Gundy/Cowboy Culture is to be Patient with Injured Players

STILLWATER -- There was 2:08 left in the fourth quarter and Kansas State had just scored on a Will Howard touchdown run and Oklahoma State defensive end Brock Martin had foiled the two-point conversion attempt leaving the Cowboys up 20-18 on the scoreboard. Even with all three time-outs remaining, the feeling was Kansas State would onside kick. 

The Wildcats did and the Cowboys player that got to the ball and tipped it out of bounds to allow his team to take possession was an injured player that had not played a single play in the previous 57 plus minutes in the game. All-American and Big 12 leading wide receiver Tylan Wallace was declared out of the game, but he was suited up and he entered it to provide his very important contribution to the "hands team".

“It didn’t take much [discussion]. He’s been good," head coach Mike Gundy answered Monday on the Big 12 Coaches Teleconference when I asked about the call on playing Wallace. "The ones that have come to us this year he’s made those plays. That not as easy a job as what some people outside of the game would think it is. Robert, I know that’s why you brought the question up. It’s an extremely pressure-packed and difficult job. We have other guys that have really good hands, but we don’t have other guys that have the experience he has.”

Gundy thought I was bringing it up to point out Wallace's prowess at recovering onside kicks. No, I was bringing it up to illustrate that Gundy has always been a little different when it came to injured players. Truth is Wallace probably could have done some more things and the Oklahoma State offense certainly could have used him doing those things. 

“People look at college differently than maybe I do as a coach or maybe we do as a coaching staff," Gundy began on the policy or decision making on whether an injured player plays or not. "It’s not worth risking a young man’s career or future injury for a younger player that’s not ready to play (in order) to try to find a way to win a game. We have enough confidence in our culture, our organization, our structure, and what we’re trying to accomplish here." 

This has been repeated constantly. Gundy tells his staff that they are not going to risk players futures. Obviously, anyone that has been highly involved in football knows there are injuries and there is pain. You can play with pain and most players do from the first day of fall practice on. Most coaches expect players to play with pain, but injuries are different. Some coaches won't admit it, but they press injured players to play. In some programs players are rushed back earlier from injuries.

Gundy actually surprised me this time with his explanation this time as he compared it to the discipline that is in the culture of the program.

"You can be faced with these situations two ways, you have discipline in your organization and if you have players that aren’t disciplined with the structure and the accountability in the organization then they might not play in a game," Gundy explained. "The same thing can take place with injuries. If we don’t have a player that’s ready to play and he’s not comfortable (with playing) we will have that discussion with them."

Another facet of it that Gundy did not elaborate on is holding a player out for the greater good of the team. Quarterback Spencer Sanders with his ankle injury in week one of the season had no business playing the next week against West Virginia, but the next game with Kansas he likely could have played. It was better to hold him out and let the open week help get him ready for Baylor. The Baylor game was postponed because of Baylor issues with COVID-19 and Sanders was more than ready for the Iowa State contest. 

This past week safety Kolby Harvel-Peel injured in the first quarter of the Texas game was out and left at home. After a slight injury in practice on Wednesday, Wallace traveled and suited up, but the best decision was to rest him. Sanders was dealing with injuries as was safety Tre Sterling. The offensive line is beat up, Teven Jenkins came out but when his replacement Taylor Miterko was rolled up on by a K-State player injuring his ankle and lower leg, Jenkins had to return. Today we find out he was the Cowboys Co-Offensive Player of the Game. 

Both of the top two running backs were hurting thoughout the previous week.

"In this last week, Chuba (Hubbard) didn’t practice all week, LD (Brown) practiced very little, we had several other guys that didn’t practice much at all and played some in the game," Gundy said. "When we get to game day, if they don’t feel like they can play and if they’re not comfortable, then there’s some instability mentally with the football player, and we don’t want any instability mentally with football players playing on the field in as highly-competitive games as we play. So we have to take into account the situation and the personal well-being of a player, more so, than just putting a player out there to try to find a way to win at all costs. That’s just not what we believe in here in our organization.”

If you're looking at the Oklahoma game, it appears that the bye week will serve all of the players mentioned above well. That includes Harvel-Peel at safety. Only Tyalor Miterko would look to be unlikely to play. There is a chance that previously injured offensive linemen Jake Springfield and Cole Birmingham could be back.

“Well we should know a lot more on Wednesday," Gundy answered another question in the teleconference. "We had five, six, seven guys that didn’t practice last week and some of them played and some of them didn’t. Hopefully, we will get those guys back in the middle or at the end of the week, so we can get them ready to play next week.”

As for the upcoming bye week, Gundy said the Cowboys would stick to their overall philosophy of what to do from a football standpoint in this situation. 

"We’ll get about half a day of practice on just fundamentals and basic football techniques," Gundy said. "We’ll work a little bit on the upcoming opponent in the middle to the later part of the week, and then we’ll get the younger guys, who haven’t gotten as many reps on game day, we’ll get them a lot of work, so we can use it as a developmental week.”

Gundy also said he would let his players off over the weekend. He explained that he was going to spend time with his kids on the weekend and he felt he couldn't in good conscience do that and not let his players do the same with their families. 

COVID-19 testing spiked a little last week in the athletic department, but football has stayed resolute with no positives in over a month.