OSU FOOTBALL
STILLWATER — Gage Gundy tried to warn his dad, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, that he was making a mistake in 2021 by not offering Gavin Freeman a scholarship.
“We (coaches) watched him and watched him and liked him and watched him … (Gage) crossed paths with him in summer seven-on-seven and all that stuff,” Mike Gundy said. “But we had a reason for not, I think we were in a year that we didn’t take a bunch, but we certainly were aware that he was good enough to play at this level.”
Oklahoma State took four receivers in 2022. All of them were ranked significantly ahead of Freeman, according to 247Sports. Two, Tayln Shettron and Mason Gilkey, are still with the Cowboys in reserve roles this season.
Oklahoma State wide receiver Gavin Freeman, right, finished the opener with two catches and 21 total snaps played, making him a clear-cut No. 4 receiver.
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World
In Saturday’s win over South Dakota State, Gundy’s youngest son didn’t even have to wait for the second quarter to start before his long-held belief in Freeman was validated.
Freeman, who transferred from Oklahoma during the summer, caught his first pass as a Cowboy in the opening quarter for a six-yard gain. He then hauled in a four-yard pass in the fourth quarter.
Despite joining the team late in the offseason, Freeman finished the game fourth among receivers in snaps, with 21, making him the team’s clear-cut No. 4 as none of the other receivers who came off the bench saw more than eight snaps and they combined for one target which went to Shettron.
“Well, he’s fast, and he’s tough,” Gundy said. “Has always had success with the ball in his hands. He disregards his body at wide receiver. He takes hits all the time. He tries to hurdle people. He runs through people. He’s a returner. You know, he wrestled for 10 years. He just has a toughness about him, competitive nature that you want guys like that on your team.”
That competitiveness, in combination with an injury to fellow slot receiver Da’Wain Lofton, a Virginia Tech transfer, might be the biggest reason Freeman earned a role with the Cowboys so quickly.
Which kind of blows up his plan.
“I was probably going to be splitting reps a lot 50-50,” Freeman said of his decision to leave Oklahoma. “I didn’t want to do that again … I wanted to come to a place where I could redshirt.”
After Saturday’s performance, even Gundy doesn’t seem to know if the Cowboys will be able to limit Freeman to four regular-season games, which is the maximum number of contests in which players can participate and still take a redshirt.
“I don’t know that it’s fair to say one way or the other right now,” Gundy said. “I will say that we’re very pleased with what he’s bringing to the table. He still has a ways to go, learning our system, but he’s made really good strides, and we’ll just have to play it by ear as we move along.”
Gundy is extremely familiar with changing plans on the fly. The Cowboys had to make a similar decision with Leon Johnson last season despite initially planning to redshirt him so he could be available for the 2024 season.
Johnson finished third in snaps among OSU receivers despite only playing two games prior to a Week 8 trip to West Virginia.
“Leon is a perfect example,” Gundy said. “We’d love to have him back, but at that point, we were on a run and had a chance to get into the Big 12 Championship game. We would not have gotten in it without him.”
Despite Johnson’s impact late in the season, the decision to burn the redshirt and give up his eligibility this season wasn’t made by Gundy and the coaching staff alone. Johnson had to be willing to sacrifice his ability to extend his career.
“We had the discussion,” Gundy said. “At first, I think he still wanted to redshirt, and then he finally said, ‘OK, I’ll play.’”
Expect a similar process to play out this fall with Freeman. When deciding when to preserve redshirts or burn them, Gundy said he tries to prioritize what he believes is best for the player and what that player wants to do first.
“Now, those two don’t always jive together,” Gundy said. “And so the second (part), we ask and think what’s best for the team.
“Years ago, coaches made that determination. But over the last three, four, five years, there’s a neutral conversation between the player, their family, their representatives and the coaches, as you move forward. It’s just one of the changes that we’re going through that’s part of the game. I guess, ultimately, a coach could just say, ‘This is what you’re doing one way or another.’ That’s not what we do here. Because I think long term, that would be counterproductive in a free agency world.”
Former Sooner Gavin Freeman wanted to redshirt at OSU, but will that change after his performance Saturday?
