S2:E48 – Gundy Says It's Football Time, QR Codes Make National News, Defensive Position Deep Dive

Gundy Says Its Football Time [Music] welcome to the believe in okay State podcast along with Nathan gills slider I'm Justin southwell after Thursday's practice head coach Mike Gundy said the good news is the next five months we can just play football there's no negotiating now the Portal's closed all the negotiations history now we're playing football the business side of what we do we have to have those conversations with them tell your agent to quit calling us and asking for more money it's non-negotiable now it'll start again in December so we're able to direct ourselves just in football and that part is fun there's been so much other stuff going on it's been hard to focus on football somehow this is being construed as controversial I don't see any problem with what coach Gundy said at all Nathan man what are your thoughts on Coach gundy's quotes well I think if you cut it out first 20 seconds and the last 20 seconds you can I guess try to make that controversial like he's anti-n or whatever they were trying to do but I mean clearly if you listen to the whole thing it's a football coach that just wants to coach football and he's excited for the season to get here and he clearly stated we can have those discussions again in December and quite frankly I bet those discussions will go on but they ain't going on and they're not getting to coach Gundy for the next five months is basically what he's saying right right I believe I believe we have Kenyatta right in a position now that is kind of the facilitator in that role and so there's no doubt that he's going to be getting contacted and illegally reached out to and everything in between but honestly it it just sounded to me like a football coach that's ready to coach football and it's tired of dealing with everything else and I with you man I I I heard it the first time whenever I was watching it and it didn't even cross my mind as being something that would make national news and then within the 48 hours I've see it on every major blip across my phone and I'm like what in the world to be honest with you it was it was really irritating because it was just some some shoddy journalism that they knew exactly what they were doing it doesn't work if you watch it but it works if you just look at the headline it makes sense to me to focus on football and not worry about negotiations during the season but there are some out there who believe that there will be several schools negotiating with Oklahoma State players during the season also known as tampering and by the time the season ends it'll be too late to keep them on board and I guess that's possible but I think if you're focused on football rather than money you're more likely to win those games players want to be in a good position to win games and be treated like adults it seems like Oklahoma state is setting that standard and creating an environment for that to happen yeah and and you win games you play well the Money Follows it's the same thing in the NFL level right very very few guys will bring their negotiations to the season unless it's like an extension and very few guys even do that in season for this very reason take care of your business it'll play out in the end right and I think I think college football is learning that process I think that's kind of what coach gandi is saying hey you want you want more money show me become an all Big 12 performer and you'll make more money I can promise you that yeah and transfers are still going to happen right I mean yeah just just let it be for the right reasons you know if OSU isn't a good fit for you or you have a better opportunity somewhere else you want to move closer to home but don't let it be because your coaches who want the best for you aren't talking to you about money during a late November push for a conference Championship players coaches everyone has to prepare for the games the reason they're all getting paid to win games so exactly like you said handle your business on the field in the meeting rooms in the classroom and then the time will come to discuss nil after the season as we all know the season's short the offseason is long there is plenty of time in the offseason to get all that stuff sorted out you know I'm sure you remember coach Gundy would always and Coach glass you always you prepare nine months to play for three that's a little bit different now with how things but that's essentially what you do you have a two- week off two week break in the summer a lot of guys don't even take that and that's it when football comes these football coaches are chomping at the bit to coach football because they don't get to do it near as much as they thought they would when they signed up for this job and the words of Danny Roos football is life exactly exactly no breaks man no QR Codes breaks uh so another way Oklahoma state has made headlines this week was in the announcement of QR codes being placed on the back of helmets of players the intent is that these will be visible in close shots during television broadcast as well as postgame photos posted to social media and that this would raise the team's nil value throughout the year the Q codes would also be placed on the players bags during the walk and throughout Boon picking stadium for fans to scan during game days there's been a mixed bag of people clowning OSU for this saying it's giving broke Vibes While others have shown appreciation for the Innovative approach stating that this is going to be the norm in some form or fashion moving forward and that OSU is on The Cutting Edge others are just making memes Nate what do you think about the QR approach it's outside the box right so anytime you do that you're going to get both reactions I think that was expected I don't love the look on the helmet right that it's not my favorite look it's New Times man I'm appreciative of our leadership of thinking outside the box and taking those steps will it help don't know but I do know that we don't know if it would help if we're not trying