Justin Southwell, Nathan Gilsleider and Marshall Scott recap Oklahoma State’s time at Big 12 Media Days. You can also find this podcast on Spotify and Apple. PFB+ Sale: PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link 
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
0 Comments
FRISCO, Texas — Oklahoma State’s 2008 win at No. 3 Missouri was a tentpole moment of the Mike Gundy Era. That signature win has been remembered for a lot of reasons, one of which was Gundy sitting on equipment crates thumbing through his offensive play sheet while his defense was on the field. That was life as a play-caller head coach. Two years after that win in Missouri, Gundy handed play-calling duties over to Dana Holgorsen and never looked back. In Gundy’s first season away from the program all this time later, the Cowboys again have a play-caller head coach. Gundy was 43 when he gave up-play calling duties. Eric Morris is 40 (a man’s age) entering his first season coaching the Cowboys, and as he steps into his first year as a Big 12 head coach, he said he doesn’t see him delegating those duties any time soon. “It’s still my favorite thing to do,” Morris said at Big 12 Media Days. “There’s nothing that still motivates me, keeps me involved in the game-planning, keeps my brain activated trying to come up with different ways to attack people on the offensive side of the ball. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, calling people. There’s not a ton of people (head coaches who call plays) left. That’s probably what Lincoln (Riley) and I talk about the most is are we saving enough time for all these different parts of the organization when you’re spending so much time calling the plays? I think you gotta hire good people that you trust to do some other things, but yeah, it’s what I love the most.” There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat, so it’s not as if one way is right and the other is wrong. Plenty of head coaches who don’t call plays have had success, just like play-calling head coaches have. Of late, it’s seemed like the in-vogue thing for NFL teams is to have a young, hotshot coach who also directs his team’s offense. Morris made mention to Lincoln Riley as a guy he confides in about being a play-calling head coach. Morris was there for the genesis of Riley’s coaching career, as Morris was a player at Texas Tech as Riley worked his way up from student assistant to overseeing Morris as the inside receivers coach. Having led the Sooners for five seasons, Riley isn’t all too popular in Payne County. Say what you will about Riley not having a national title ring on his finger, but he won four Big 12 titles in five seasons as the Sooners’ coach. So having success in this league in that architype is certainly possible. Gundy’s transition into his program’s CEO felt natural, especially in his later years atop the program, but when that transition initially started to happen, he too noted his enjoyment of that aspect of the game. “I don’t know that it’ll ever be easy to accept because I just like to do that,” Gundy said after Holgorsen’s hiring. “But I understand the role that I’m gonna play now.” Who knows what the future holds for the Morris Era, but the plan is for Morris to continue to call plays, just as he did at Incarnate Word and North Texas as he climbed the coaching ladder.
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
FRISCO, Texas — When Oklahoma State’s players walked into the Big 12 Media Days main room for their turn with reporters on Tuesday, linebacker Ethan Wesloski couldn’t help but laugh. A literal wall of cameras pointed at the table where quarterback Drew Mestemaker and running back Caleb Hawkins were scheduled to sit, with other reporters gathered behind, underneath and beside those same cameras. “Look where all the mics are,” Wesloski said to fellow defender Jaleel Johnson. Although somewhere north of 15 reporters initially fought for the chance to direct questions toward Oklahoma State’s two offensive stars, maybe four or five total reporters walked over to speak with Wesloski, who recorded 113 tackles last season, and Johnson, who head coach Eric Morris repeatedly praised as the team’s ‘most disruptive defender’ in spring camp. “Oh, for sure, for sure, I feel like our defense is definitely getting slept on,” Johnson said when asked about the disparity in attention between OSU’s offense and defense not just on Tuesday, but throughout the last six months. “But like you said, no disrespect to them guys, they deserve everything that they are getting right now. I’m not hating on that at all, but our defense is really, really solid as well, and I feel like y’all are going to see that this fall.” Johnson said the focus on Mestemaker (now the preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year), Hawkins (the No. 19 player in the entire transfer portal and seventh-ranked RB in the whole nation according to EA’s latest video game), receiver Wyatt Young (OSU’s only player on the All-Big 12 preseason team) and Morris’ general reputation as an offensive guru which shines a brighter light on that side of the ball has created an opportunity for the Pokes’ defenders. “You want to prove to everybody that we’re the best as well, like we can compete with the best,” Johnson said. Wesloski wished Mestemaker