Football Articles
2008 Oklahoma State Football Preview: State of the Union
Posted by dedfischer on August 12th, 2008 under Football
Overview
After Les Miles’ departure, Oklahoma State’s strategy seems to have been hiring a young, hip alum that combs his hair with a cup of hot fat and a firecracker. Then, spend a couple of hundred million to enter the facilities arms race in efforts to recruit better talent and have T. Boone foot the bill. It seems to be working in some cases and not so much in others. Gundy may be a man, but it’s hard to say he’s the man for the job at this point.
One thing that has worked out is the recruiting better talent part of this plan. Gundy and staff have been able to pull some top tier talent out of the state of Texas. Not to the extent of OU, but more so than any other out of state teams in the Big 12. Bringing Trooper Taylor on staff might have more to do with it than a metrosexual head honcho. Gundy also dresses like a golf prick. If he worked in an office environment with you, he would be that guy who wears one of those copper bracelets, and stands outside your office, air swinging a 7-iron, while engaging in half-disinterested conversation. Gundy managed to burn some bridges among Texas high school coaches with the Kody Spano recruitment spectacle, which may come back to bite him.
Enjoyed it Bob, if you wouldn’t have nutted that 3 wood on 14, I would have kicked your ass. See you on Monday.
The Noodlin’ Wranglers finished the 2007 season 7-6 for the second straight year, a disappointment considering the preseason expectations for the squad (and featuring a loss to Troy which has some people talking…). This season may not be much different for the Pokes, not so much due to the quality of this team, but the quality and experience of the teams they will be facing. Factor in road games at Mizzou, Texas, Texas Tech, and Colorado, which they’ll lose all by a combined score of 208-196, while new coach Danny O’ Grady effectively switches between man-to-man and zone defense to keep it a one possession game at the end. Plus, they open at Washington State, who isn’t a pushover, and executes an extremely efficient motion offense. As always, the Cowboys will be good at rebounding and low on turnovers making them a hard team to beat. With Kadeem Hardison doing the scoring and Marlon Wayans doing the dishing, they should provide just enough offense to finish in the upper half of the Big 12. Expectations are high in Stillwater after the lynching of Sean Sutton, and the NIT will not suffice. Welcome to Oklahoma State Mens’ Athletics, the land of the universal box score.
A&K all the way, baby!!!!
Offense
At the quarterback position, it’s understandable why Gundy went with Zac Robinson over Bobby Reid last fall. The now junior Robinson is just a better football player for this offense and his appetite is much easier to appease with the local cuisine. It’s arguable that he’s the best zone read QB in the conference. Stephen McGee is a working man’s Zac Robinson. I really like the balance that OSU achieves on offense and Gunter Brewer will have big shoes to fill in replacing OC Larry Fedora, who moved on to be the skipper at Southern Miss. Robinson was the only other QB in the country besides Tim Tebow to rush for over 800 yards and pass for over 2800 yards. Brewer just needs to not fuck this thing up. The Caballeros are in good hands with Mr. Robinson.
At RB, sophomore Kendall Hunter from Tyler is listed as the starter going into the fall. He’s a 5’8”, 190 lb, waterbug type player with decent speed. Junior Keith Toston and JUCO transfer Beau Johnson are bigger backs and will see some carries. Johnson particularly looked good in the spring. If he had one word to describe himself, Johnson would say “swag”. There’s one thing for certain about Johnson, at a minimum, he’ll be giving Big Red Sports a run for their money once he’s done. Again, evidence of OSU’s commitment to making it to the next level. Highly touted recruit Kye Staley may have an impact as well. I would imagine they platoon in the non-conference unless someone just dominates the position in two-a-days, and then go with the most productive player for 20 carries a game by the time conference starts. It doesn’t really matter as one of these guys will end up with 1200 yards and average 6 yards a carry.
I got you a gig at Big Orange Sports making 30Gs a year. Part time.
