Who Is Gunnar Gundy? Son Of Oklahoma St. Head Coach Has Opportunity To Start For Father's Team

A shaky performance to start the season against FCS opponent Central Arkansas could have Cowboys fans nervous about what the season holds.

The quarterback carousel that saw the likes of Garret Rangel, Alan Bowman and Gunnar Gundy taking snaps for the Cowboys didn't end in the result OSU wanted on Saturday, but a win is a win. 27-13, Oklahoma State.

Related Story: OSU Led TO 27-13 Victory By Trio Of Quarterbacks, Nardo's Defense

What may catch many fans off-guard is the opportunity for the coach's son, Gunnar Gundy, to start for his father this fall. The competition is wide open and after leading the Cowboys to two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, it's his for the taking.

"I thought he played good," said his father and head coach Mike Gundy during the postgame press conference. "He was accurate, he looked a little nervous on his first throw... had a little bit of jitters but after that, I thought he was pretty good."

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Coach Gundy said Monday that all three quarterbacks would take reps as the starter in practice this week and those reps will decide who will take the field on Saturday.

"There's a part of me that feels like, based on the transfer rules, that I have to be as upfront and honest and give every young man a chance for the longevity of our program,"

Coach Gundy said his son "earned some stripes" with the team for leading them in the fourth quarter on Saturday but went on to say the game rep distribution is still uncertain and the other guys (Bowman, Rangel) played well too.

So Who Is Gunnar Gundy? Is He The Cowboys Starting Quarterback?

To Oklahoma St. fans, Gundy is a feel-good story about the long-time head coach's son who starred at nearby Stillwater High School, setting several school passing records and leading the team to state runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

To college football fans, all they remember is the viral video showing his hands "shake" before he took a snap against Kansas St. during his redshirt freshman season.

Does the video matter? No, not really. But we know how social media is nowadays. Entering his third season at OSU, Gunnar has a real shot at winning the starting job.

The starter for Saturday night's game at Arizona St. hasn't been announced yet, but Coach Gundy provided some interesting insight into the process of analyzing all three quarterbacks.

"Pretty good idea from all along, so the fair thing to do is to grade the tape but you also have a grade based on decision-making, what the defense did, etc. Try to do what we think's best for the team next game."

Hearing that, it's safe to assume the coaching staff saw Bowman as the starter but he hasn't earned it. Did Gunnar do enough to steal the starting spot, or will it be determined by the plays made against the Sun Devils this weekend? Only time will tell.

Coach said it's been a close battle since the spring on Monday. They felt they knew what they had with Bowman, there's been a "good feel" about Rangel based on practices and Gundy had a really good August.

"If Gunnar wouldn't have played well in August, he wouldn't have played," Coach Gundy said.

As close as the game was the majority of the night, Coach Gundy seemed pleased with the quarterbacks and mainly focused on the poor tackling and drops from wide receivers.

A popular notion for college football is if you have more than one quarterback, you actually have none. Well, Oklahoma St. has three but coach Gundy says it's not impacting the flow of the offense early on.

"Not as much as you would think, we don't need to change what we do a lot," said Coach Gundy. "We need to tighten down the package a little bit and really get good at a few things."

What's Gunnar Gundy good at? Judging by last week's game it's game-managing and decision-making, something Coach Gundy emphasized.

The stats are not mind-boggling; 7/9 for 106 yards but the two scoring drives he led in the fourth quarter are what helped put the game away. The OSU offense let Gundy throw the ball when it was needed and the running backs punched in the touchdown once they were in the red zone.

In four games last season, Gundy was 19/39 for 247 yards with 3 TDs and 4 interceptions.

"We need to watch this week's practice," Coach Gundy reiterated.

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