Mike Gundy On the Spring Game: ‘We’re an Improved Team’

Mike Gundy, ever the deferrer, thinks the Spring Game went pretty well but that Oklahoma State still has a long way to go as a team. He talked about some of the highlights after the festivities wrapped up on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.

“I thought the defense played really, really well,” said head coach Mike Gundy on Saturday after his defense mucked up what’s going to be an interesting 2016 offense. “Some guys made plays and we were able to run some of our offense and have a good day.

“Overall it was a good day for us. The real work starts now. Finish up in the classroom over the next two weeks and get in the weight room and get ready for a great summer.” The defense was impressive. As Kyle B. points out here, it was much more impressive than the offense.

Justin Phillips with a nice interception for Team Black! #okstate https://t.co/pGf6SV0Ge3

— Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) April 16, 2016

Gundy doesn’t seem too concerned about the lack of a run game for the third (?) straight year.

“We’re in a divided unit, we substitute a lot in a lot of our packages, so there’s kind of a minimal opportunity for us to be diverse as we want to,” Gundy said. “As is the case in most springs, there’s an advantage for the defense. They’ve seen the same plays for two months, but they’ve got to get lined up and make plays also.”

Which they did. Gundy mentioned that he really liked the play of Jarrell Owens and Jordan Brailford (for obvious reasons).

“We’re an improved team,” added Gundy.

But.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by Gundy saying this is an improved team, but I think I am. You didn’t lose a ton in terms of numbers, but man, you lost a lot of leadership. Seth Jacobs, Ryan Simmons, Emmanuel Ogbah, Jimmy Bean and David Glidden is a lot to lose when it comes to being an elite team. So while you might be able to plug in some bodies, it’s going to be tough for this team to replicate its 10-win season from a year ago (Gundy even noted that depth was a concern at a couple of positions). But he also said on Saturday that they’re improved.

Five months until we find out.