Mike Gundy Provides Insight into Oklahoma State's Quarterback Situation

Oklahoma State has had an interesting quarterback situation over the past few years, and that won’t change anytime soon.

With Big 12 Media Days signaling the unofficial start of the college football season, Mike Gundy took the stage on Wednesday to answer some questions ahead of OSU’s 2025 season. With the Cowboys looking to bounce back from a 3-9 season, there are plenty of questions, but one of the most pressing has been the quarterback situation.

While Gundy didn’t give much clarity on the possible battle between Zane Flores and Hauss Hejny for the starting job, he gave a glimpse into OSU’s quarterback recruiting methods. With the ever changing landscape of college football, Gundy’s approach to finding quarterbacks has changed as well.

“Most coaches would agree that if you can keep two guys on your roster that have some sort of experience that you feel like can go in and compete in a game, that you’ll be fortunate,” Gundy said. “I don’t know that anybody will be able to carry three now because of the availability of quarterbacks to transfer. It is the one position that there is reason for transferring because obviously, you only play one in a game.”

This era’s drawbacks were on full display this offseason, with OSU losing Garret Rangel and Maealiuaki Smith to the transfer portal. Those two were set to be the only returning quarterbacks with experience next season and both fit the build of a mobile quarterback who could effectively run the passing attack.

Considering how many players, especially quarterbacks, make their way into the portal every offseason, Gundy explained how it can seem nearly impossible to have a set system for a quarterback to come into.

“Wherever you find the quarterback that you think can be the most productive, provide leadership and the team will rally around him and give you the best chance to win, then coach [Doug] Meacham and his staff have to find a way to build our offense around that player,” Gundy said. “As we move forward, I don’t know that we’ll have the luxury to recruit a prototype quarterback to fit our system, more so than a quarterback that can play well enough and we’ll design the system around him.”

Considering how the past few years have looked in Stillwater, these types of changes were already underway. After years of quarterbacks such as Brandon Weeden and Mason Rudolph, the Cowboys had a more rush-heavy attack under Spencer Sanders.

Alan Bowman coming in after Sanders is another example of how the Cowboys have had to mold their system around quarterbacks rather than actually bringing in the “perfect” quarterback for their system.