Mike Gundy Talks February Signing Class
STILLWATER – Less than an hour after Oklahoma State signed the third of three expected signings in the Feb. signing period, Mike Gundy addressed the media via conference call to discuss the signings.
Those include JUCO quarterback Ethan Bullock, JUCO linebacker Lamont Bishop and DeSoto (TX) High School corner Jabbar Muhammad.
These three guys add to the list of 18 2020 commits that signed back in December during the early signing period. Including the two transfers the Pokes picked up before the start of the spring semester, that brings recruiting class up to 23, leaving two spots remaining in the class.
There are two guys that Oklahoma State have been in contact with over the past few weeks, LSU receiver Dee Anderson and Missouri transfer defensive back Christian Holmes. According to an Instagram post from running back Chuba Hubbard, Holmes seemed to have made the decision to join the program. However, there’s been no word from Holmes, nor an announcement from the program. So, we’ll be keeping an eye on the remaining two spots, but coach Gundy did hit on the final two spots in the conference call.
Here's Mike Gundy's thoughts on the three additions to the 2020 class in the February signing period.
Gundy’s thoughts on the three guys signed today
“Well, they’re obviously an important part for us,” said head coach Mike Gundy. “Guys that can come in and compete at different positions. The young man from Dallas [Jabbar Muhammad] has been with us a long time. We felt really good about getting him on board, he fits the role of the corners that we look for. Then, we need some guys to come in and compete at the linebacker spot with the departure of Kevin Henry. Then, with the departure of Dru Brown, we need the same thing at the quarterback position.”
What was it about Ethan Bullock that caught the coaching staff’s attention?
“He fits the role for us,” said coach Gundy. “He’s got good size, he’s been successful. He comes from a junior college that’s had lots of quarterbacks that speaks very highly of him, that feels that he’s just scratched the surface on how much better he can get. We feel like he’s a good addition for our program.”
How is Lamont Bishop looking in terms of the recovery from his torn last year?
“He should be fully recovered when we need him to get here. These guys are so good at repairing ACLs now that that’s a non-factor with his rehab. When he gets here, our medical team will take over, but at that time, he should be up and running at full speed in June.”
How beneficial was it to add two experienced JUCO players to the class?
“We’re in a day and age where we’re replacing guys that did the transfer portal. So, to have a mature player that leaves because he feels that he wants to go to another school and start, then for us, you feel like you’ve got to bring in a guy to back him up that has a little bit of experience. That’s the interesting part of what’s going on right now with college football, guys are moving around a lot. Some guys are dropping down a level because they want to go start immediately and other guys are trying to put themselves at a school that’s more prominent than others. So, we brought a couple of guys in that can give us some depth and obviously compete at those positions.”
Talk a little bit about Jabbar Muhammad. He looks like a guy that’s kind of cut a little bit out of the A.J. Green mold.
“He is. He’s like the other guys, you know, he needs to come in and put on 10-15 pounds over the first year or so. Whether he can get on the field and compete next year, I don’t think anybody can predict that. He has really good hips, he can run, he can compete. He comes from a high school program that’s used to a lot of success and winning and we feel like he’s going to be a good player for us.”
With the players you signed today, as well as the players from the December signing period, how do you feel about the class?
“It’s the same every year, we’re excited about all the players that are coming in. Recruiting is not a perfect science; we bring in young men that fit in our culture that give us the best chance to have success as an organization based on the schemes that we have in place. Traditionally, we’ve been very successful bringing young men in that some of the other people feel that aren’t good enough to play at this level. They get into our culture, they get into our program, they end up being really good football players and those are the ones that we shoot for every year. If we didn’t feel like the young men in our signing class couldn’t graduate in three and a half or four years and help us compete for a Big 12 championship, we’d save those scholarships. So, the ones that we gave them out to and the guys that signed, we think they can help us be a successful organization.”
What’s the challenge with trying to identify if a guy is going to fit into the culture?
“We’ve been successful at that more so than anything. It’s a little more challenging to identify whether they’re going to be able to play at a high level athletically. We’re not on the road as much as we used to be from an evaluation standpoint and a lot of times, we don’t get the information that we need. We have to do a lot of research. We try to get as many key components as possible, that’s why I said recruiting’s not a perfect science. So, we make our own decisions based on the discussions and conversations that we have with these guys. Most of the ones that sign with us, we’ve had on campus a year prior to, and what they’re coaches and people at the school say about them, then we try to make a decision on whether they fit us athletically. Then how important football is to them personally is really, really important because it is a difficult game and it’s not easy. So, we tie all those things together and that’s how we end up with the class that we sign each year.”
How big of an impact did Todd Bradford have on this late signing class?
“He’s had quite a bit of an impact just on some of the transfers that we were able to get and or ones that we think we’re gonna get and he’s been fantastic for us. He’s gonna make a big impact in our recruiting and his management skills and advantage of being on the road recruiting, himself for 30 years. So, he’ll be a really good player for us from the recruiting aspect and I see that getting better and better during his time here.”
There are two spots left in the initial 25 scholarships at this point. How do you go about filling those?
“It’s a complicated scheme because you don’t know for sure. There’s so much out there; you know, you could bring more guys in and push guys forward to next year. People talk about the 25, the 25’s really kind of a breaking point, but you could four more guys in and then push three or four more guys ahead into the next class and still sign and bring more guys in. So, it’s a very complicated numbers scheme based on the way players are moving around. It just depends on what all’s available throughout the spring. There will be other players across the country jump on the portal, there will be more movement, that’s just the way it is from this point on and we just try to manage it and do what we can to put the best possible team of guys that fit our culture on the field for the 2020 fall.”
