OSU Football: Big 12 Media Days Notebook

Riding the wave of late-season success, Mike Gundy stepped up to the podium and fielded questions about his team and vision for this season. Here are a few notes on Gundy’s Big 12 Media Days experience on Tuesday.

-Gundy took a ton of questions on first-year starting quarterback Mason Rudolph. On whether he regrets losing Rudolph’s redshirt status last year: “Well, now I wish I had another year with him. In our situation last year, the way we handled Mason obviously was what we thought was best for our football team, and it worked out for us in the long run.  But you would always like to have the extra year.”

-He also noted that backup quarterback J.W. Walsh will see the field this season. “We're very lucky to have J.W. Walsh on our football team.  J.W. is going to play.  He'll be a factor in the success of our football team this season.”

-Cornerback Kevin Peterson, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, has become one of the defensive leaders. “Over the last couple of seasons he stepped up and developed some leadership skills and really helped our football team in that area.  He played early in his career, went through a stage where he was developing his body physically, but mentally he's grown and has helped carry our players over well last summer and the summer before.”

-The hype train caught up with incoming running back Chris Carson last week when he was picked as Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. On Carson’s potential: “What I can tell you is he's done very well in summer conditioning.  His attitude's been terrific.  His work habits, his testing, his speed, his footwork-- all the things that we would want to see in a back that's going to be successful at this level, he's shown us to this point.”

-Gundy added that he normally uses a lead back and a secondary back and mentioned that Carson’s impact has carried over to returning junior Rennie Childs, who had a good spring and a great summer.

-On defensive expectations and having three Preseason All-Big 12 defenders: “We put a lot of importance in planning in our defense about four years ago. We allotted more scholarships on that side of the ball than we did on offense.  I think it's paying off for us now at this time. I think we have some young players that should show up this season that most people are not aware of.”

-The head coach offered his thoughts on conference expansion saying he’s a “strong supporter” of a Big 12 Conference where each school plays every other team. “I think right before Ohio State beat Wisconsin by a large margin, we had a good chance to get two teams in. So I don't know that we need to overreact.  I think that our conference is strong.  I have a lot of confidence in our league office, Commissioner Bowlsby and the staff and the direction they're taking us and that we'll make the right decisions.”

-Just before the press conference began, projected starting defensive tackle Vili Leveni posted on Facebook that he’d had surgery and would miss the upcoming season. Gundy confirmed and empathized with the redshirt sophomore. “As a coach, it's one of the most difficult things to swallow.  You have a young man that's done everything we've asked him to do and he's put a lot of time in and he's come to a bump in the road. But the next guy has to make plays. We're not as experienced and we don't have as much depth at that position, but there's certain things that we can control and that's certainly not one of them.  So Vili will be back with us at some point, and we're looking forward to getting him back.”