Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy is sold on the potential play of his quarterbacks in 2021.

Spencer Sanders is the unquestioned starter and that is a great place to start in developing an exciting offense.

“We’ve been very impressed and excited about Spencer’s development,” Gundy said at the Big 12 Media Days in Arlington, Texas. “My personal opinion is last year the spring ball that he missed and summer conditioning because of COVID set him back. And I feel like in the two months that we watched him over spring ball, he’s developed more than he has in two years.

“So, we’ll find out once the season starts. There’s never been a question with his toughness, his commitment, and his competitive nature. I think that Tim Rattay has done a fantastic job of developing him, and he looked very comfortable as we wrapped up spring in the month of April.”

Backup quarterback Shane Illingsworth got some starting experience last year when Sanders was injured and the coaching staff is confident in his capabilities. Sanders and Illingsworth are two different types but that can be an asset in a flexible scheme.

“Shane is doing excellent,” said Gundy. “Shane is a really good football player with a really bright future… Our ability to change our style of play based on our quarterbacks is pretty common.

“And so we have areas that if Shane were in the game that plays that would be called that Spencer can execute, maybe that’s not his strong point. And we have some that Shane may execute that may not be as beneficial to him as they are to Spencer.

“He’s been fantastic. Great young man with a great work ethic. We’re extremely happy that he’s in our program.” OSU has a reputation for developing outstanding wide receivers and the challenge this year is to replace Tylan Wallace.

“We have Brennan Presley who came on and played a considerable amount as the season went on last year, was very young and developed, started making some plays,” Gundy said. “We have a number of guys that we feel like should develop as the season goes on. We don’t necessarily have what would be a marquee player that we have traditionally had at that position at Oklahoma State.

“It will be very interesting to watch how Tay Martin develops. We feel good about his development, after getting into our program. And he’s in really good physical condition now. He played last year, started to develop some in the latter part of the season when he finally got in good shape. So we’re hoping that those guys will carry us a little bit at that position.”

Besides battling the Chinese coronavirus last season, the Cowboy offensive line had an unusual number of injuries.

“…it’s really somewhat unfair that a couple of those guys were even out there,” Gundy said. “They didn’t have any experience. Their bodies weren’t developed. They weren’t strong enough.

“And all of the butt whippings they took should help them this year. We’ve had a couple of adjustments. We’re already better just by depth chart. We’re already better. We haven’t played a game yet. We’ve got some depth. And hopefully, we can stay healthy. If we do, we don’t have to play musical chairs where a guy plays left tackle one play and right guard another.

“Not making any excuses for them, but I think it’s important that we’re fair to them based on their situation. And it’s almost like going on the playground in junior high and getting beat up four, five times. You learn to fight back or you just keep getting beat up. And these guys got beat up a lot. And I saw them start to fight back in the spring.”

Recently, the Big 12 Conference has been tagged as a league with high-octane offenses and weak defenses. If that was ever true, it has changed at OSU.

“I’ve been very impressed with our defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles, and his staff, and his willingness to adjust to our league,” Gundy said. “I feel more comfortable with our defense going on the field than I have maybe in my first 12 to 14 years as a head coach. We played good third-down defense. I think Jim’s very innovative in his blitz packages.

“I think that we’ve simplified. We’ve gone with simplicity and repetition compared to trying to out-coach other people. I think that’s important. And I’m hoping, from what I’ve seen in the spring, that we’ll have the fastest defense that we’ve had since I’ve been a head coach, which again is important. You’ve got to be able to run and get guys down, gotta tackle. We tackled very well last year.

“So all of that can tie into confidence. Confidence makes you a better player. I don’t care what sport it is. And our defense is starting to develop a little confidence in themselves and it makes us a better football team.”

OSU has a new college president, Dr. Kayse Shrum, and a new athletic director Chad Weiberg.

“I’ve had some conversations with Dr. Shrum,” Gundy said. “I’m looking forward to having many more. You know me; I’m going to give you my honest opinion. I think she’s very innovative. I think that she is a good listener. I think she’s tough. And I think that she’s going to be fantastic for Oklahoma State. Only time will tell.

“But the time that I’ve spent with her, I think that she and I had the ability to see eye to eye. And we’ll work very well in the future.

“Obviously, Chad Weiberg’s been in our department a number of years, but he’s not been the guy in charge. It’s just the way it is. He now is in charge. I’m very excited about that.

“And I think that we have three people that are very interested in coming together as a group and finding ways to continue Oklahoma State football in the path that it’s been on and make it even better than it has been in the future.”