Mike Gundy Offers His Thoughts on Fall Camp and the 2015 Season
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy had a chance to talk with the media on Saturday in Stillwater, in between his duties during the Cowboys’ annual fan appreciation day.
Gundy covered a wide variety of topics during his session with the reporters, which focused primarily on the first week of fall camp and upcoming season.
Here are a few of the more notable quotes:
On whether or not freshman running back Jeff Carr will see the field in 2015:
“I think most people thought, with his size that he would be guy that would redshirt, but as he progresses through the next eight or 10 practices, if he’s able to absorb information, function out there with the team, stay healthy and give you the ability to make a big play, then you have to look at putting him out there. We’ll know a lot more in a week or so. Up to this point, he has done fairly well.”
On the progression of offensive linemen Victor Salako and Zachary Crabtree:
“Victor would be a little bit ahead of Crabtree. He’s more experienced, but Zach is working hard. Both of those guys should really improve during the middle of the season. Victor obviously has more experience and has made the adjustment, but those guys both continue to work hard. They have great attitudes. They’ve been good leaders for us. If they continue to do that, we should see some good improvement from both of those guys in what would be game one through up about game five or six.”
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On emerging team leaders within a young team:
“Mason (Rudolph) is still young, as you mentioned, but he’s pretty far along in a leadership role. Zachary Crabtree, Ryan Simmons, (Brandon) Sheperd, (James) Washington, (Jeremy) Seaton, (Emmanuel) Ogbah, Seth (Jacobs), (Kevin) Peterson and (Ashton) Lampkin are all guys who display good leadership skills. It takes everybody to carry the group. It’s obviously important that your quarterback is a person who can help lead, unlike last year, when we had so many young players that hadn’t had a lot of experience and success.”
On the lofty expectations for this year’s defense:
“If we can get good defensive tackle play, we aren’t very experienced in that position, and have young guys contribute in Vince (Taylor) and Motekiai (Maile) to hold their own and develop and if we stay healthy, the depth that we have will allow us to play with a lot of speed, which in most cases results in more turnovers. We do have more experience in those positions now compared to when we were out there with young players. We have a chance to be pretty good out there on defense. I’m really excited about watching them play. Their practices and their aggressiveness have been good up to this point.”
On Mason Rudolph’s ability to extend plays:
“He’s done a good job of it in the three games he’s played, and he was doing that at 218 pounds. He’s 228 now so he’s obviously stronger and a little more experienced. What I hope for is that he continues that because that’s not something you can coach. Guys can either escape and get away or make a play or they can’t so hopefully he can continue that.”
You can read the full transcription of the session here, along with some video from Cowboys color commentator and News On 6’s sports anchor John Holcomb.