something different yeah I guess that's fair you know and it's it's no secret that where the game of football is at right now at the college level unless you're a blue blood with large bags of money it's a different ball game and osu's not there yet you know I think we took I think we took a massive step I really don't think it's being talked about enough how we were able to sell out every ticket before the season without OU in Texas because I'm pretty sure I heard a lot of people from Norman telling us that still wat's economy would crash without bedum and we wouldn't be able to sell tickets the only reason we ever sold out tickets was when we had to ow you home game and blah blah blah right so right that to me is a big step I mean I even heard Missouri's coach complaining today because their game one week isn't sold out and you know they're 11th in the country so for me I was very proud of that because I think it's a maturation process of where we are as a program that we're here to watch Oklahoma State we're here to support Oklahoma State regardless of who we're playing and I think that's huge I think that's huge for scheduling for recruitment for driving money when you you know you know how it is it's everybody's like well if every single person that Stadium would chip in $100 MH they're not wrong but you don't get to that point unless you have this type of involvement and we're we're growing we're getting there and that's that was a proud moment for me as a fan and as a as somebody who was a part of a team that opened up the West End Zone I'm excited so long story short not a huge fan of how the QR code looks I'm a huge fan of the university and the leadership taking taking that role and Coach Gundy showing growth and allowing that to be a part of how the players can maximize what their earning power albe it if it's a little bit it's still one way yeah that we can do it yeah I mean I have to I have to agree with pretty much everything you said um all that's all that is great I think specifically in terms to the QR code itself I mean I'm in support of nil but this feels a little bit over the top it's already it seems like all we think about you know why does it have to be on everybody's helmet why can't it just be something on the video board in boom picking Stadium it just kind of gives the feeling we're just trying to nickel and dime fans for even more with these QR codes as if NL isn't already on top of everyone's mind in this era of college football yeah no that's fair too I've had that feeling and I've had conversations with lots of fans even of other schools that feel the same way right it's like you have to donate X amounts to be able to get season tickets or certain seats or you know and I know OSI does some similar things so unfortunately that's where we're at in college football right now until we can get some type of Regulation and some type of hold on what we're trying to do and raise and if the university can pay for certain things and and so forth but until then if we want our Cowboys to to be on par and and getting better we've got to support them here we dove into the offensive players last week so be sure to check that out if you missed it this week we're going to shift to the other side of the ball and deep dive on the defense let's start again with those guys up front and really before we start there I think we have to mention the move to bring on Paul Randolph as the new defensive line coach it sounds like he's been a hit with the players coaches and recruits gandi has said several times throughout the spring that the Cowboys didn't do a good enough job at Rushing the quarterback in 2023 so I think Randolph coming in to shake things up might be what we need you know it's not always about continuity sometimes it's just about getting the right guy in at the right time yeah I completely agree I think whenever we made the change to Nardo and we switched around a few of our position coaches we didn't appear to really have somebody especially that was more developed towards the defensive line three technique have that ability and so it appears to me that coach Randol and you look back and some of the things that coach Gundy has said he's very well versed in the three down and a four down which I think we are missing and I a toer point I think will allow some better pass rushing once we have a better understanding of what we're doing in the middle what we're trying to do but coach Gundy very rarely makes these moves and so whenever he does I always feel like it was very much needed because he is extremely loyal he holds on to people for a very long time he chooses you he believes in you he lets you coach you hear these things all the time right so I'm with you it's exciting I wasn't exactly sure what to think but it appears to me and just from what you see from a lot of the players when they speak and the understanding that it's a better fit for what we're trying to do as a defense um than what we've had in the recent past right and I'm I am excited for the Defensive Line immediate impact that we're going to see this year obviously it's just such a big year with so much on the line having those immediate results is going to be exciting to see but I'm maybe even more excited for what the future of this defense is going to look like because from everything that I've been hearing I mean this guy paired with Nardo I mean you got to be kind of crazy to not want to play at Oklahoma State for these guys and I think we're going to be able to land some BigTime recruits because of that we'll stick to the present for now and for the dline we've got Justin Kirkland and Colin clay returning at nose tackle Klay is a red shirt SE senior coming in at 64330 Kirkland a junior at 63 345 and of course I have to bring up the tweet that said Kirkland's one rep max is about 8 pounds on bench and that he can get 51 reps at 225 that's that's a big boy strength man I mean I think that'd be an NFL combine record I honestly whenever I saw that I know I'm not comparing him because he's one of my favorite players of all time but my first thought