STILLWATER — Mike Gundy kept mum Saturday at Oklahoma State media day on the Cowboys’ quarterback battle, giving un-Gundy-like terse answers to the first handful of questions — all of which were an attempt to get Gundy to elaborate on which of Zane Flores or Hauss Hejny will emerge as QB1.
As for the man coaching the quarterbacks? Gundy was effusive in talking about Kevin Johns, who won a quarterback battle of his own to land the gig.
“There were very few guys out there at that position that I felt like were capable of coaching these guys and doing it the right way,” Gundy said. “Very few. It was hard. That was one of the hardest positions to find in this last search. We were very fortunate that he was available.”
In a move that’s not so taboo post-conference realignment, Johns joined OSU’s staff after most recently serving as OU’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach — positions he was elevated to on an interim basis after OU’s mid-season firing of former offensive coordinator Seth Littrell. Johns had been working as an offensive analyst for the Sooners before that.
After Gundy fired his entire offensive and defensive staffs following a disastrous 2024, an opportunity arose in Stillwater for Johns, who replaced Tim Rattay as quarterbacks coach.
“Coach is very mature,” Gundy said. “He comes from a good background. He comes in very highly regarded from people that I trust and understand.”
Gaining Gundy’s trust, especially when it comes to mentoring quarterbacks, is apparently no small thing.
“Not very many of them out there that I trust,” Gundy said. “Maybe because I know more about that position than I know about linebacker or defensive line. That could very well be the answer to that question. There just weren’t very many guys that when I started calling and asking around asking about. There were two or three that I thought could be capable of doing it.”
Johns grew up in Piqua, Ohio, and played quarterback at Dayton, where he threw for more than 3,500 yards. He got his first college coaching gig in 1999 as a graduate assistant at Northwestern. After two years at Richmond, Johns returned to Northwestern, serving in various offensive roles from 2004-10.
He’s since served as offensive coordinator at Indiana (2011-16), Western Michigan (2017), Texas Tech (2018), Memphis (2019-21) and Duke (2022-23).
Under new offensive coordinator Doug Meacham, Johns will purely be a position coach for the first time in almost two decades.
“He expects a lot from us,” Hejny said Saturday. “I really respect that, and it drives me to be a better quarterback every day. The mental part of the game is something he really focuses on. He prides himself on preparing quarterbacks for everything, so I’ve learned a lot about football in the past seven months that I haven’t learned in the past, you know, 16 years.
“He’s so smart, and I’ve only gotten smarter from learning from him.”
Hejny transferred to OSU from TCU — following Meacham from Fort Worth to Stillwater. But he also has a past with Johns, who recruited Hejny at Duke. Hejny committed to the Blue Devils before flipping to the Horned Frogs.
Hejny’s connections to Meacham and Johns could help Hejny win the starting job, but Flores, entering Year 3 at OSU, is seen as the better passer (although neither has attempted a college pass).
Flores, after operating under Rattay and former offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn, is learning an all-new system.
“Coach Johns has been awesome,” Flores said. “He’s helped me grow a lot mentally as a player. He does a good job of motivating us, making sure we’re always trying to get better every day.”
Gundy said Saturday that Flores and Hejny are splitting reps. As for the timeline of naming a starter?
“Can’t put a timeline on it until I know when it will happen,” Gundy said. “I don’t know that. We could very well end up playing two in the first game.”
“We’re learning about them as much as they’re learning the system,” Gundy added. “I think they’re well-coached and they’re performing and competing. It’s unfair for me to say after four practices which direction we would go.”
So while we’re no closer to learning which Cowboy will field the first snap three weeks from now, we did get some insight on Johns and why Gundy chose him to be the Cowboys’ new quarterback whisperer.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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