luck as the media session got started on Tuesday. Although there was zero animosity in his voice, the linebacker delivered the line as though he was watching the quarterback walk in front of a firing squad. Not that the Oklahoma State quarterback heard any of this, as his attention was already being pulled in several directions. “I’ve said it a couple times today, it’s a thing, right, they deserved everything they’ve gotten. … (but) we’re a really good defense, too,” Wesloski said. “It’s not that they don’t deserve everything they’ve got coming. “But come November, late November, when we’re making a run for this thing. Everyone is going to look like we know they have a really, really good offense, but here’s this defense that’s really good in yards per game, pass yards, run yards, they’ve got a huge turnover margin. They were really good scoring defense. So we’re going to play defense. We know how to play and create a lot of chaos, and we’re going to get the ball back for those guys over there.” For what it’s worth, Wesloski led a UNT defense last season that finished fifth in turnovers gained, eighth in pass yards allowed per game, but 76th in scoring defense, 77th in total defense and 130th against the run. A bit of a mixed bag there, but given that UNT led seven opponents by 21-plus points entering the fourth quarter, it makes some degree of sense that the Mean Green would be overly focused on limiting the pass. Now those same defensive coaches and several key defenders, headlined by Wesloski, are in Stillwater. “It feels like that 2023 season when we went to the Big 12 Championship,” Johnson said. “You can just tell that the guys are close, like we all got nicknames for each other, making fun of each other, laughing.” Even being in contention for a Big 12 Championship game appearance would be a win for the Cowboys in Morris’ first season, but the players have made it clear they aren’t treating this season like some slow wind-up to a successful run. “I want to have dominant wins,” Johnson said. “I want to prove that we are the best team in this conference.” When asked how the Cowboys, particularly those on defense, can prove that this fall, Johnson kept it simple. “Ultimately it come down to winning games,” he said. “Like defense wins games. Yeah, offense can put up as many points as they want, but if we can’t get a stop, it don’t really matter. So, I feel like if we can put some stops together and make the offense look even better than what people are saying, that is a win in our book.”
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
FRISCO, Texas — Drew Mestemaker’s offseason for the ages hit another milestone recently as he found himself among football royalty. “There was a little meeting we had that Peyton (Manning) and Eli (Manning) just stood up there, and you know, talked about their approach to the game and everything, and I thought that was really cool,” Mestemaker said Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. Mestemaker was one of a select number of high-level college quarterbacks invited to serve as counselors at the Manning Passing Academy from June 25-28. Other quarterback counselors included CJ Carr (Notre Dame), Arch Manning (Texas), Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), Julian Sayin (Ohio State) and Gunner Stockton (Georgia). Together, that group represents the first, second, fourth, sixth and ninth favorites for the Heisman Trophy based on current FanDuel odds. Mestemaker was also joined by fellow Big 12 starters Noah Fifita (Arizona), Bear Bachmeier (BYU) and Conner Weigman (Houston). “Yeah, it was fun,” Mestemaker said. “It was good being around all those guys, and kind of comparing up next to them and throwing with them, and just being around a bunch of guys that have played a lot of football at a high level.” Perhaps it was just Mestemaker’s humility on display Tuesday, but his head coach seemed even more excited about the opportunity. “So the cool thing for Drew is, I think, finally starting to get the notoriety,” Morris said. “And then you go to camp, and you’re around some of the best quarterbacks in the nation at your level, and you see yourself against these guys, and then all of a sudden you know these guys that are mocked up to be the, you know, number one, number two, number three pick in the draft mix, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I can do it just as good as this guy.’ “The cool thing about that camp was I got a lot of texts about how he performed and how well he did, but it made me more proud of how many texts I got about what kind of person he was, how humble he was, how he interacted with everybody, and so I think that just speaks volumes about the character that the young man has.” Mestemaker also discussed his future in the NFL on Tuesday and the potentially tough choice he will have to make concerning the 2027 NFL Draft if everything goes to plan on the field this fall. On the subject of Mestemaker’s future, Morris has no doubts his current quarterback is destined for the NFL. He said as much to Archie Manning earlier this year. “Archie Manning called me a couple months ago and started asking questions about Drew, and I’ve known Archie for a while,” Morris said. “So I was like, ‘Listen this kid is a no-brainer. This kid will play for a long time on Sunday.’”