was Larry Allen yeah like who in the right mind like that that's insane that's yeah very impressive he's in college he's playing for Oklahoma State that's right unbelievable well continuing on with the dline we've got Xavier Ross and the transfer from Ganon exigo should be filling in at defensive end along with DeShaun Brown and Cody Walter Sheed to me this is a matter of yeah we've got some experience the potential to be really good is there but how realistic is it to be able to generate that QB pressure Gundy wants with three linemen and you know four coming off the edge but you know really it's a matter of who out of that group is going to step up and kind of be the household name that we see with linebackers and maybe even with our DBS who's going to be that guy on the defensive line yeah well whenever I heard and saw this about Justin Kirkland and there was a lot of flashes of very good from Justin Kirkland last year I do believe he got a little worn down and that's to be expected from where he came from from you know not being a full year into coach glass system of what's expected of the defensive line and just the difference in the level of play that he was playing and the physicality that he's going to be seeing every single snap I think that took a bit of a toll on him I'm really excited to see him this year you know you have a guy like Nick Martin behind you he doesn't have the season that he has unless guys like Justin Kirkland and Clay are eating up double teams or taking those guys inside so you got kudos to them for allowing Nick Martin to have the numbers but I'm expecting even bigger things out of them even you know some tfls from those guys getting better understanding of what they're trying to do their first year in in our new scheme as well trying to get a good feel for what cars Nardo is asking of them and asking us a whole unit of what he's wanting to get accomplished I I'm expecting this to be one of our bigger leaps just from a standpoint of understanding when we got out of Gap last year we gave a large chunk runs as you would against any defense but it a lot of that to me was alignment it was a was a lot of maybe even when we're always in three down especially early on in the year until we started getting back to more four down now being able to be multiple I don't see that as happening as often and that's going to be up to the D line honestly you know they they are the ones that will dictate a lot of that and that's something that needs to improve a lot are these big plays not only from the back end is everybody it's easy for everybody to see on the back end but but those big boys up front too as well yeah I'm sure we'll bounce back to him they just play such a big role they're going to affect the secondary and we'll get to that but let's first linebackers move over to linebackers and what sure to be one of the best linebacker rooms in the country a couple of guys who are on the benic award watch list for the best defensive player in the country Nick Martin is just about on every preseason watch list there is and we're including Colin Oliver in this group he's expected to play more on the edge and get after the quarterback a little bit more but here are two guys who have probably gotten tons of offers from other teams and decided to stick it out with Oklahoma State I always have that in mind with this new era of college football just got to appreciate him that much more and then Kendall Daniels as well he's in the mix to be more of a linebacker backer or Rover in his role this season after gaining some weight so uh we've got all three of those guys who are just absolute studs we've got Justin Wright if you remember transferred from Tulsa two years ago had a season ending injury and then Gabe Brown Jeff Robertson poasa utu are some names to keep an eye out through the first few weeks of the Season as well just to see when they might slot in you know sometimes you got to shift those out for three down uh you know third down you got to worry about a little bit more of passes and things like that got to get guys that can fly around a little bit more so those are those are some names to look out for on the in the linebackers yeah and I think this is clearly the strength of this unit is the these linebackers and the depths that we have there we are expecting to see more multiple looks and that's going to entail as you brought in as you talked about bringing Kendall Daniels Down more often you know if he's able to hold up to the physicality that'll be huge for this team but Nick Martin has a slipper Choice lets us know right he's a dog he's he's the guy it starts and ends with him I mean this guy's going to play on Sundays he's incredibly athletic he's maybe a little bit undersized but in today's football that's not a bad thing right he can run he's going to hit you and I'm really excited to see Oliver get back to rushing the quarterback which I think with Wright being able to come in and right we know that Robertson really start on special teams last year um you know this growth of being able to switch guys out move guys down do these things I think this is this is the unit that you're going to see that's really going to get pressure when we need it move one of those guys Nick Martin's a fantastic blitzing linebacker so for me this is the bread and butter of our team of our strength this is where we want to funnel everything this is you know these guys are going to make the place Nick Martin loves tackling you might might have 200 this year not really but I mean the guy's a machine um you know and until we can get guys on the line like DeShaun brown or somebody like that that can really win off the edge oneon-one these These are the guys that are really where we're going to have to be able to get pressure from with mhm I almost expecting with the strength of the linebacking core if we're going to have Justin Wright in there in the mix that he could be the comeback Player of the Year just based on the opportunities that you know we weren't really expecting Nick Martin to do what he did last year but I feel like he's got