April Fool's? Not at OSU

No jokes for the Pokes on the biggest day of the year for pranksters. Just more spring workouts.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:18 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Apr 1, 2011 9:57 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Reporter

STILLWATER, Oklahoma – The jokes weren’t flowing in Stillwater on Friday afternoon. April Fool’s Day came and went without even one prank. No mud in the shoes. No V8 instead of Gatorade. Not even one drop of Icy Hot in the ‘ol jock strap. The Pokes were focused on football.

Oklahoma State’s annual Orange-White spring game is two weeks away. If they had to play tomorrow, the defense would struggle.

“The defense showed some youth,” head coach Mike Gundy said after the team’s 115-play workout. “There are guys giving us effort. They’re just making mistakes, and that’s going to happen until we get some of these guys we have caught up with everyone else.”

Gundy praised his quarterbacks for pushing each other in practice. Brandon Weeden was sharp in drills and Gundy made a point to single out Johnny Deaton, J.W. Walsh and Colton Chelf as well.

Defensively, Nigel Nicholas continues to draw rave reviews from coaches on both sides of the ball. The 6-foot-3, 279 pound defensive tackle was the star of the workout to defensive coordinator Bill Young.

Caleb Lavey also drew praise from the coaches. Overall, the offense won the Friday practice.

“We can always get better,” said wide receiver Justin Blackmon. “There’s always something you can work on. We’ve just got to keep working and use up all this time.

Hopefully we don’t waste this time.”

The Cowboys hosted a Coaches Clinic for regional high school coaches. Gundy estimated that between 180-190 coaches from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas watched his team practices in the beautiful weather. Those totals set OSU records. The Cowboys will play their annual spring game on April 16th.