Gundy prepared to play Brown, Sanders at Oregon State

STILL WATER—Mike Gun dy has a plan for Oklahoma State's quarterback situation.

But he's not telling you what it is.

“There' s not anything that's really changed that would be worth discussing today,” Gundy said Friday during his regular pregame media luncheon.

The Cowboys, who open the season at 9:30 p.m. next Friday at Oregon State, appear to be heading in without a determined No. 1 quarterback between senior D ru Brown and red shirt freshman Spencer Sanders.

It's a situation the Pokes haven't faced since August 2013, when Gundy decided Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh would both play in the season opener against Mississippi State.

But this situation, Gundy says, is different.

“I think( Brown and Sanders) are further ahead than where those guys were at that time,” he said.

The 2013 team won 10 games and peaked at No. 6 in the Associated Press poll in mid-November, eventually going to the Cotton Bowl where it lost to Missouri.

Chelf and Walsh worked well together, and any team division was avoided. That type of distraction is what Gundy has been keeping an eye out for through preseason camp.

“I wouldn't let that go on for more than five minutes,”

he said. “I'd have to get involved.

“I do see them having discussions about what's going on, which is positive. I'm guessing that they both would like to be the full-time starter. There's always going to be some edge in the competition there, but it' s not a distraction. That's the part that I appreciate — that they can compete but also work together.”

Gun dy has said his desire is to have one quarterback running the offense. And if so, his timetable can't be long, with a trip to Texas to begin Big 12 action just more than four weeks away.

And with each practice, the shared role is stealing

practice ti me f rom the eventual No. 1 guy.

“You can never get enough reps for the starter when two guys are sharing time,” Gundy said. “You can't just put more plays in because the five offensive line men only have so many reps in their bodies. We just run the same plays with the (first and second team).”

One difference in the Sanders/Brown battle vs. Chelf/Walsh is the experience factor.

Chelf and Walsh had both played games for the Cowboys before the 2013 season, while Sanders and Brown haven't taken more than one snap while at OSU.

Brown, who made 22 starts at Hawaii before transferring in the winter of 2018, found the benefit in the mental side of the game as he watched from the sideline as well.

“Being able to sit back and learn, you go through mental rep sin games and practices, because you have to stay locked in,” he said. “You never know when your number's called.

“Another year of learning, physically and mentally preparing, you gain a lot more perspective on the game.”

Sanders believe she took advantage of his redshirt season, sitting the bench for the first time he could remember.

“I have matured as a man, which has helped me come along in every area,” Sanders said on Aug .3, the last time t he quarterbacks were allowed to speak to the media. “That's keeping myself poised in making a pass, or making the right read. Honestly, I've gotten a lot smarter, and that comes with the game and when I'm not playing the game.”