Unflappable
BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Saturday, September 01, 2012
9/01/12 at 4:39 AM
Read more OSU coverage.
Related story: John E. Hoover: OSU has long-term QB questions.
STILLWATER - Somewhere in a could-have-been universe, Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken is preparing quarterback Brent VanderVeen to start a season opener against Savannah State.
Who is Brent VanderVeen? He was the "other guy" when the Cowboys were in the market for post-Brandon Weeden quarterback depth.
VanderVeen (whose high school baseball coach in Arroyo Granda, Calif., was former OSU player Robin Ventura) and Wes Lunt were among quarterback recruits targeted by Monken in the spring of 2011.
The courtship got engagement-ring serious with both, but - long story short - Lunt chose to wear orange and sign with OSU (Oklahoma State) and VanderVeen subsequently chose to wear orange and sign with OSU (Oregon State).
Fast forward to the present. VanderVeen is almost certainly headed for a redshirt season and Monken is preparing Lunt to be the first true freshman to start a game at quarterback for the Cowboys since Tone Jones in 1993.
OSU officials dusted off the archives in an attempt to determine if a first-year freshman quarterback has ever started a season opener, and they are saying it hasn't happened in more than 60 years, if ever.
So Lunt can simultaneously introduce himself to history, Savannah State and Cowboy fans Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium.
When Monken pursued Lunt and VanderVeen, the mission wasn't necessarily to find OSU's next starting QB. OSU hadn't played the 2011 season yet.
Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh still had a year to develop behind Weeden. And Johnny Deaton hadn't yet announced he was transferring to Northeastern State.
Lunt enrolled at OSU last spring to give himself a collegiate headstart and - surprise! - was named OSU's starter before attending his high school graduation or prom.
"I really did not expect him to win the job," Monken said. "As much as we gave him a chance to compete for it, I really thought he would be a lot further behind - not in terms of the football part and what we do. But just in terms of pocket presence, his demeanor, his accuracy and those kind of things, they were further ahead than I ever thought they would be."
Is there any chance Lunt would be starting Saturday if he hadn't gone through spring drills?
"I don't think so," Monken said. "We would only be two weeks in now trying to shrink the reps. He wouldn't have gotten all the reps he has gotten now because we couldn't have divided reps like we did. We would be completely different in a lot of ways in what we do and how we do things."
The expected scenario is Lunt will endure growing pains during his rookie season.
But, best-case scenario, maybe Lunt has some magic about him, like the first-year freshman quarterback who cracked OSU's starting lineup during the 1986 season and had 138 pass attempts before throwing an interception. That quarterback's name was Mike Gundy and, of course, he's the Cowboys' head coach now.
Gundy was asked last week if he has talked about his freshman quarterback experiences with Lunt.
"I thought that at some point in watching him in practice that I would need to have that discussion with him, and I think the only thing I can do now is mess him up," Gundy said.
"I think he seems to be very level-headed and he plays with confidence in difficult situations in practice. We try to put him in the most difficult positions he could be in, and I don't see any reason for me to get involved in his mental approach at this time. I think Todd Monken is a very smart football coach. I think he has handled him very well. And the way those two are working right now, I'm just kind of watching it and seeing him develop."
Senior guard Jonathan Rush was asked what people should know about Lunt and said this: "He's a mellow kid. Monken expects a lot of everyone, especially his starters. I will see (Lunt) go out there and Monken will kind of lay into him. But he is mellow. He never changes his demeanor. He is cool and composed."
A telling preseason quote about Lunt came from one of the men who has been trying to fluster the freshman.
Said co-defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer, "We haven't seen him push the panic button one time, and we have come at him with everything we have.... He is running the show. He has shown he is pretty composed. You can't rattle the kid."
Kid? OSU got 10 years younger at the starting quarterback position since the end of last season. Old school or new at school, the expectation is to keep winning.