Mestemaker said he felt like he performed well but added the counselors didn’t throw as much there as he expected going in. He still really enjoyed getting the chance to be around so many other talented quarterbacks. “Good opportunity to kind of meet all those guys and meet all these big names that are just normal dudes out there,” Mestemaker said. “It’s been a good kind of getting to know those guys and starting a relationship with them that, honestly, at the end of the day, is going to go a lot further than football. It was more about the opportunity to know those guys and just be around high-level performers every day, and just kind of work, see how they operate, like compare yourself up to that.” This is what Morris thinks will be the long-lasting benefit for his quarterback, who is preparing to start at quarterback for only the second season ever in both his high school and college career. “Think just growing his confidence,” Morris said. “I mean, I think he’s someone that, you know, didn’t play in high school, wasn’t recruited, came in, made a name for himself, had the year he did, led the nation, it all hit so fast for him. “And so I think just reaffirming what he’s always believed and the confidence, and I think you go out there and you stand in line with the best 15 guys in the nation, from what you know all these experts are saying on the mock draft stuff, and then all of a sudden I think his confidence was built on. “It’s like, OK, yeah, like, I got what it takes to make it at this level. So, yeah, I mean, I just think not only is it cool experience, you just, as a quarterback, you see it your whole life, and all these quarterbacks come through and working with, obviously, Eli and Peyton, and building those relationships. The quarterbacks have a tight bond. It’s a small fraternity, and I think it’s something that he’ll grow in really, really well.”
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
Carson Cunningham and Colby Powell discuss Eric Morris and the Cowboys at Big 12 Media Days, including Colby’s “10 Things He Learned” notebook. You know what helps the show and helps us make more shows? When you rate us on Apple Podcasts or subscribe to our pod: Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | SoundCloud. As always, we appreciate our sponsor Chris’ University Spirit and Echo Contracting. PFB+ Sale: PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news. OSU Bullets• Drew Mestemaker talked about the NFL Draft and Caleb Hawkins talked about how the resources of a Power Four school are remaking his game (PFB) • Viktor Hovland and Wyndham Clark both make this list of the top-18 golfers in the world based on recent play (CBS Sports) • Goodness, this comment from Drew Mestemaker, alluding to some of the meat he left on the bone during a season he led the nation in passing, is enticing. Worth noting, it’s a totally reasonable progression for a quarterback to feel more comfortable in his second full season starting and to take more chances. “I think last year, I was honestly a little more conservative than I could’ve been,” Mestemaker said. “I think I could’ve taken a little more shots, so I think this spring was really the time for me to try that out and see what throws I could and couldn’t make. Obviously I know, like, this one’s gonna be tight, I’m gonna try it. I know that in the spring, and I talk to Coach Morris and Coach (Sean) Brophy about that. They give me the freedom to go out there and see what throws I can make… “I think last year, I missed a few opportunities I could’ve taken.” [PFB] • YouTube video here of Eric Morris’ comments from earlier in the week if you want the full talk (YouTube) • Need to beat Tech and UCF this year for the all-time records:
Non-OSU Bullets• Loved Kyle Porter’s comments on the World Cup here, which describes the feeling of watching Cape Verde-Argentina well • 4th of July photos around the US
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
FRISCO, Texas — Patrick Cobbs was so impressed by a running back at a North Texas camp that he was ready to pull the trigger and offer him, but he first needed Eric Morris’ seal of approval. Morris was at North Texas’ indoor facility while Cobbs was conducting drills out on the field. So, Cobbs sent a graduate assistant on a 100-yard jog over to Morris. “He said, ‘Hey, you gotta come see this guy — Coach Cobbs loves this running back,'” Morris recalled. So, Morris walked over to see what all the hubbub was about. At the end of his walk awaited a young Caleb Hawkins entering his senior year of high school. “I watched Caleb, and Coach Cobbs was so adamant afterwards, like, that’s who he wanted, sticking to his guns,” Morris said. “I watched him for 10 minutes and said absolutely this is somebody we can build off of. “Didn’t know a ton about Caleb. Caleb is probably one of the Top 3 players I’ve ever coached in my career, not just because of what type of player he is but what kind of person