Stillwater NewsPress

OSU Sports

April 11, 2012

Quarterback search goes on for Cowboys

By Nick Snow Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER, Okla. — It’s been a long, slow process, but Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy said he is getting closer to naming a starting quarterback.

“I think there’s separation with guys, and then some other ones may make some ground up,” Gundy said. “We would still like to name a starting quarterback by the end of spring ball. We were hoping to do it by the end of this week, but we want to make sure it’s the right guy and for the right reasons. We would like to be able to name a starting quarterback after spring.”

Clint Chelf still remains the favorite based on the fact that he’s seen playing time, but Gundy said he’s been pleasantly surprised by true freshman Wes Lunt.

“Our quarterbacks continue to get better,” Gundy said. “Wes Lunt had some nice plays for us today. Our wideouts need to do a better job of catching the ball.”

Lunt may be making up some ground on Chelf and J.W. Walsh, but offensive coordinator Todd Monken said it’s because he’s becoming more acclimated to the Cowboys’ system.

“They’ve all gotten better,” Monken said. “(Lunt) is going to improve the most because he was not even around. From the get-go, he had no idea what he was doing. He’s improved a bunch. They’re all doing better. We have to function better as a team around our quarterbacks. Until we do that, we won’t be where we want to be.”

One thing Monken said he would like to see more of is some confidence and swagger from the trio of quarterbacks.

“You’re always trying to get your quarterbacks to be aggressive and to play with a swagger,” Monken said. “There is a fine line between confidence and hurting your team. It’s a lot easier if you have a risky personality and have the swagger to make throws, but the ability to tone it back. If you don’t ever have that it’s hard to get that.”

Gundy is optimistic about naming a starting quarterback by the time the Cowboys head into their final spring practice on April 21, but Monken said he could see the race continuing into the summer with the lack of experience being the determining factor.

“I don’t know,” Monken said. “You can say it’s half-full and say that all three have done things a lot better than I thought they would. You can say it’s half-empty and say that nobody has yet distinguished themselves as our guy. That being said, you’re also talking about three guys that haven’t played yet. We have a number of positions that would be like that — who’s our starter at those positions? I don’t know. It’s all in how you want to look at it.”

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