How Reed DeQuasie's move to Oklahoma State football conjured memories of Midwest City lore
Scott WrightThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — A few notable family names immediately conjure memories of the Midwest City High School football dynasty of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Gundy is one of the most recognized.
DeQuasie is also on that list.
And more than three decades after the two families last shared a team, they’ve paired up again.
Reed DeQuasie, a walk-on safety, joined Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State football team over the summer. The son of Richard DeQuasie, Reed is a former Carl Albert standout who had walked on and redshirted last year at OU, where uncles Greg and Brent had played after their Bomber careers.
Buck is the oldest of the four DeQuasie brothers who helped carry the Midwest City torch through its most dominant era. Greg played quarterback for the Bombers in 1986, the one-year gap between Mike Gundy and younger brother Cale, who each quarterbacked a state championship team.
Brent came shortly after Greg, and Richard — or Richie, as Mike Gundy still calls him — was the youngest of the group, graduating in 1992.
Reed, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound safety, played on both sides of the ball at Carl Albert, quarterbacking them to the Class 5A title in his senior season of 2022. He had multiple Division II scholarship offers, as well as preferred walk-on opportunities at OU, OSU and Iowa State.
“I’m really excited about having him,” Mike Gundy said at Big 12 Media Days. “I think he’s a really good fit at our place. If he’ll stay patient and allow himself to develop, and get into our system, I think he’ll play for us.”
Reed is the second former Sooner walk-on to join the Cowboys this offseason, and both have family connections to OU. Gavin Freeman, the son of former OU tight end Jason Freeman, arrived at OSU in June.
While the DeQuasie brothers were known for their wrestling and baseball talents in addition to football at Midwest City, Reed was a basketball and track athlete at Carl Albert — the Bombers’ archrival, of course.
But crossing Bomber/Titan battle lines has become more common over the last several years.
“A bunch of those guys I grew up with, we were diehard Bombers,” Gundy said. “All their kids went to Carl Albert. My sister, all her girls went to Carl Albert. Now some of ‘em are even going to Choctaw.”
That’s where Reed began his career, attending Choctaw for his first two years of high school. He got to Carl Albert as a junior and spent two seasons as the starting quarterback. He played a bit of defense, but is still developing on that side of the ball.
He had 28 tackles and an interception over five games as a senior.
“What I tell guys like him is to stay patient and stay in the system,” Gundy said. “Grow a little bit at a time. And I think that he can do that.”
