Who will win Oklahoma State football QB race? Cowboys just want 'somebody to take control'
Scott WrightThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — Hauss Hejny entered his new quarterback room with anxious anticipation of what he was walking into at Oklahoma State.
After following offensive coordinator Doug Meacham from TCU, Hejny was the lone outsider entering a four-man competition for the Cowboys’ starting job.
“Every quarterback room is different,” said Hejny, a 6-foot, 195-pound redshirt freshman from Aledo, Texas, just outside Fort Worth. “There’s guys that can be salty. There’s guys that don’t really care. They’re there to do the same thing you are and play the game they love.
“I’ve been blessed to be in two quarterback rooms where it was the same way. At TCU, everyone was there to build each other up and help each other out and be friends. And it’s been the same way here. Obviously, when you’re on the field, it’s a competition and you have to focus on what you have to do.”
That’ll be the goal of each man in the quarterback quartet: redshirt junior Garret Rangel, redshirt sophomore Zane Flores and redshirt freshmen Hejny and Maealiuaki Smith.
The Cowboys opened spring practice Tuesday afternoon at the Sherman Smith Training Center, and the quarterback competition will be a constant storyline until August.
Coach Mike Gundy, along with Meacham and quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns, will have to choose a starter at some point, though that likely won’t come until the weeks before the Aug. 28 season opener.
“I want somebody to take control,” Gundy said Tuesday. “Leadership.You gotta be productive at that position, we all know that.
“Hopefully somebody will take control and show us the production we’re looking for to get to a point where we’re comfortable to start building the system based on who that player is.”
All four players met with the media after the first practice and presented a positive environment in the quarterback room.
“We’re all talented guys,” said Rangel, who accounts for five of the seven total starts by the four QBs. “It’s gonna be a fun competition in the spring. I know how it is with competition every year, so we’re gonna continue to grow and get better in this offense.
“It’s gonna be a fun process.”
Smith, who started the final two games of the Cowboys’ 3-9 season last fall, says he’s added about 10 pounds to his 6-foot-4 frame and feels stronger, which he hopes will help in Meacham’s Air Raid style offense.
“I like to throw the ball, and he loves to call plays that are explosive plays downfield,” Smith said. “It’s a good, QB-friendly offense, for sure.”
Rangel and Flores both pointed to Meacham’s desire for the quarterback to have some autonomy in running the offense on the field.
“He lets the quarterbacks run the show a little bit,” said Flores, who is fully recovered from the October ankle surgery that ended his season. “I think having that freedom there will be nice. He likes the quarterback to be aggressive. He likes to throw the ball down the field. When those opportunities come up, just take advantage of those.”
Like Flores, Rangel had surgery last October, though his was on the collarbone he broke in the second quarter of the BYU game, when he had made his first start of the year.
Though the rehab had its challenges, Rangel says he’s not bothered by any residual effects now.
“They put a metal plate in there with 10-12 screws,” Rangel said. “I had about a month to heal, then I was back rehabbing. That rehab was not fun, but I’m back and 100%. I went through all winter.”
Perhaps because he’s the new guy, the intrigue level for Hejny is high.
He’s the most proven runner of the group, and he has inside knowledge of Meacham from their year together at TCU. Hejny also knows Johns, who was the offensive coordinator at Duke when Hejny was briefly committed there.
While he believes his personal knowledge of the coaches could benefit him in the competition, he isn’t expecting anything to be gifted the job.
“They’re gonna do this a fair way,” he said. “They’re gonna play whoever the best player is. That’s how it’s gonna be. It doesn’t matter who they’ve known for the longest or who they’re better friends with. They’re just gonna play who’s better.
“That’s how it needs to be, and I respect that.”
Gundy knows he faces a delicate situation, because quarterbacks want to play, and if someone feels that opportunity no longer exists at OSU, they could be quick to jump in the transfer portal when it opens in mid-April.
“We had a recruiting meeting this morning,” Gundy said. "We have to expect to lose 6-10 guys after April just based on percentages. Now, you would like for that to not to happen, but I think if you sit around and think it’s not going to happen, then maybe you’re not up to par with the times.
“Roster management is difficult. Can you keep four quarterbacks that are good enough to compete at this level? It’d be difficult.”
