	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ACADEMY TEXAS BOWL: OKLAHOMA STATE VS TEXAS A&M

December 26, 2019

Mike Gundy

Houston, Texas

MIKE GUNDY: I guess I'll start then. We've had a great week here. We're very appreciative of the hospitality, our housing at the Galleria, our practice facilities, our escorts to and from everything we've been to, food obviously, and Houston's been awesome. We've had a great week. We've been very fortunate at Oklahoma State. We've been to a lot of Bowl games, and we've had great experiences, and this one has been the same.

We're very proud of our team, the way they've handled themselves. They practiced well. They stayed in line. They've enjoyed themselves. So for the administration, the players, the families, myself, our coaching staff, we've had a great week, and we're very thankful for the hospitality we've received.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: We've had a great year. We've had a few ups and downs, like most teams, with things that are sometimes out of our hands. But Chuba is a first class young man, and he and his family have to make a decision based on this game and then his future. That's a personal matter for him, and it's different from every young man we've had over the last 10 or 12 years that had opportunity that he has at this point.

For us, we're excited, we're thrilled. Personally for me -- and I've said this -- I think it's important for players to compete in Bowl games. That's just my opinion. Everybody has a right to their opinion. Sometimes they choose not to. It's okay. But I'm glad that he made the decision that he's made, and I know our team is excited, the fans and the Bowl. The Bowl is excited about him playing, and he'll be out there running around a little bit.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: Our staff, they've done a good job with him, and Chu knows this. Towards the end of the year he got a little fatigued. Hopefully, he's had enough rest, and we can get him back up and running. Once two went down and three went down, we had to revamp and do some things differently. Unfortunately in football, those things happen. So you stay the course, find ways to move the ball, score points. We made some adjustments in the way we played those games.

We have other guys that stepped up, the guys that are in this room. Defensively, we played the best football that we've played in the latter part of the season. Offensively, we've had guys that step up when you lose other guys.

I was just having a conversation yesterday with a couple of men at practice, and it's interesting, when you have an unfortunate situation like we had with injuries, how other players step up, and you didn't know that they could perform as well because they might not have had that opportunity based on the other players. So I was very proud of the organization and the way that we adjusted because of those injuries.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: Because of the age in this room, Robert, when you say you were a quarterback, everybody started whispering to each other like he played quarterback? This group over here. You remember -- yeah, you shouldn't say anything. The young ones in the back are like, yeah, that guy's crazy.

Anyway, Dru has been awesome. He's competed. He's studied tape. He's worked hard in a very, very difficult situation. Unfortunately, at the quarterback position in most cases, we only play one, and that's why you're seeing so many young men transfer at that position. The other spots, we play multiple guys. They rotate in. He's been awesome.

For the team to have enough respect for him to vote him captain when he's really only played in a couple games says a lot about him. He's mentioned at one point of wanting to get into coaching. He put himself in a great position to get into coaching.

Sean's done a good job with the quarterback room. Guys have worked hard. They've worked together. I really think they've supported each other, and it's helped our football team.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: He's been awesome. He's played at a very high level. He's been around the ball the whole time. If there's ever a ball tipped or on the ground rolling around, he happens to be in the area, and he's made plays. He's been a good leader for us. He's been quiet this year. He's practiced real hard and goes out and does his job. It's unfortunate that he can't play in the game, but he's been a really good leader for us, and we're looking forward to his future at Oklahoma State.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: They'll be fine. Obviously, if you had Kolby or you had Tre, you would be a little better, but as I said earlier, based on injuries they've had, other players have stepped up, and they've played. So they practiced throughout the year, the guys that step in and play, and practice the last three weeks. We expect them to line up to play hard and compete.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: They're a good team. They've recruited very well. They understand their system. The coach has been in it for a long time. The majority of it looks like it did when he was back at the other school. They want to run the football. They do a good job with getting in some bunch packages and getting four strong and passing game and such for all the man coverage things that they see in practice themselves in August and in the spring, and they have skill guys that can make plays. And the quarterback can do a good job with his feet.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: A lot of similarities, as I was saying -- the packages, the concepts. From an outsider looking in, there's a lot of similarities, and that's what most of us do. We go back to things we believe in at some point. Play callers, guys that are schemers are creatures of habit, and there's a lot of similarities in what he's doing now compared to the other school.

Q. (No microphone)?
MIKE GUNDY: Well, you know me, I'm an old school guy, a Big Eight guy, an old Big 12 guy, and I'm pretty traditional. I wanted it to stay the way it was years ago, but TV and money and other people make decisions. So we hated to lose the schools that went another direction, but it's a good matchup. It's good for us. This is a great location. It's a great location, obviously, for them, but it's a good matchup, and it's fun to be able to compete.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297