More than 14,000 Oklahoma State football fans went to Stillwater Saturday to see the final spring practice in hopes of a resurgence of Cowboy fortunes this fall.

More than 130 former Cowboys – including Mason Rudolph, Marcell Ateman, Chris Lacy and Brandon Weeden – were there to cheer on the next crop of OSU players during the two-hour event.

It included a team scrimmage, two-minute drills, individual position work, a 7-on-7 period, inside drill, special teams drills and ball security drills.

“It was an awesome day today,” coach Mike Gundy said. “The weather was beautiful and perfect for everything. I appreciate the crowd. We had a nice crowd here today. I just told the players that I was proud of how they competed. They got a lot of work done, and got to do a lot of different things.”

On the top of the wish list for most fans was who would be the starting quarterback for OSU this fall. “The quarterbacks got to make a lot of throws, and defense got to do a lot of man coverage,” said Gundy.

The quarterback battle right now seems to be between Spencer Sanders and Dru Brown.

“I thought they were effective in running our system,” Gundy said. “It is easier for me to say what I didn’t like. I don’t like when they back up when they are throwing the ball. That is when they get into trouble. They have to learn the speed of the game.

“Dru had two times, one time when he threw a pick and Spencer did the same thing. They still have a little bit of wanting to make something out of nothing all the time, and they have to get out of that system and play in our system. Particularly Dru in the first minute of the two-minute drill, it was first down and he got the ball on the three-yard line. The defense made a good call.

“The defense makes calls and the offense makes calls. Sometimes the defense makes the good call. The defense made the good call. He had to throw the ball away and force a second down. Other than that, I thought they played great and competed well. Their throws were effective and accurate for the most part.”

Running back Chuba Hubbard is confident in the quarterbacks and the offense overall.

“I feel good,” Hubbard said. “As an offense, we have a lot to work on, but I like the way we’re moving. Dru, Spencer, they’re looking really good. The offensive line is amazing, of course. This defensive line is looking the best it has ever been.”

Hubbard likes new offensive line coach Charlie Dickey.

“I think he is a different type of coach,” Hubbard said. “I like the way he plays. I think he’s hard headed, and he gets these guys going, and I think that is the biggest part when it comes to the offensive line. I like what he’s doing so far.”

Even though it technically wasn’t a spring game, it was not an ordinary practice.

“It was very similar,” Gundy said. “We had a big scrimmage a week ago, and I was pleased because we didn’t have any turnovers. We had a turnover today. Those are things that we have to eliminate. Last year we got hurt at times turning the ball over and we were penalized. We worked hard and hopefully we are better in those areas in August.”

Gundy thinks coaches and players are committed to winning more games than last season.

“We need to compete,” Gundy said. “A lot of that has to do with the players up front. Sometimes the skill players can get you into that fashion, but more so the guys up front.

“Hopefully with Coach (Charlie) Dickey it will start up there. We should be able to get some help from our corners, they are mature players and are pretty dang good. They have been around now, so we should get some of that from those guys.”

Gundy has high hopes for wide out C.J. Moore, a redshirt freshman from Tulsa.

“He has had a good spring,” Gundy said. “He didn’t do much last year. I said this earlier, C.J. has changed completely. I think he has gained 30 pounds and his body has changed. He is learning how to handle it and body control, and all of the things that all of our wide outs have had to do to be successful. He is learning, and is going to need another year before you can say we are going to leave you in for 55 to 60 plays per game and play at a high level. I don’t know if he will be ready for that, but he should be able to have a number of good plays for us early in the season.”

Wide out Tylan Wallace is optimistic.

“I feel like today went well,” Wallace said Saturday. “I mean there’s still a few things that we really need to work on as a whole, speaking for the offense. I feel like we have some things we need to work on, but overall I feel like it went really good.”

Even though Wallace has a good year in 2018, he has gotten better.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Wallace said. “I feel like sitting with Coach Glass and him getting us right with winter conditioning helped out a lot, and I feel like we’re going to go into the summer with things to work on and come back stronger.

“I feel like they’re in for a really exciting season. A lot of young guys are going to come in and make some plays and I just feel like that’s one thing to look forward too.”

The excitement seems to be contagious.

“I think we’re going to do really well this season,” said center Johnny Wilson. “ I hope everyone else is excited and comes out and sells this place out every weekend. It’s going to be a fun one.”

OSU will run the same basic offense under new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson but with a quicker pace.

“Coach Gleeson wants to run an offense with a faster tempo, but other than that everything else is pretty much the same,” Wilson said.

Gundy hopes to carry the enthusiasm from spring drills into the fall.

“For me personally, it was fun watching some of the young players who hadn’t been out in front of a crowd and watching them compete in our system,” Gundy said. “Overall it was just a great day for us. They have a couple of weeks here of not really anything athletically. The focus is all on academics to finish strong in the classroom. We are trying to back up that 1000 APR we got last year, so we are really pushing these guys academically.

“Then Coach (Rob) Glass will really push them in strength training in June and July. The assistant coaches will all have their meeting with the players on Monday, and then they will be out on the road for five weeks for recruiting. The cycle just continues to turn, but we had a good spring and stayed healthy. We have a lot of areas that need work, but we will make strides in the next five weeks.”