The boys can play
A look at the top true freshman passing performances in OSU history:
|
Player |
Opponent |
Comp |
Att |
Yds |
INT |
TD |
Result |
|
1. | Mike Gundy | '86 vs. Kansas | 20 | 36 | 275 | 0 | 1 | W, 24-6 |
|
2. | Gary Porter | '92 vs. Mizzou | 12 | 25 | 261 | 1 | 1 | W, 28-26 |
|
3. | Gary Porter | '92 vs. Kansas | 18 | 33 | 259 | 3 | 2 | L, 26-18 |
|
4. | Mike Gundy | '86 vs. Mizzou | 18 | 29 | 232 | 4 | 0 | W, 10-6 |
|
5. | Josh Fields | '01 vs. OU | 19 | 38 | 231 | 1 | 1 | W, 16-13 |
Flashback: How top Big 12 QBs performed in debuts
First-year freshman Wes Lunt will make his first collegiate start when Oklahoma State plays
Savannah State on Saturday. Here’s how former Big 12 quarterbacks selected in the first round of NFL drafts fared in their first college starts:
Robert Griffin III, Baylor
Year drafted: 2012.
Year he made his college start at QB: 2008.
Griffin came off the bench in his first collegiate
game but became a starter the following
week in a 51-6 triumph over Northwestern
(La.) State. In his first start, he accounted
for four touchdowns (three passing, one
rushing) while collecting 294 passing yards
and 42 rushing yards.
Ryan Tannehill, Texas A&M
Year drafted: 2012.
Year he made his first college start at QB: 2010.
Tannehill had been a receiver and backup
quarterback until midway through the 2010
season, when he was promoted to starting
QB over turnover-prone Jerrod Johnson. In
Tannehill’s first start, he threw for a schoolrecord
449 yards and four touchdowns in a
45-27 victory over Texas Tech.
Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State
Year drafted: 2012.
Year he made his first college start at QB: 2010.
Weeden was a pinch-hit hero when he came
off the bench at halftime to lead OSU to a
come-from-behind victory over Colorado
in 2009. After Zac Robinson graduated,
Weeden became the Cowboys’ starter and,
in his first start, he hit 22-of-30 passes for
218 yards and threw three TD passes (all to
Justin Blackmon) in a 65-17 rout of Washington
State.
Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
Year drafted: 2011.
Year he made his first college start at QB: 2009.
Gabbert was an apprentice during his freshman
season, then exploded onto the scene
as a sophomore by torching Illinois in his first
college start. Gabbert threw for 319 yards
and three touchdowns and ran for a score to
lead the Tigers to a 37-9 win.
Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
Year drafted: 2010.
Year he made his first college start at QB: 2007.
Bradford debuted as a redshirt freshman in a
season opener against North Texas. He broke
Josh Heupel’s school record for passing yards
in a half by throwing for 350 before halftime.
He only threw one pass after halftime
and finished the game with 18 consecutive
completions, 363 passing yards and three
touchdowns in a 79-10 wipeout.
Josh Freeman, Kansas State
Year drafted: 2009.
Year he made his first college start at QB: 2006.
Freeman was a freshman when he was
promoted to starter in a midseason game
against Oklahoma State. Freeman entered
the fourth quarter with only six pass attempts,
but he led a charge back from a
10-point deficit in the last four minutes and
ran 21 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in a
31-27 victory. Freeman finished 10-of-15 with
177 passing yards.
Vince Young, Texas
Year drafted: 2006.
Year he made his first college start at QB: 2003.
Young was a part-time player as a redshirt
freshman before becoming a starter in a
Week 7 game against Iowa State. (His promotion
immediately came after Texas was
whacked 65-13 by Oklahoma). He hit 11-of-15
passes for 136 yards and a touchdown and
ran 10 times for 58 yards in a 40-19 beating
of the Cyclones.
—FROM STAFF REPORTS
Jimmie Tramel 918-581-8389
jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Quarterback Wes Lunt (11) passes during OSU's Spring Football game at Boone Pickens Stadium, in Stillwater, on Saturday, April 21, 2012. CORY YOUNG/Tulsa World
Lunt
Mike Gundy
Josh Fields
|
