to improve his game this season and overtake Scheelhaase if he wants to be considered the front-runner for the starting job in 2014, Wes Lunt’s 1st year of eligibility.
The big 10 just added a quality QB. Lunt proved to be a solid option for the Pokes in 2012. Illinois will need to recruit pretty handsomely this year to surround Lunt with a solid team for his Junior and Senior years in hopes of winning a conference championship and National Championship.
Pokes fans will surely keep an eye on Illinois from time to time next season. If nothing more than to just see how his career pans out. Pokes fans keep interest for a long time and it will be interesting what becomes of Wes Lunt in Illinois.
Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports