Gundy Talks Wes Lunt At Media Day

Wes Lunt might not be allowed to talk to the media yet – because of coach Mike Gundy's rule for first-year players – but that didn't prevent a healthy percentage of the questions from being about the freshman quarterback.

Lunt was named the starter on April 26, just days after the Cowboys' spring scrimmage, winning a three-way battle for the position against Clint Chelf and J.W. Walsh for the unenviable task of replacing NFL first-round pick Brandon Weeden. With that nod, Lunt will be OSU's first opening-day freshman starter sine 1950.

And if that wasn't enough pressure to heap on an 18-year-old early enrollee, then add on that OSU will have a target on its back as the defending Big 12 champions.

For as much pressure as there is, Gundy was asked question after question at Tuesday's media day in Dallas despite the fact Gundy hasn't been around to see Lunt develop since the end of spring football because of NCAA rules.

"I haven't seen him in six weeks, eight weeks," Gundy said. "I'm in and out of the office, and those guys are down on the bottom level training and throwing and going through strength and conditioning. I know he's been in the room studying tape."

Gundy said in order for Lunt to maximize his development, a lot of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the team leaders and seniors to show him the ropes like Weeden and Justin Blackmon did last year.

"Wes Lunt is put in a situation where he has to structure and organize how things go during those workouts, but the veteran players have to be the ones that say, ‘You have to be on time; this is what we want to accomplish; this is how it's been done the last few years,'" Gundy said.

One other task Lunt must face is discovering his go-to guy now that Blackmon is with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Gundy said replacing Blackmon – a two-time Biletnikoff Award winner – won't be as simple as designating one player; it's a job that will likely fall on a committee of wide outs.

"I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to one of these guys being a first-round draft pick. Those are few and far between," Gundy said. "We want three or four of our receivers to give us this year what Justin Blackmon gave us last year.

"It's an exciting time. There's always a lot of talk about losing players that have done well at Oklahoma State, but one thing we look forward to as coaches is the opportunity to watch young people grow."