The Dexter Manley Literary Achievement Award Winner Dez Bryant returns for his sophomore season at WR and he’s a dandy indeed. Were it not for some academic concerns, Bryant probably would have been the top ranked WR in Texas, when coming out of high school. In the same mold as Crabtree, the guy just looks like he will be playing in the NFL some day. Or operating a ferris wheel for The Angelina County Goat Circus in the Minute Maid parking lot on Aggie Night. Don’t be surprised when he pulls down 75 catches for 1100 yards and 12 TDs, and lands on the all conference team. Sophomore Damian Davis, a 6’5” physical specimen from Mart, TX, will more than likely man the inside receiver position. Junior DeMarcus Connor is in line to start at the other WR position, and that’s all I know about those two guys. Jeremy Broadway may also factor in here, and if he had one word to describe himself, he would have to say “dank”. I saw sophomore William Cole play in high school and can confirm he is a grade A badass. He bounced around several positions last fall as a true freshman and finally settled at the WR position behind Connor in the spring. Cole was impressive and I have a hard time not seeing him getting significant playing time as he was one of the top athletes in the state of Texas as a senior. About 66.7% of OSU’s passing production will be generated through Bryant, Pettigrew, and screens to the backs, and the other 2 or 3 WR corpses will account for the remainder. OSU coaches would be wise to try and use a talent like Cole in a Jeremy Maclin role to balance out some of this production. He’s legit.
Come on out to Minute Maid Park, Texas A&M Fans, for Aggie Night at the Ballpark on Thursday, Aug. 28th as the Houston Astros host the Cincinnati Reds. The Angelina County Goat Circus will be performing during the 7th Inning Stretch.
At tight end, Brandon Pettigrew made Joe Garcia look like a fat, slow Mexican last year. [Editor's Note: As longtime fans of the Federale Plate at El Arroyo, this is considered a compliment.] Pettigrew is such a beast he once had to be tranqued in downtown Stillwater by Oklahoma Parks & Wildlife officials after he mule kicked a police officer, who was trying to slip a muzzle on him. The guy will be playing on Sundays, if he stays out of trouble, and should be considered one of the best in the country at his respective position. Pettigrew is a great athlete for his size (6’6”, 260 lbs), not a bad blocker to boot, and the school colors look natural on him. Cooper Bassett is the backup and the only real interesting thing about him you need to know is that his dream dinner would be with Jesus, his dad and Jason Witten, while the sweet sounds of Linkin Park’s “Live in Texas” album softly played in the backgound.Jason Witten: “Jesus, can I ask you something and you promise you won’t get offended?”
Jesus: “Of course, Jason.”
Jason Witten: “How great are Jessica Simpson’s bare tits?”
Jesus: “Hold on one second, Jason. Brad Delson has a solo coming up here I don’t want to miss.”
You don’t want this running through your secondary.
OSU returns 4 starters from a solid OL that only allowed 11 sacks, while leading the Cowboys to a Big 12 rushing title. They are led by junior tackle Russell Okung, who is an underrated talent with great feet and all conference potential. David Washington also returns to the lineup at center after breaking his leg the 3rd game of the 2007 season. He’s was playing pretty solid football at the time. The rest of the lineup is filled with mostly big, burly noodlers from places like Enid, Garber, Guthrie, and Vinita, whom they signed along the banks of the Arkansas River by passing out free RealTree cammo caps. A very solid unit overall. There’s no reason why this offense shouldn’t put up 200 yards a game on the ground and through the air, once again. Defense is where things get dicey.
Brady Bond and Noah Franklin were a package deal.
A drunken angry dwarf that operates under the name “Tim Beckman” returns for his second season at DC. Beckman built his resume at Ohio State by successfully utilizing WWF wrestling prodigies to contain Northwestern TBs named Alex, who routinely crack 3.9 on their GPA. Beckman found some of his schemes were obsolete when using Greco-Roman wrestling prodigies to contain brothers from Port Arthur named Jamaal, who routinely crack 3.9 on their FYD. It was a disaster, and combined with Beckman’s blood pressure, he reportedly snapped after the Kansas game last year.
Welcome to the Big 12, motherfucker.
Beckman breaking down film of Baylor.
