Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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STILLWATER — OSU football 2025 already is a mess. Doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. But a mess it is.
Yet even in bad times, seeds can be planted. Groundwork can be laid for the future. So here’s a mission for the Mike Gundy Cowboys, starting with Friday night against Tulsa.
Win, lose or highwater, find out if Zane Flores is a potential answer at quarterback.
The foot injury to starting QB Hauss Hejny, suffered on opening night against Tennessee-Martin after Hejny led the Cowboys to touchdowns on their first two possessions, was a bummer. Not saying Hejny would have made a difference at Oregon; Bob Fenimore in his prime wouldn’t have made a difference in the 69-3 Eugene debacle.
But Hejny is out for an extended period. Flores is in and might as well make the best of it. Figure out if OSU can turn Flores into a quarterback the Cowboys can stand to live with.
The early returns aren’t great. Flores apparently is OSU’s passing quarterback — Hejny was the runner — but even Gundy admitted this week that Flores is not a Grade-A thrower.
“Where he’s at as a freshman, I don’t know that NFL scouts would come in here right now and say that he has that type of arm talent for their level,” Gundy said. “He’s a young player. He has plenty of arm talent to be successful for us.”
Two things.
1. Flores isn’t a freshman. He hasn’t played — the Tennessee-Martin relief job was his debut; Oregon was his first start — but Flores isn’t a freshman. This is his third college year. Injuries kept him out of the rotation last season when Gundy finally tired of Alan Bowman. But Flores as a 2023 freshman didn’t even get a piece of Gundy’s wild three-quarterback rotation in September.
This isn’t 1974. Nobody this side of Georgia brings along quarterbacks slowly. The transfer portal means any good quarterback who wants to play can find a place to play. Hoping that Flores becomes a productive Big 12 quarterback by 2027, his fifth year on campus, is no plan at all.
2. If Flores doesn’t have an NFL arm, that’s problematic. OSU’s best offenses have been powered by NFL arms. Zac Robinson’s. Brandon Weeden’s. Mason Rudolph’s. And while Spencer Sanders didn’t throw lasers, he made all-Big 12 in 2021 by being a great runner and a good playmaker.
If Flores doesn’t have an NFL arm and isn’t a runner, from where exactly does the optimism spring? Time to find out.
“He’s got a ways to go,” Gundy admitted. “Every play that he is in is going to help him down the line. Every game that he’s in, every practice he’s in is going to help him moving forward.
“I said this for years, I’ll say it again: There’s no fast forward button, in my opinion, with a young quarterback. It takes time and experience. Our job is to put them in the position to have the best shot at success.”
Can’t agree. There is a fast forward button. Quarterbacks are more equipped to play immediately in college these days. Quarterback tutors. Summer competition of 7-on-7. More sophisticated coaching in high schools.
It’s time to find out if Flores can be the man to lead the Cowboys back to better days.
“He’s coming along,” Gundy said. “He’s young, inexperienced. I don’t think he’d played in a game in over two years , so there’s some development going on with him. He should get a little bit better everyday.”
That’s true. Flores hadn’t played since Nov. 21, 2022, when his Gretna Dragons lost to Omaha Westside 43-41 in the Nebraska high school playoffs. So he has some rust. We should grant him a little grace.
Quarterbacking OSU these days is not easy. The high-powered offensive identity is gone. Has been for several years. An extreme staff makeover clearly hasn’t been the igniter that sometimes can take place. This is not plugging in Robinson in 2007 or Weeden in 2009 or Rudolph in 2014.
But this is where OSU finds itself. Where Flores finds himself. Troubled seas and a leaky boat. Show us what you got.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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