he is, how he attacks every day. I mean, he’s a coach’s dream. The way he prepares, very low maintenance, extremely tough, will do the dirty work, never asks for anything special.” Twenty-five months to the day after that camp, Morris, Hawkins and three of his teammates crawled onto a private jet to fly down to Big 12 Media Days after a season where Hawkins set an FBS record for touchdowns scored by a freshman (29). Hawkins is a preseason All-American entering his sophomore season after having that lone FBS offer coming out of North Rock Creek High School in Shawnee. The impact Hawkins was making on the field might’ve somewhat overshadowed the fact that he was only a true freshman last season, so he is still only getting better. Added to that is the fact that this was Hawkins’ first true offseason, as he was playing other sports in high school that took up his would-be offseason time. Hawkins has seemingly made the most of the time off. He was listed at 200 pounds last season at North Texas, and he checked in at 219 pounds in OSU’s newly released 2026 Media Guide. “I’ve been on a whole new nutrition-based things,” Hawkins said. “I eat a lot more than I used to, but it’s worked out a lot for me because I’m lifting heavier weight, running faster, jumping higher, so it’s all worked out for me well. … “Being able to take a step back from not necessarily football, but just from games in general and not having the stress of having a game this week, it was great to recoup and make sure I can progress and be even better the next year.” As he noted, it’s not just size that Hawkins has added. He’s getting faster, saying he wants to showcase that he’s capable of ripping off long touchdowns. Hawkins had 20 rushes of at least 15 yards last season, according to PFF. That ranked ninth in the country. He also had a 179.0 elusiveness rating, per PFF, which led the nation among backs with at least 153 carries. So, if he’s getting faster, yikes. “You gotta go straight to mechanics, knowing what kind of steps need to be taken, what kind of running style you are,” said Hawkins of how you add speed. “And of course get with the strength and conditioning coaches because obviously they know the science behind it.”
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
FRISCO, Texas — The NFL now feels inevitable for quarterback Drew Mestemaker at some point. That probably sounds like a mild take, perhaps even a boring one, given that Mestemaker led the nation with 4,379 passing yards while tossing 34 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. Since transferring to Oklahoma State this offseason, the buzz surrounding his story has only grown in anticipation of his first season of power-conference football. But just remember, Mestemaker never started at quarterback during his high school career, and the only thing stopping him from starting his career at the junior college level was a last-second walk-on offer from North Texas. “That has always been the goal (the NFL), and there were definitely times where I was like this goal is looking real far away right now,” Mestemaker said on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. “But I didn’t know how it will work out, but I always knew somehow it would work out. People probably call me crazy for it, but I always knew somehow I would find a way to make it work.” ESPN had Mestemaker down as the fourth quarterback taken in the first round in a way-too-early 2027 mock draft. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler projected Mestemaker as the third quarterback taken in 2027, going as high as eighth overall. That kind of chatter has caused speculation among some Oklahoma State fans wondering how realistic it is that Mestemaker departs for the NFL so soon after arriving in Stillwater. Lighting the college football world on fire one year at North Texas is one thing. Putting together high-quality tape against power conference opponents is another task altogether. If Mestemaker can dominate against a schedule filled with both Big 12 opponents and the national title-contending Oregon Ducks, then he could have a tough call to make come December. Even if he doesn’t quite emerge as a top-five guy at the position this fall, Mestemaker seems like a lock to contend for a first-round selection in one of the next two draft classes. And if there was any more doubt that Mestemaker, the former zero-star prospect forced to walk-on, has put himself on the map as a potential first-rounder, he was asked about the 2027 NFL Draft during Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday. “I think it all depends,” Mestemaker said. “Obviously, that is the end goal, but I think that is a decision for after the season. That is definitely not something I am focused on right now because I got something big sitting right in front of me. And so it is not a decision I am looking at right now but something I will have to talk about with my friends and family after.”