Beckman has gone to more of a 4-2-5/base nickel look this season, which is starting to appear as the scheme of choice when defending the balanced spread attacks across the country. This makes sense as it would seem to be the most balanced defense, providing versatility when threatened by air and land. Beckman dialed up Coffeyville Tradio in the offseason to leverage 2 used Bowflexes, 4 rear tires off a 4010 John Deere, 1200 ft. of cotton trotline rope, and the frame of a one-way disc that had been converted to a squat rack during the Pat Jones Era into 6 JUCO re-treads to plug the sucking chest wound of this team. I don’t care what part of the country you’re from, that’s damn good value for some obsolete training equipment, used tires from a tractor that requires ether to start, some fishing gear that rots in the winter, and a plow that washes out the corners of your field every time it rains. However, one could argue that they lost more functional value in that trade than in the 5 starters to graduation. At a minimum, they didn’t have anywhere to store all that shit once T. Boone’s check cleared unless the Ag Mechanics school could have converted it into some piece of abstract art for campus. It was a win-win situation. Most notable is highly regarded DT Swanson Miller (6’4”, 300 lbs), who is allegedly pretty quick for his size. He appears to be the frontrunner for one of the tackle positions. Donald Booker also nailed down one of the starting LB spots in the spring.
Shit was kind of piling up outside the old weight room at Okie State.
I found it surprising at how much talent the DE platoon actually has. They’re two deep with 4 star recruits in starters Derek Burton (Jr.) and Ugo Chinasa (Soph.) and backups Richetti “The Machete” Jones (RS Fr.) and Jamie Blatnick (RS Fr.,actually a 3 star). All are from the DFW area except Burton. Eventually, they’ll be an upgrade from Nathan Peterson and Marque Fountain, but for now, they’re young and will be the subject of routine pantsings by Chase Daniel, Graham Harrell and Colt McCoy this year. Jeray Chatham had a good spring and a pulse at the other DT position to hold off the Pacific Rim version of Crystal Light for the starting job opposite Miller.
The aforementioned Donald Booker and Patrick Lavine appear to be the starters at LB with Orie Lemon and Justin Gent providing backup. Lavine, Lemon, and Gent were Texas Top 100 recruits coming out of high school. The starter at SS last year, Andre Sexton, will take over the “Star” back position (code for Rover) and excelled at his new role. The other safeties will more than likely be manned by another JUCO in Lucien Aurelius Maximus Commodus Antoine and Ricky Price. At CB, Jacob Lacey has received preseason accolades and most of us are familiar with Perrish Cox on the other side.
Youth will play a factor as they get pounded on the ground by Texas, OU, and Mizzou for 200 plus yards again this season. And of course, they’ll be the subject of abuse in Lubbock when Tech and OSU square off for the annual Flag Football Championship of the Big 12. If Beckman can make some progress with the youngsters throughout the year, they’ve got the pieces to be pretty salty in 2009.
Jake Ratliff dives for Dantrell Savage in the 2007 championship game in Stillwater
If Gundy is the answer for OSU, an 8-4 season followed by a 14 point win over Purdue in the Alamo Bowl should be considered a screaming success to Cowboy fans. They’ll swap spots with Tech in 2009 and be a serviceable threat to OU and Texas for bragging rights in the South. If Gundy goes less than 7-5 this season, I might start wavering on him a little, if I were an OSU guy, given the talent coming back. This is a very dangerous team capable of beating anyone they play, but too inconsistent and young on defense to legitimately contend this season. If the defense is somehow young enough to not believe they suck, they could be a sleeper in the Big 12.
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Activity
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Ibas water bottle commented on the blog post Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout 19 minutes ago
At what point do A.Ds stop hiring Duke people? At a certain point former coach K players stop being successful college players and start being coaches with shady recruiting results right?
Oh and God bless the crime rate in Stillwater. The simple odds keep the shit from hitting the fan regularly for us.
Who
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Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Oklahoma Sooners – Recruiting So Far 4 hours, 2 minutes ago
BOC: Neither has visited, yet we hold ’ships open for both.
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Nate Heupel wrote a new blog post: Because We’re Dedicated To Doing Stupid Things – Tiny Gallon Reportedly Took Payout 4 hours, 11 minutes ago
TMZ reports that Tiny Gallon took a $3000 payout from an agent. My God, Capel has no control over this team whatsoever. This is 2007 offseason Texas football levels of embarrassing. You can’t let a half dozen bad apples spoil a bushel of 10 apples…that analogy sucked balls, but you get my
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars 5 hours, 22 minutes ago
Great stuff, bear. really looking forward to this game.