the tools that he'd be able to do the same type of thing and even with Nick Martin out there with him and even with Colin Oliver out there with him like it's just going to be you know almost like pick your poison if you want to run the ball uh you know which side which side do you want to go to because good luck yeah yeah no I I thought he was gonna be a big addition last year and really helped transition that young group of linebackers unfortunately got hurt like you said so I think so I don't know if you remember this you might you remember when Orie Lemon got hurt yeah and right and he came back and it was like a added bonus now I'm not obviously not saying he's ory lemon but every now and then you get those players that get hurt that really would have contributed and done a lot yeah but then they're able to come back and add overall to a unit so I think I'm I'm with you there I'm excited to see what he can do because I thought he was a big pickup from Tulsa um yeah very very consistent line I agree well he's not he's not or lemon but definitely the comparison is there that's something that could absolutely play a factor in secondary this season and although the linebackers are sure to be a strength one of the weaknesses of the defense last season was the secondary Kendall Daniels might not be as much of a liability if he's going to shift over to that Rover position but more responsibility is going to fall on Trey Rucker LC rolls and honestly talked about it before I think most of the issues at safety are resolved with more consistent pressure from the defensive line to throw off the timing of the QB and receivers whenever we hired coach Nardo this was his position that he coached right and this is a position that he has a large hand on as the secondary especially safeties so we expected big things for them to be very active and that's why everyone was very excited for Kendall Daniels to get a coach that F you know really uses these to really drive the defense and what he likes to do there was a lot of confusion last year on this back end a lot of guys running wide open and this is the number one like blinking red light on this defense that has to get better that's obviously this is DB play as well but the safeties the miscommunications leaving their DBS to go oneon-one where they thought they had help or turning a tight end loose like we did in the Kansas game three times you know there's those type of things they can't happen which we don't expect to happen happen in year two and Coach Nardo I'm quite frankly I'm sure his patience is gone for it so this this is a big a big right exactly he's got a job he's got he's got a job to do so this is a big big area of emphasis for the team as a whole and from the fan base you know we all watched it right that Iowa State game they couldn't do anything and then they'd have a wide open turn them loose just yeah 60 yards so frustrating exactly so and it's got to be for them too right it's like assignment assignment everything's great and then boom huge play just completable not but yep you know others in the mix of course Cameron EPS Kobe Hilton who transferred from UTP rocking that number zero we got uh Ty Williams maybe Dylan Smith so there are a number of names safety I see on the roster that I recognize I just don't know what the contribution will be from them for sure but it looks like Nardo is filling that room up with some talented players with the numbers that we have there at that position that tells me that there's a possibility of running a lot maybe three High when you drop Kindle down right you have a second second one so it just there's going to be a lot on the back end there normally you don't have that much numbers of safety yeah is that kind of what like the Dallas Cowboys were doing last year or is that they did no they did it pretty often last year you know when they would move Malik hooker back and did some of those things especially when Trayvon digs went down um that's a the whole purpose of this defense which was kind of Cornerstone after what Iowa state does so well right is don't let people behind you you get people deep you run three High keep everything in front we were not able to do that last year obviously and so I think all the these guys understand that and so when you see that many safeties on a roster I think that's what you're looking at um is a lot more of that hopefully then we really tried that early on in the year kind of went away from it because we were getting crushed same thing right the three down four down then we kind of went we were tried strictly three couldn't rush the passer went to four got a little bit better not great a lot of turned people loose not a whole lot right last year we improved obviously we improved but needs to be a lot better it did sometimes sometimes we imp sometimes it looked like maybe it was just because of the schedule because we had really those the four newcomers to the Big 12 we kind of played them all at the end of the year I think they were kind of worn down from playing against the caliber of the Big 12 teams throughout the year and that helped out but then what we saw when we got into the Big 12 championship game against Texas we got absolutely lit up we had some injuries back there as well but yeah you're right we did not hold up well against Superior Talent that's for sure and they know it right they they live through that game just as just like we did I think that's one thing as fans we get caught up in and yeah we get highs and lows are a lot different than with players but they're in there with the with the coaches and the clicker and they watch it they understand so they'll get it right to finish out let's take a look at the guys on the island out there at corner Corey black returns as one of the corner best corners in the Big 12 so he was targeted 35 times and allowed just 16 catches last season per pro football folks and we're looking to replace DJ McKenna who transferred to Colorado guess I can't blame a corner who wants to see what Deion Sanders is all about but Cam and kale Smith have a chance to step