Oklahoma State Football: What’s wrong with Dru Brown?
The time has past for Mike Gundy to completely salvage Oklahoma State football‘s season, but he can still play senior Dru Brown this year.
More: Is 2018 already a lost season for Oklahoma State?
A confounding quarterback situation in the Big 12 transpired just one year after the departure of the three-year starter Mason Rudolph to the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oklahoma State football started the year with a three-year backup to Rudolph in senior signal caller Taylor Cornelius. He was fine early on, guiding Oklahoma State to an undefeated record through three games.
The only other quarterback to get snaps for Oklahoma State football was sophomore Keondre Wudtee. Two of the presumed figureheads in the quarterback battle for the Pokes during the off-season haven’t left the sidelines yet this season. The former Hawaii Rainbow Warriors grad transfer Dru Brown and the Denton, TX, native freshman Spencer Sanders are without a single passing attempt in 2018.
It appears as if the only way that Brown or Sanders will see the field at all this season is if Oklahoma State somehow blows an opponent out or Cornelius undergoes an injury. With an Oklahoma State blowout against any of its five remaining opponents very improbable, an injury might be the only way we see what Brown or Sanders can do.
Head Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy is usually conservative with his quarterback situation. The new NCAA redshirt rule should bring some sort of change to his normal approach to slotting in cold quarterbacks into action at times of adversity.
Oklahoma State’s bowl chances this season are dwindling fast and some type of adjustment under center could be warranted if Cornelius continues to struggle like he did in Week 7. The Kansas State Wildcats hosting Oklahoma State was the worst outing of the year for Cornelius.
Getting a better effort out of Cornelius is big for the Pokes if this team wants a chance to compete with the No. 6 Texas Longhorns in Week 9. A candidate to get some action in this game if Cornelius doesn’t provide a spark to the Oklahoma State offense is the senior Brown.
The fact that a former graduate transfer that only has one year of eligibility left seems like an obvious quarterback to send in when Cornelius struggles. That makes you wonder why Gundy didn’t put enough trust in Brown to at least get some extra reps in practice at some point.
By all indications, Brown had at least a decent tenure in his time with Hawaii. He racked up 43 total touchdowns and just 15 interceptions in his two-year starting career with the Rainbow Warriors.
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Putting in a quarterback that has slightly under twice as many total touchdowns in his career than Cornelius seems like a no-brainer for where the Pokes are at right now. It does make more sense for the Oklahoma State coaching staff to put Brown under center, a quarterback with a ton of previous experience at the FBS level, than a true freshman like Sanders.
Another game of mediocre performance from Cornelius without a Brown appearance would really make you scratch your head as to why he’s facing such odds in getting game action.