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Nickel Rover commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 5 hours, 22 minutes ago
06_UT: you are probably right. I thought about changing the post description to “least favorite Barnes team” because that’s more accurate but I didn’t feel like it.
That said, I’m not sure this team would beat those other two. They would lose Abrams and let him go 7-15 on 3s and the Abrams team played better -
admin commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil 5 hours, 27 minutes ago
Aren’t they building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?
Who will the get? Mark Few?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Nike U in Turmoil 5 hours, 27 minutes ago
Aren’t the building some sort of super duper hoops arena? Most expensive ever bilt or something?
Who will the get? Mark Few?
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srr50 wrote a new blog post: Nike U in Turmoil 5 hours, 44 minutes ago
10 weeks ago, Oregon played in the Rose Bowl as Pac 10 champions. Since their loss to Ohio State, the program has been in some kind of bizzaro parallel universe where every headline concerns a player arrest, a firing, or now a resignation.
Mike Bellotti, the Duck AD and former head coach earlier this week
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Luke commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers 7 hours, 55 minutes ago
Prescient comment, Doc.
I think we learned today that no team is really a mirror image of Missouri, even if Clemson is about as close as it gets. Unless you have significantly better/more talented athletes, if you try to run with the Tigers, you will lose. This team is so much fun to watch in games
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 8 hours, 10 minutes ago
Good to see that Tom Penders still believes in the weave offense. Maryland finally figured out that if you pass quickly, the middle is always open.
37-29 Maryland late in the first half.
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Luke wrote a new blog post: Previewing Jimmer and the Cougars 8 hours, 10 minutes ago
Kansas State is going to be under a lot of pressure tomorrow night in primetime at the Ford Center.
Not only are the Wildcats the favored #2 seed going against #7 seed BYU, but if the Wildcats lose, they may sentence hundreds of boys to nonstop harassment from all the kids who think that “Jimmer” was
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Ibas water bottle wrote a new blog post: Georgia Tech post mortem 8 hours, 22 minutes ago
We came up short.
Credit to Georgia Tech they worked the ball inside where they had the advantage and played great D on the perimeter. Matt Pilgrim is the most athletic big man we’ve had in years around here and he was irrelevant. When we tried to drive they collapsed like Chris Farley on a
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Phenomenal Smith commented on the blog post First Round: Clemson Tigers 8 hours, 58 minutes ago
Doc, the turnovers seemed to do the trick – there were great big chunks of time when Mizzou didn’t even have to get into a half court offense.
Great to see Ramsey have such a good game and pretty stifle Booker. As Euclid said during the game, even when Mizzou doesn’t play well
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dick commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 9 hours, 37 minutes ago
“Also because those other teams gave great effort almost every game. This team’s effort was questionable. Dumb and lazy, not a good combo…..”
This is what made this season so bizarre for me. This has never been a problem for Barnes’ teams. But I actually questioned this team’s heart and desire to play together
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 9 hours, 51 minutes ago
Travis Ford spent the 2nd half channeling his inner Rick Barnes — lot’s of standing around on offense while one player tries to generate something off a ball screen — then taking a forced shot.
So the Big 12 goes 5-2 in Round One.
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 9 hours, 56 minutes ago
This is the worst coached team ever in Barnes era. Period.
Worst defense over the whole season,
Offense sucked big time and the bench coaching was horrible, ransom’s attitude was better then the coach’s overall this season.
Trips write up pre and post better then the game plan and O schemes.
Hell we could have -
srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 9 hours, 59 minutes ago
advertisers think they will probably get some deals for the additional 32 games that would be added. The feeling is that an ESPN would disount rates somewhat, since they already have a dual revenue stream — advertising dollars and subscription fees.
It’s all about content for ESPN — even mediocre content.
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dick commented on the blog post FLV March Madness First Round Bets 10 hours, 1 minute ago
a great first round of the tournament from an excitement standpoint, very mediocre from a gambling standpoint.
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 10 hours, 17 minutes ago
Ga. Tech — last in the ACC in free throw shooting at 64% — 13 for 13 tonight.
