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10 thoughts on Wes Lunt

You all know the news by now: 1s is transferring, presumably to Southern Miss or Akron or somewhere he’s going to throw 60 TDs and haunt us for the next four years.

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You all know the news by now: 1s is transferring, presumably to Southern Miss or Akron or somewhere he’s going to throw 60 TDs and haunt us for the next four years.[1. We’ll probably get housed by 12-0 Akron in the Fiesta Bowl in 2017 as he solidifies his first round draft status with 5 TD throws and 455 yards in Glenn Spencer’s swan song as defensive coordinator, but whatever.] Anyway, I have 10 thoughts on what was, what is, and what could have been…

1. First things first — and I know everyone has an opinion on this — I think Lunt is going to be (was always going to be) a star. I know some of you disagree (“he’s fragile!” “he’s not mentally there!”[2. I have no idea how one can deduce this from the amount of football he played last year and what he did when he was on the field.] “he’s all show!”) but it’s all there. Go back and watch the Arizona game, I mean my gosh that was his second college football game and he was rolling like he’d been studying OSU’s offense since kindergarten.

I could be wrong, I often am, but I think OSU fans are going to look back at this transfer as basically the opposite of Joey Graham or John Lucas transferring in to Stillwater — there’s going to be lots of “crap, I wish we still had that dude” going on.

2. Some people on Twitter were complaining that Gundy misplayed this and that’s why Lunt is leaving but I don’t really think that’s the case. Obviously nobody knows what went on behind the scenes but I’ll never be convinced that Gundy shutting down media coverage of his QBs affected Lunt’s decision at all.

There was definitely an “am I going to be the starter?” conversation at some point (probably recently) and whatever Gundy’s answer was to that (obviously “no”) wouldn’t have changed even if there wasn’t a restraining order on all members of the Oklahoman and Tulsa World. Now, I do think Gundy got burned long-term by his decision to start Chelf next year, but we’ll talk about that in a minute.

3. This means Clint Chelf was always going to start. It has to. Gundy’s not rolling out there with J.W. against 10 Mississippi State defenders in the box. He’s just not. And why does it mean Chelf was always going to start? Because you don’t leave a conference favorite if you were going to be the starting QB. Gundy basically said as much today:

4. Based on what was in the Oklahoma this morning and this tweet from Gundy, nobody really saw this coming. That’s not surprising I guess, as Lunt is a notoriously quiet, reserved guy, but still it’s rather shocking. If you say you weren’t shocked by the news then you are much more clairvoyant than I am.

5. 244 days ago Wes Lunt was the starting quarterback of 18th-ranked highest scoring team in the nation and Jenni Carlson had just basically a “he’s the next Warren Moon” column about him. At least he doesn’t have to deal with Jenni Carlson anymore?

6. From his perspective I just….I don’t….get it. There had to be something going on other than Chelf being the starter because it’s not like Lunt thought he wasn’t going to beat out Walsh over the next two/three years. Even if Chelf started you still have to sit out a year if you transfer. Are there that many better places for a QB, who presumably wants to play in the NFL, to be than OSU?

As is usually the case with stuff like this it was probably a combination of reasons but I’d put my money on him being homesick. I just don’t see his relationship with Monken being as important to him as everyone thinks. Go back and read this story by Kelly Hines from last year — he’s always been kind of a homebody (understandably so as an 18-year-old!) and maybe he just never got over that.

7. Ok back to Gundy’s decision to start Chelf (or Walsh if you prefer that narrative…just somebody other than Lunt). I think Gundy though he could get Lunt to redshirt for a year and I think if he didn’t think that he might have started Lunt just out of obligation this year so we could have him for the next three.

I think Gundy likes the way Chelf handles the team — his teammates seem to get more hyped for him than they do Lunt[3. I may or may not be basing this on a ridiculous social-media-campaign-turned-t-shirt-bonanza based around a phrase used when describing the velocity of an outdated form of cross-country travel. OK, I am.] and I think Gundy knows that. But I also think he knows that three years of Lunt > one year of Chelf + two years of J.W.

Dare somebody to ask him on Twitter.

8. I got killed on Twitter last night for my “Smart for one more year or Lunt for three?” question but I don’t really think it’s all that absurd. You guys have been so spoiled the last few years that you don’t know remember what it’s like to have an average QB like Walsh running the show. I don’t hate Walsh, I think he’s a gamer, but J.W. Walsh isn’t going to be winning you Big 12 Championships (and if he is, then I’ll gladly eat these words).

Smart is great but one year is one year. I agree with the narrative that Smart is more important to hoops than Lunt was to football, but two years worth? Maybe, but I think you’re selling Lunt short.

9. If a QB from Illinois plays football at OSU and never talks to the media during the football season, did he actually play football at OSU?

10. Here’s another theory: from the second Monken got the job at Southern Miss, Lunt was always going to transfer there. The hole in this theory is that OSU’s season was over before the spring semester started so he could have transferred then but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway as he still would have had to sit out the 2013 season.

I don’t 100% believe something like this would happen but if the rumors are true and Yurcich really does want to run the ball more with his QB (Berry said so here) then maybe there’s something to it.

Whatever the case, like I said yesterday, I’m super bummed out about Lunt leaving. I really felt like he had a chance to be an all-timer as a Cowboy. The leap you make from your freshman to sophomore year is usually ridiculous and I think his would have been no different. Plus he had the perfect backup in Walsh.

OSU was set at the QB depth chart for the next three years.

Now? Akron in 2017 in Tempe. You heard it here first.

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