Mike Gundy gives blunt assesment of where Oklahoma State quarterback room stands in 2025

Oklahoma State won’t just have an all-new quarterback but nearly an all-new quarterback room this fall. That leaves the ‘Pokes without an answer at the position yet as they come into the fall in Stillwater.

Mike Gundy was asked about the Cowboys’ quarterbacks while at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday in Frisco. That’s with just three options for them, with none of them having ever officially played for the program to this point in their collegiate careers.

“Well, obviously it’s different. We don’t have a quarterback that’s ever played a snap for us at Oklahoma State,” Gundy said. “We’ve got a little bit of familiarity with a couple guys coming through spring. But, it’s one of the things in the future of college football that’s a little bit scary is you don’t have as many guys in that room as you’d want to.”

Zane Flores, Hauss Hejny, Banks Bowen, and Mason Schubert are the four in the room going into this season for the Cowboys. Flores is the lone returner with no appearances made through two years in the program, with a redshirt and a medical redshirt. Hejny is a Top 30 QB transfer per On3 after a season spent at TCU. Bowen and Schubert are incoming freshmen with connections to either the program or the city.

Not only are they inexperienced at Oklahoma State, but all four are just inexperienced as quarterbacks in the NCAA. Again, Flores has yet to make an appearance with the team on a pair of redshirts because of depth and a broken bone in his foot. Hejny then didn’t throw a pass, rushing 15 times for 65 yards, for the Horned Frogs while in Fort Worth.

Still, the ‘Pokes will need one of them to emerge as a reliable option to play as their starter. That’s with the team utilizing three different quarterbacks across each of the past two seasons, with Alan Bowman, Gunnar Gundy, and Garrett Rangel in 2023 and then Bowman, Rangel, and Maealiuaki Smith in 2024. They’ll also need to find one who will run the new offense of OC Doug Meacham.

Seven weeks from today, Oklahoma State will kick off the season at Boone Pickens Stadium. One of these quarterbacks will be their selected starter by then, with it being, as Gundy said, the one that gives the Cowboys the best chance of winning.

“I think that Coach Meach(um) and our staff understand the importance in finding out who gives us the best chance to win and building our offense around that system,” Gundy said.