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 10 hours, 26 minutes ago
A poll of media buyers from the major agencies overhwhelmingly showed that advertisers believe that the NCAA will expand, and the tournament will join the BCS on ESPN.
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whiskey wrote a new blog post: The week in news- Pariahs, Malcontents and Power Hour 10 hours, 29 minutes ago
In the midst of March Madness, St. Patrick’s Day, house guests, nice weather outside and a host of other distractions I still managed to come across quite a few interesting college football stories this week. Here we go.
Mike Leach and Craig James were apparently in the same room this week and nobody wrestled. Bummer. Leach
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srr50 commented on the blog post March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 10 hours, 41 minutes ago
Anderson finds out what going to the paint is like when there is a big who knows how to defend the low block.
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srr50 wrote a new blog post: March Madness Open Thread Part Deaux 10 hours, 50 minutes ago
So far on Day Two, no buzzer beaters, but there was the obligatory #12 over #5 with Cornell thumping Temple 78-65, but the Ivy League school was everyone’s “inside” pick for an upset. Still the day hasn’t come close to generating the action that Thursday had.
Today
#5 Texas A&M 69 #12 -
Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 11 hours, 16 minutes ago
I wasn’t trying to say they quit. They just didn’t play hard a lot of the time. Lazy = lack of effort. Example, our transition defense was about 75% effort and 25% stupidity. We loafed down court a lot. The kids didn’t like to lose so they would fight back,
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Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 12 hours, 48 minutes ago
This the most disappointing team because our talent level is higher than those others.
The DGib/Buckman team was the least talented, barely, after the injury to LaMarcus and Tucker’s suspension.
Last year’s team was the hardest to watch. Just watching AJ Abrams, who I don’t hate as much as most, run around like a
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uthookem commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 12 hours, 55 minutes ago
Agreed on Damo being my favorite Longhorn basketball player, I wish him all the best.
This was definitely the worst, by far.
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem 14 hours, 8 minutes ago
Don’t have time to address each and every comment now, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone for contributing to the site this season. It’s made it a lot of fun to follow a team that’s tough to watch at times.
Also, I wanted to thank you for the kind words as
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Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Big Dance: Day Two 14 hours, 9 minutes ago
And that’s all she wrote…relatively boring day so far. A&M out to a nice early lead.
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Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Wake Forest: Post Mortem 14 hours, 12 minutes ago
Trips,
Great work all year long. Love the passion. The fact that you kept writing these (even around the birth of a child), is fantastic, shows your commitment, and is a little freaky. :-)
I think you showed great restraint in this post. It would have been easier to “go off” on Barnes.
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ghostofagroundgame commented on the blog post Barnes worst team 14 hours, 13 minutes ago
Second awesomest thing — Magnus gets his woman to go to Hooters with him.
Huckleberry said:
August 13th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Hi!
Scipio Tex said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:16 am
The golf prick comment had me laughing. That nails it.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Those guys always killed me.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Are you coming in or going out? Do you really want to talk to me or was the whole point of this exchange to assure me that you were 4 over at Tour 18 this weekend? The self-involvement always amused me.
Ag_in_TX said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:48 am
“Gundy managed to burn some bridges among Texas high school coaches with the Kody Spano recruitment spectacle, which may come back to bite him.”
This is a massive understatement. The coaches network in Texas is ablaze with hatred for Gundy over the Spano affair. A kid plans his last two years well, really 1.5 years) around finishing in December so he can report in January and you stiff him – Coach Morris at Stephenville is very well thought of and he rips Gundy at the frop of a hat.
BTW – you failed in your write-up to point out that return men will enjoy games against OSU this year as they watch the great Quinn Sharp’s kick-offs sail through the uprights each time.
srr50 said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:53 am
“Gundy also dresses like a golf prick”
Of course he does, his boss, the AD was the golf coach.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Ag, I saw a thread last February that was on the Texas High School Coaches network MB, and there were a shitload of coaches on there who said they would never send another kid to OSU. The thing was like 10 pages long. Conservatively, there had to be 50 or 60 coaches that chimed in.
ponderos said:
August 13th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Personally, I prefer the Cozumel plate (con strip steak) at El Arroyo. Comes with a complimentary rib-spreader and defibrilator.
