OSU Football HC Mike Gundy Speaks on Alan Bowman's Experience Under Center
With a head coaching search underway for the basketball program, hoops are the talk of the town in Stillwater. Still, Oklahoma State basketball has yet to make any moves, and the football program is in the middle of spring football.
Spring practices began Tuesday, and this saw the media talk to head coach Mike Gundy, who is entering his 20th season as the head coach of the Cowboys.
Heading into the new season, Gundy's offense will be led by Alan Bowman, who is a seventh-year quarterback and in his second season with Oklahoma State. While Kasey Dunn is facing some pressure to establish a consistent offense, having Bowman under center certainly helps his case.
Gundy spoke to the media about Bowman's experience and how the Cowboys are going to benefit from it during the 2024 college football season.
"Lots of experience. He's been really good from day one, but even more that he's settled in over the last couple months. He's more comfortable," Gundy explained. "I've always said, in my opinion, there's not really any substitute for experience or maturity. We had a lot of success with (Brandon) Weeden, he was 28ish, 27, 29, somewhere in that area. Same thing, these guys bring a lot to the table from an experience standpoint."
The Cowboys are returning a majority of their depth. Their entire starting offensive group is coming back for another season. With this, the entire team will be comfortable within the offense and Bowman will have his weapons. Pair this with his maturity and experience, and the Cowboys could certainly have a very, very solid season.
"He should [improve] just through reps. Our systems don't really change much so the more we do, the better we get at it. Familiarity will be good. We have quite a few wide receivers coming back, so he'll have a good feel from working with those guys. We should see improvement," Gundy continued.
The Cowboys won ten games a season ago and played in the Big 12 title game -- losing to Texas. That was after a putrid 2-2 start with a loss to South Alabama. Any improvement, paired with a much cleaner start to the season, could lead to a high-potential season for Oklahoma State.
The Big 12 offers a much clearer path to a championship with Texas and Oklahoma leaving the conference. That would also give them an auto-bid to the College Football Playoffs, which will feature 12 teams for the first time. If the Cowboys can reach that stage of the season, having a veteran, seventh-year quarterback will certainly benefit Oklahoma State.
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KADE KIMBLE
Kade is a strategic communications student at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where he also minors in Sports Management. He has been covering the Oklahoma City Thunder with InsidetheThunder.com since the 2022 season after having followed the team since its early days.