- Sep 3, 2024 Updated 1 hr ago
Tyler Waldrep
OSU Sports WriterSTILLWATER — Gage Gundy tried to warn his dad, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, that he was making a mistake in 2021 by not offering Gavin Freeman a scholarship.
“We (coaches) watched him and watched him and liked him and watched him … (Gage) crossed paths with him in summer seven-on-seven and all that stuff,” Mike Gundy said. “But we had a reason for not, I think we were in a year that we didn’t take a bunch, but we certainly were aware that he was good enough to play at this level.”
Oklahoma State took four receivers in 2022. All of them were ranked significantly ahead of Freeman, according to 247Sports. Two, Tayln Shettron and Mason Gilkey, are still with the Cowboys in reserve roles this season.
Oklahoma State wide receiver Gavin Freeman, right, finished the opener with two catches and 21 total snaps played, making him a clear-cut No. 4 receiver.
Daniel Shular, Tulsa World
In Saturday’s win over South Dakota State, Gundy’s youngest son didn’t even have to wait for the second quarter to start before his long-held belief in Freeman was validated.
Freeman, who transferred from Oklahoma during the summer, caught his first pass as a Cowboy in the opening quarter for a six-yard gain. He then hauled in a four-yard pass in the fourth quarter.
Despite joining the team late in the offseason, Freeman finished the game fourth among receivers in snaps, with 21, making him the team’s clear-cut No. 4 as none of the other receivers who came off the bench saw more than eight snaps and they combined for one target which went to Shettron.
“Well, he’s fast, and he’s tough,” Gundy said. “Has always had success with the ball in his hands. He disregards his body at wide receiver. He takes hits all the time. He tries to hurdle people. He runs through people. He’s a returner. You know, he wrestled for 10 years. He just has a toughness about him, competitive nature that you want guys like that on your team.”
That competitiveness, in combination with an injury to fellow slot receiver Da’Wain Lofton, a Virginia Tech transfer, might be the biggest reason Freeman earned a role with the Cowboys so quickly.
Which kind of blows up his plan.
“I was probably going to be splitting reps a lot 50-50,” Freeman said of his decision to leave Oklahoma. “I didn’t want to do that again … I wanted to come to a place where I could redshirt.”
After Saturday’s performance, even Gundy doesn’t seem to know if the Cowboys will be able to limit Freeman to four regular-season games, which is the maximum number of contests in which players can participate and still take a redshirt.
“I don’t know that it’s fair to say one way or the other right now,” Gundy said. “I will say that we’re very pleased with what he’s bringing to the table. He still has a ways to go, learning our system, but he’s made really good strides, and we’ll just have to play it by ear as we move along.”
Gundy is extremely familiar with changing plans on the fly. The Cowboys had to make a similar decision with Leon Johnson last season despite initially planning to redshirt him so he could be available for the 2024 season.
Johnson finished third in snaps among OSU receivers despite only playing two games prior to a Week 8 trip to West Virginia.
“Leon is a perfect example,” Gundy said. “We’d love to have him back, but at that point, we were on a run and had a chance to get into the Big 12 Championship game. We would not have gotten in it without him.”
Despite Johnson’s impact late in the season, the decision to burn the redshirt and give up his eligibility this season wasn’t made by Gundy and the coaching staff alone. Johnson had to be willing to sacrifice his ability to extend his career.
“We had the discussion,” Gundy said. “At first, I think he still wanted to redshirt, and then he finally said, ‘OK, I’ll play.’”
Expect a similar process to play out this fall with Freeman. When deciding when to preserve redshirts or burn them, Gundy said he tries to prioritize what he believes is best for the player and what that player wants to do first.
“Now, those two don’t always jive together,” Gundy said. “And so the second (part), we ask and think what’s best for the team.
“Years ago, coaches made that determination. But over the last three, four, five years, there’s a neutral conversation between the player, their family, their representatives and the coaches, as you move forward. It’s just one of the changes that we’re going through that’s part of the game. I guess, ultimately, a coach could just say, ‘This is what you’re doing one way or another.’ That’s not what we do here. Because I think long term, that would be counterproductive in a free agency world.”