Stuck in MN said:
August 13th, 2008 at 5:32 am
How had I never heard of the Spano story? I must have been spending some Xmas time with the kids and neglecting my college football news. Never again.
Nice job, gundy. Ask Mackovich what happens when you piss off Texas high school coaches.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 5:50 am
I think it went something like this:
Spano committed early to OSU (like summer of 2007) and made the efforts to graduate in December in order to be there for spring ball. Somehow, when January rolls around, Gundy had oversigned on JUCOs and more or less told Spano to wait until the fall to enroll…like 5 minutes before he headed his truck towards Stillwater. Spano ended up signing with Nebraska and going through the spring.
That may not be exactly accurate, but it was something to that effect.
John Mackovic said:
August 13th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Your star defensive player becomes Stony Clark, your starting QB is a frat boy, you have to go to Cali to sign talent, and at he end of it, even ESPN can’t stand you.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Shit, I wonder if it’s too late to trade Johnson and get that one-way squat rack back: LINK
coach Callahan said:
August 13th, 2008 at 8:41 am
you have the basics of it right dedfischer. at the very last minute and I mean days before he was headed to stillwater (people actually go there on purpose) he was told they had given his scholarship away and he could just wait until the fall to enroll. He was in lincoln less than a week later. To the kids credit he has yet to badmouth Gundy in public. All reports are the kid is smart and a damn good prospect.
Jay said:
August 13th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Funny as hell and pretty much spot on.
I’m not that worried about Spanogate though. If they win games, kids will want to play at OSU. Coaches have influence, but not as much as family. I think Gundy made the right decision for the team. As you stated in the article, defense is our problem. Spano was not going to crack the three deep at QB and all of the JUCOs and Markelle Martin will probably play this year.
Adam said:
August 13th, 2008 at 9:18 am
To clarify the Spanogate saga ONCE AGAIN to the uninformed and oh-so-threatening Texas coaches… Spano was still going to have a scholarship, he was told he MIGHT have to wait until fall pending two seniors who were possibly going to be short of hours for graduation… a few days later it was found that he would have a scholarship available as both seniors graduated by taking an accelerated class… But the damage was done, Spano was a joke and wanted out and managed to create this big story out of what turned out to be absolutly nothing… With the QB’s on campus and being recruited to NU he may never play a down… sad HA
matt said:
August 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am
thanks adam, i’m pretty tired of us getting bad mouthed by people who have absolutely no idea of how the situation went. And yes, he still could’ve come early, he just got his feelings hurt. He’ll never start at nu and he wouldn’t have started here
Kurt said:
August 13th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Thank you Adam for telling everyone the WHOLE story. Despite what everyone heard Spano did have a scholarship to come in the spring.
Huckleberry said:
August 13th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Uh, guys, your version doesn’t make Gundy look any better. He oversold available scholarships and then got lucky that the seniors graduated.
Did you have a point?
Maybe you guys can take a big early lead in this debate and then choke it away late in the discussion thread.
college football said:
August 13th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Very entertaining to read. Regarding Spano, most of you are idiots and have NO IDEA what happened. As Adam said above, Spano went nutso before things played out. They told him he still had a scholarship. It never got pulled. They said you may have to wait a semester but we don’t know yet. He flipped out and that was the end of it. Had he waited two days, he’d have been on campus in Stillwater as planned and while a couple of coaches may still be mad, it’s a non issue.
Ag_in_TX said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:01 am
A couple of coaches? Dude – there are several dozen, if not over a hundred Texas high school coaches who are adament that OSU recruiters are not allowed on their campus.
Say what you will whether it is justified or not – the recruiter is not allowed on campus unless the head football coach allows it.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:21 am
The WHOLE story has absolutely no relevance here. Perception does. It’s a valid point and all I know that’s fact is that it left a negative impression among many Texas high school coaches. That’s all that matters.
Huckleberry said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Uh-oh. It looks like the comeback just started.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Also, judging by OSU’s current commit list, one might argue that it’s already had a tremendous effect on recruiting.
PokinMF said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Ag_in_TX,
Aren’t you supposed to be practicing your nutgrab?
Spano is a whiny girl and we’re going to continue to recruit the shit out of Texas.