up in his place Kenneth Harris is a six-foot red shirt senior who transferred from Arkansas State and got to play in the first four games last season while maintaining that red shirt status so his development and experience is certainly valuable to the team and then decalon Beeman from that sheveport Louisiana pipeline is a 61 red shirt Jr who's in a similar position having that experience and that just provides solid depth at the corner position so really it's a matter of how much did they learn from their mistakes last year how much better can we expect them to be this season you know if we're going to be completing if we're going to be competing for a playoff birth if we're expected to win playoff games we can't give up 464 passing yards like we did to Texas at the Big 12 championship game we can't give up 275 passing yards per game on average ranking 123rd in the nation so I think that that's what we're up against that's what the national media sees when they look at this team yes we have all these guys returning but on the defense what exactly have these players done to deserve a top 10 preseason ranking I mean can you legitimately put a team that has that's so far from complete from top to bottom in the top 10 you know when your defense can't get a pass rush and your secondary can't lock anyone down how far can they really go so for me I think Nardo he has the most to prove this season and with that opportunity that excites me because that's just something I believe in as an Oklahoma State fan that he's going to rise to the challenge yeah and to your point what DBs the DB you know coach Dey has a great track record of bringing guys along um and I have no doubt that he's going to do that with and I think some of I think we're gonna have some young guys you know maybe even see some snaps this year and see that that growth you know not early on I think coach gny made a comment to where we have about three and a half DBS that he feels comfortable with I think the half is referring to you know maybe a young guy that might be able to get in there a little bit but you know that's that's something that um we definitely are going to have to continue to see as fans see that happen I've a lot of confidence in Corey black outside of that I don't we we've not seen a lot of these guys play and when we have it wasn't wasn't great so to your point I am I still hold optimistic because we all watched what coach nolles was able to do from year one to year two year two to year three I think you know there's no reason to think coach Nardo can't do that especially if you actually look at the numbers I mean the noes to Nardo in the first year comparison is actually no Oklahoma State fan wants to hear it because we see we see Nardo's last year but that first year everybody was questioning well you hired a guy from duke what does he know you know what I mean y so I I don't think coach Nardo is uh in over his head or anything like that I I just think he's got a better grasp on what he's trying to accomplish and I expect a lot of growth to your point this is this is a unit that has to get better now I think they should take confidence knowing that we don't have to hold teams to 12 points in order to win games because of what the offense allows you to do and because of the style that the offense can play offense can play both with what with what we have and so that should give them a lot of confidence knowing that hey if we need to slow it down we've got backs we've got a seasoned offensive line we know we're not running plays every 12 seconds like we used to and just trying to get more plays out there is there time for that sure but I think we're going to see a lot more synergistic football kind of like what we saw under coach NES right and I think that's probably best suits our skill set as a team so we'll see but I I'm still I'm still going to say I'm bullish on what Co Nardo and that staff can accomplish just because I've seen it so many of those coaches do it before with various recruiting classes through different positions and so I have I have a lot of faith in in that room of coaches to get it done I think another thing is really just the way that Nardo is scheming what he has the players that he has available to him and playing to their strengths this year that it might not look as standard for you know which is really what other offenses are prepared for standard defenses but whenever you've got guys that are playing in more of hybrid roles that puts a wrinkle in things and makes it a little bit tougher to diagnose exactly what the defense is doing and how to dissect that I think that could play to our advantage as well absolutely coach Gundy wants to play multiple on both sides of the ball that's always always been what he prefers to do balance on both sides right not only not always three down not always four down showing you multiple looks making you prepare for more so I think coach Gundy and staff I just think it's a better fit and I think to your point good coaches the best coaches I've ever been around and I'm sure you've ever been around just like you said it's not trying to fit a square peg into a round hole it's hey this is is what we've got how do I maximize these guys guys what style of Defense yeah I'm going to stick with my core principles but I'm going to have to come off of things a little bit if this is what we're better at or what this individual does better than this individual or this group of position maybe can't do the things that I would prefer but they're really good at this that's where you that's where good coaches separate themselves so I think coach Nardo has the ability to show his coaching Acumen by doing that this season well that is it for season two of The believe and okay State podcast we'll be back next week to start off season 3 this episode of the believe in okay State podcast is presented by bet online please like share subscribe to show your support we'll see you next week we're going to have on a special guest from South Dakota State just remember all things are possible for the one who believes folks [Music]