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news. OSU Bullets• Eric Morris praised Mike Gundy at Big 12 media days yesterday (PFB) • Announced yesterday, Monster energy drinks bought Big 12 rights and will be featured on all men’s football, basketball, and women’s basketball jerseys – as well as on the field/court: The new licensing deal is expected to pay Big 12 member schools around $1 million annually, per Sports Business Journal, with Monster covering the costs of installing all new logos on courts and fields. [On3] • Eric Morris didn’t spare many words talking about defensive end Jaleel Johnson: “When I think about it, like our defensive end, the position as a whole, we have one of them here today, Jaleel Johnson, who I think is an all-conference caliber player, I think has the size, the talent to play on Sundays. Really excited to watch the defensive end position…” [PFB] • Not sure what ultimate reality is, but this article points to Kashie Natt’s status being safe for now, but will be ruled upon at a later date (SI) • Slick.
Non-OSU Bullets• 14-minute video showing the different regional styles of barbecue • The real reasons we don’t read the Bible (faith-based)
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
FRISCO, Texas — Former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby isn’t in the conference anymore, but his name came up plenty during Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday. In a somewhat surprising turn, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire name-dropped Eric Morris multiple times when asked about the Sorsby saga. “For my peers, I got a lot of support,” McGuire said. “Eric Morris, the first day any news broke, called me and said, ‘Hey, man, I’m just doing a well check.’ He’s a good friend of mine.” Morris shared his side of that conversation later in the afternoon. “I called him, and first words I said to him is, I said, ‘Hey, we’re not talking about anything to deal with the situation you’re going through right now,’” Morris said. “‘I just know sometimes some people need to vent and get some stuff out to somebody who realizes what it’s like to sit in those chairs and have those things come across your desk at times.’ And so, yeah, it’s important to check on the people that you care about, especially if you know they’re going through a tough time.” That relationship started a full decade before either man took the helm of a Big 12 program. Morris started as the inside receivers coach at Washington State in 2012. At the time, McGuire was entering his 10th season as the head coach of Cedar Hill High School, located about 17 miles southwest of downtown Dallas. McGuire took over at Texas Tech ahead of the 2022 season, and obviously, Morris is preparing for his first season in Stillwater this fall. “I’ve always believed in people and relationships first and foremost,” Morris said. “And I started recruiting at Cedar Hill my first year at Washington State, and Joey was always so good to me as a 23-year-old kid coming through. He sat me down and kind of explained the lay of the land of DFW in recruiting and players, so he’s always been so helpful for me. So we started a relationship, you know, 20 years ago, and so somebody we’ve always stayed in touch. When he got to Lubbock, he reached out a ton to me to ask about offensive staffing, to ask about Lubbock in general, ask about my experiences. So we’ve always had a great relationship, and I think when you sit in the chair of being a head coach, and there are certain things, and especially nowadays with social media, that I think can wear on you, and I know Joey is a good human, and he loves those kids that he coaches.” On a follow-up question, Morris clarified how he felt about the Sorsby situation. “You always want the best for your own and the people you are developing and you’re in the trenches with,” he said. “At the same time, I think just morality throughout sports, and not even talking about college football, just sports in general, is there’s a bunch of people that had a problem with it, and rightfully so. … But I got enough problems at Oklahoma State right now. I haven’t spent any amount of time, and those aren’t my problems, and they’re not my decisions to make either. And so I learned a long time ago not to worry about the things I can’t control.”
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. |
   
Gundy's OSU Keeping up with Head Coach Mike Gundy and the OSU football team. 
Archives
May 2026
Categories
|
RSS Feed