PokinMF said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:40 am
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Without the ability to recruit the state of Texas successfully, what distinguishes Oklahoma State from Kansas State?
Jay said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I am sure there are lots of Texas and A&M fans who hope it has an impact on our recruiting, but I don’t think it will have much. The spots were there for summer and two Sr players were possibly not going to graduate on time so that reduced the amount of players who could come in during the summer. The coaches had to decide who comes in and who waits. They decided the others were going to compete for playing time and Spano was not. Spano was told he would have to wait until fall to report to campus. Sucks for Kody, but thats how it is. The coaches did what they felt was best for the team and I’m pretty sure all of those angry Texas coaches would too.
We are limited on schollys this year so we do not have very many commits yet. I think the ones we do have are pretty solid and we are in the mix for a few more highly recruited guys.
Jay said:
August 13th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Without the ability to recruit the state of Texas successfully, what distinguishes Oklahoma State from Kansas State?
Eskimo Joes :)
Stuck in MN said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:01 am
That, and losing to Texas.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Jay,
That’s exactly why I didn’t understand why Gundy went this route. He had made some tremendous head way in successfully recruiting Texas and basically hung himself. Let’s see:
Option 1: Spano isn’t as good as we thought and probably wouldn’t ever crack the 3 deep here. This JUCO safety from Kansas might start this season. Let’s make sure we get the safety and we’ll hope things work out with Spano.
Option 2: Well shit, Spano sucks, but our program lives and dies by the recruiting ties to Texas. Let’s go ahead and make him first option to assure the long term sustainability of our program.
The whole logic makes no sense, and was grossly mishandled by Gundy.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I’m guessing the fire that T. Boone was breathing might might have seered Gundy’s decision making ability given the urgency to win now.
Huckleberry said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Yes, we are ecstatic about the Spano situation because of the long history Mack Brown has of losing coveted Texas recruits to Oklahoma State.
I have to use more than one finger to count them all. Although less than one is required to count all of them that contributed to an Oklahoma State win over Texas.
PokinMF said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Gundy should have realized that everything is bigger in Texas, particularly the craniums of Texas H.S. coaches.
Jay said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Option 3: OSU improves it defense and manages to win against OU, Texas, or Mizzou. If OSU improves, kids will want to play there. All of the new facilities are great, but winning is the main thing that will bring players in. Same goes for dealing with pissed off coaches.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:11 am
That’s a good point.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:14 am
That was directed towards Pokin.
Jay,
I think you’re grossly underestimating the fraternity of Texas high school coaches. The players change, but the coaches don’t. They just basically circulate among the different programs around the state, and it will be a while before this wound heals.
poken said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:24 am
The great state of Texas is still being recruited well by Gundy & Co..Don’t you boys worry none about our recruiting, we use players from several different states as well. Spano’s dad is the only one who probably could handle swaying a recruit away from us and he is a hotheaded prik anyway.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Riddle me this, Batman. OSU has arguably been the 3rd or 4th best recruiting team in the conference over the last couple of years. Now, we’re headed into the season and OSU is on par with Baylor and Iowa State. At this point last season OSU had already secured 11 commits from Texas. You’ve only got 2 right now, one from Bushland, TX (a 2A Panhandle school) and one from Houston, both a long ways from Stephenville. I’m not saying, I’m just saying. I wasn’t the only one who read the infamous Gundy bashing thread.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Keep putting lipstick on that pig and say hello to Ron Prince for me when you pass him on the Kansas JUCO trail.
Kurt said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Gundy has stated that OSU could fill up all our spots today with commits if he wanted to. However, he is being very careful this year with who he is going to take commits from due to the very low number of available scholarships.
coach Callahan said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Riiiiggghhhhttt. He’s an idiot, he’s 40.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:53 am
You’ve got over 60 offers out. That sounds like someone trying to cover their ass and save face with the fan base and administrators. Hell, anyone can fill up with commits.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I heard on the radio, he turned 41 yesterday.
TaylorTRoom said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I think every program in the nation could fill up their slate of recruits today if they wanted to. The reason they don’t is that they are hoping to get better recruits than the ones that would commit today.
coach Callahan said:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:57 am
NU has 10 recruits at this point. Six are from Texas. The second best thing to happen to Nebraska recruiting this year in Texas other than hiring an ex texas high school coach is the assist we got from spanogate. Thanks Mike.
