Mar. 28—Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy was eight minutes later than expected at the Sherman E. Smith Training Center. Then he let everyone in front of him know why.

“I apologize. I had recruiting,” Gundy said. “Shocker.”

That’s the world he’s lived in since the Cowboys’ season ended in late December. It’s the world he’s lived in since well before then, actually. Recruiting, with a staff that’s recently been expanded to nine people, is constant.

In fact, there were recruits in attendance on Monday afternoon to watch the Pokes carry out their first padded practice of the spring. It was the latest example of Gundy and Co.’s around-the-clock efforts to flip the script on an underwhelming 2022 campaign, one tanked by a sour ending in which the Cowboys lost five of their last six.

That was one of the main takeaways from Gundy’s second availability of the spring, but it certainly wasn’t the only.

Mike Gundy, a big portal guy?: Gundy seemingly wasn’t — and isn’t — the biggest fan of what the portal stands for. He made that clear throughout the entirety of last season. There are risks that come with throwing together a conglomerate of players from a separate conglomerate of programs. Gundy gets that.

But college football is a dogeatdog world, and he realizes that the portal will help give the Cowboys their best chance at not being devoured in the Big 12 this fall. That’s why he and his staff have added 14 transfers this offseason — a figure that’ll remain fluid until things get underway in September.

“I don’t think you have a choice,” he said. “It’s like when you gotta have car insurance. You gotta have house insurance. You gotta have the portal. ... I don’t think you can live without it anymore.”

Xavier Benson’s wait is over: A redshirt-senior who started his career at Texas Tech and spent a year in JuCo before making the move to Stillwater, linebacker Xavier Benson will finally get his opportunity. Yes, he was one of only two OSU defenders (cornerback Korie Black) to start every game in 2022.

But with the departure of Mason Cobb, the Cowboys’ leading tackler from this past season who’s since transferred to USC, Benson is ready to be the guy in the linebacker room.

“I’ve been waiting for it,” Benson said. “Just trust me, I’ve been waiting for it.”

That, of course, comes with being one of the elders on OSU’s defense. He’s a part of one of the few remaining classes that were granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. He doesn’t mind having to lead by example, though.

“They keep me youthful, if I’m being honest,” Benson said. “I be forgetting that I’m pretty old. But they keep me young, and they keep me running around. It feels good knowing I can run around with the 19-year-olds and still jump with the 20-year-olds.”

Mobile is the move: After watching Spencer Sanders carve through defenses with both his arm and legs over the past four years, one thing is evident to Gundy.

“I think the future is, you’ve gotta be able to move around,” he said. “I don’t know that the pure pocket passer is as relevant now as it used to be.”

It’s not, and the meteoric rise in demand for dualthreat quarterbacks has proved it. When it comes to Michigan transfer QB Alan Bowman, who has a walloping negative-12 rushing yards in his collegiate career, Gundy knows he won’t have the second coming of former NFL MVP Lamar Jackson.

He isn’t looking for Bowman to be that type of player. He does, however, need him to effectively move around should he be the Cowboys’ QB1, drawing a comparison to Brock Purdy’s style of play from when he was at Iowa State.

“Couldn’t really get your hands on him to get him down. He moved around and made a play. Wasn’t gonna take off and run for 60, but you couldn’t really grab him and get him down,” Gundy said of Purdy. “I think that’s really what you’re looking for — and what we’re looking for now.”

New digits for Jaden Nixon: Redshirt-sophomore running back Jaden Nixon spent each of his first two seasons at OSU donning the No. 23. Drop the first digit and try again. He’s made the switch to No. 3.

Why, though? That’s the same question his mom had.

“I’m like, ‘I don’t know, it’s something different,’” Nixon told her. “Even in high school, I didn’t wear 3. Like, I never wore 3. I just kind of wanted a change for once.”

That leaves Nixon’s mom with two year’s worth of gear with the old, wrong number on it. And he thinks she should hang onto it.

“It’s gonna be, like, some vintage, old school, the original Jaden Nixon one day,” he said. “I don’t know. It was just a spontaneous, random decision.”

Big 12 Pro Day: Roughly two weeks ago, the Big 12 announced that it was partnering with the NFL to hold the first-ever conferencewide Pro Day in 2024. It’ll serve as a stark difference from the traditional format, which features each individual school hosting NFL scouts.

Now, all of the Big 12’s draft prospects will showcase their talents at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

“I think, what it does, is it brings them all together and it’s a neutral site for the GMs and the head coaches to scout ... to get in one location and see everybody,” Gundy said. “It should make it much easier for them to do their job, in my opinion.

“What they’re doing now to bring everybody together is a good thing.”