Why Owasso’s Kuehne chose UNT
OWASSO — Fear and hope filled Will Kuehne in June.
Fear that he would miss out on North Texas, a school he really liked, if he waited any longer to commit as quarterbacks began to come off the board.
Hope that when he did commit to the school in Denton, Texas, that he would be the piece to bring in big recruits to build the class.
That pushed Kuehne, Owasso’s star quarterback, to commit on June 19, landing a chance to return close to his hometown just two years after moving away to play quarterback and be closer to family.
“That’s where I felt best with the connections that I have with coaches,” Kuehne said. “Then growing up there, it’s 15 minutes from where I was born and raised. Probably the connections and being able to go back home was what helped me make my decision.”
Kuehne, who is 6-foot-1 and 178 pounds, is ranked No. 16 on The Oklahoman’s Super 30 rankings of the state’s top football recruits in the 2019
class. He chose the Mean Green over offers from Arkansas State, Maryland and a handful of Ivy League schools.
Coming off a year in which he threw for 2,788 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 10 more, Kuehne’s recruiting picked up steam. He led Owasso to the Class 6A-I state championship and was on The Oklahoman’s All-State first team.
And he did this in his first year as a full-time quarterback.
“He gets the game,” Owasso coach Bill Blankenship said. “It wasn’t too big for him. Not saying he didn’t make mistakes. He made mistakes, but he kept learning and growing from them.
“I think the interesting thing from the recruiting standpoint is very rarely do you have a guy in his shoes that’s had his kind of success that has so much upside.”
Kuehne moved from Argyle, Texas. The son of former Oklahoma
State golfer Trip Kuehne and former OSU basketball player Dusti Stuart, he had primarily played safety.
Three years ago, he started training with DeBartolo Sports University, a group of quarterback coaches that include Joe Dickinson and Joe McCulley, who continues to work with Kuehne.
But Kuehne also found an unlikely mentor in the program: Daxx Garman.
The program sets up younger quarterbacks with older quarterbacks. Kuehne was paired with Garman, who played quarterback at Carl Albert and Jones before being surrounded by controversy due to his eligibility. He then played at Arizona, OSU and Maryland.
“I like him a lot,” Kuehne said. “He’s got an interesting story. He taught me what it takes to work hard, because he was one of the hardest workers I know and he had to adapt so much.”
Kuehne ultimately learned not to miss his opportunity.
He’s now focusing on bringing in more recruits to North Texas for Oklahoma native Seth Littrell. Kuehne also wants to follow Locust Grove native Mason Fine’s lead.
“What he did is what I want to be able to do,” Kuehne said. “You know, go in and be really successful and throw for a bunch of yards and win a bunch of games.”