Golf Prick said:
August 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Gundy was on the golf course with me instead of counting scholarships.
Jay said:
August 13th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I think you’re grossly underestimating the effect of Spanogate on the fraternity of Texas high school coaches.
I have faith in Joe Deforest, Trooper Taylor and our other coaches who visit kids in Texas. If there is this huge group of pissed off coaches, they will get it resolved.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I think bringing in Trooper Taylor was a wise move. I just noticed the severe lack of OSU recruiting success in the DFW area this offseason and there has to be a reason. I can’t think of anything else. Can you? That DeSoto pipeline has been pretty good to you over the years.
HenryJames said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
The DeSoto pipeline has been redirected to College Station.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Actually, Cedar Hill is the new DeSoto and there seems to be only a one-way route south on 35 out of that program. And, Tim Brewster is the new Mike Gundy.
coach Callahan said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
how old is he?
39?
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
HE’S 48!!! BUT, HE STILL PUTS HIS PANTS ON ONE LEG AT A TIME!!!
Jay said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
With the exception of Desoto, I don’t think we have ever had huge success in DFW. We seem to do well in Houston though.
HenryJames said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Don’t you have a camp there?
Vasherized said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Gundy’s meltdown over Bobby Reid was a circus act that didn’t exactly purvey a positive image for OSU football. Unless being the butt of a massive joke that still has legs a year later is considered a positive trait for the university. So it’s not just Spanogate, although you’re in a state of denial (understandably required to live in Oklahoma) if you think it isn’t having a negative effect in this year’s class. Short on ships my gunt. It’s more like short on interested prospects.
Take away T.Boone’s money and the K.State comparison isn’t that far off. Except the Wildcats have beaten Texas recently. And we all know that’s just a silly little anomaly.
Ag_in_TX said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
OSU had a camp in Cedar Hill this summer.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Richetti Jones? William Cole? Ugo Chinasa? Jamie Blatnick? Maybe more numbers from other areas, but your quality has typically come from DFW over time. The 2006 class was very Houston-laden, however, and very Texas-laden overall (20 of 29 signees). There’s just not enough depth in Oklahoma to support a program.
Ron Prince said:
August 13th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Silly little anomaly? You’re 2-4 aginst the ‘Cats since formation of the Big XII.
BTW, have any of you seen my snowglobe? Allesana is hungry and eyeing me lustily at me as I type.
Kurt said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
The former DeSoto coach was a big OSU guy, an alumn I believe. He got fired last year I think, so thats what happened to that pipeline.
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Interesting, wasn’t aware of that, Kurt.
Warden Hazen said:
August 13th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
You forgot to mention Chris Collins role in assauling the OSU record book in tackles. Oh wait… I forgot he’s going to be playing for The Mean Machine this year instead …my bad.
Branson said:
August 13th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
winning cures all. coaches can be pissed off if they want, they can ban OSU from the high school campus if they want. Joe Deforest shows up at their front door, what is the high school coach going to do then?
OSU starts beating the texas schools, what are the coaches going to do then when the kids want to go there?
dedfischer said:
August 13th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I don’t think anybody here is saying OSU is doomed, it was just a bad PR move by Gundy and will take some time to massage those relationships. And, there seems to be some evidence that supports this theory. Would you agree that it couldn’t have helped OSU’s cause?
DBH said:
August 13th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Another nice piece, dedfischer. Glad to have you writing here at BC.
JS said:
August 14th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Players don’t choose a college because of what their social studies teacher, I mean FB coach, wants. They will go to a place they like, that has nice facilities, and where they can play. I think it is funny that you give these HS coaches so much credit. If they were that good of coaches, they would be coaching in college.
ChicagoTTU said:
August 14th, 2008 at 5:37 am
I wonder how many BC Readers just pulled off their copper bracelets and threw them in the trash a la Bill Murray tossing his earing in The Life Aquatic.
-Side Note: The only thing mexican about Joe Garcia is the “Garcia” part… And that he’s from New Mexico… Dude is black, but not as black as Pettigrew.
dedfischer said:
August 14th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Hence, where the joke lies.
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