Spencer Sanders Has Matured in Front of his Teammate's and Coach's Eyes
STILLWATER -- I asked Spencer Sanders to tell me about the best fish he caught this summer and that sent Sanders digging into his cell phone. He said he thought he took a picture of it. He stopped and showed me a wild boar from hunting. He passed several fish and finally showed me a picture of his tackle.
"I took this before I went out and that was the day I caught the fish," Sanders said. "I guess I didn't take a picture of it. It was at least a three, I'd give it a three. I caught it at Coach Dunn's place."
Sanders did a lot of fishing, he always has, but he doesn't let it interfere with football and quarterbacking. This past six months of COVID-19 has been a maze for everybody and for Sanders it started back at home.
"I got to see my family," Sanders said. "That's always good. My mother is my No. 1, nobody comes before her. It's always good to see my mom.
Mom is Carrie and dad is David. Carrie is a native Oklahoman that was one heckuva basketball player in high school out in Kingfisher. She was a really good athlete and it appears that Spencer and his sister, a former soccer standout at North Texas got mom's athletic ability.
"No discredit to pops. I love my pops, but I'm definitely a mama's boy," Sanders said. "It was good. I really got to spend time with my mom. I could say I feel like a young man. I got a chance to show my mom, live with my mom for six months and show her."
Sanders' has gone from a mama's boy to a coach's project and he may be close to a finished project for quarterback coach Tim Rattay. Rattay came in as the first quarterback coach under Mike Gundy that wasn't calling plays. Rattay, who has played and coached in the NFL, has been excellent for Sanders. His pupil sees him not only as a sharp football teacher, but also a good man that is an example away from football just like he is with football. Spencer calls Rattay a great "family man."
"I think our relationship is amazing. I think not only do we have a football relationship, we can talk to each other on a personal level," Sanders said with an enthusiastic voice. "I mean I've dealt with a couple situations that I didn't want to deal with, but he was always a phone call away. He's always just a willing, helping hand and anything that goes on, whether it's anything to do with football I'm always calling him first before I'm going to Gundy or coach Dunn. I feel like our connection's very strong because not only do I answer to him everyday, I respect him as a coach and I love him as a person."
After spending time at home, and during the time he was home, there were the many Zoom meetings with Rattay and the other quarterbacks. There were conversations on the phone with Rattay. Sanders set sail and headquartered in Owasso and Tulsa and spent time throwing with his receivers in Green Country in Dillon Stoner and Landon Wolf. Then, back in Stillwater, there was plenty of meeting time and plenty of on the field time in the form of the allowed OTA-style workouts to work with Rattay.
Sanders is going to be a big reason that this Oklahoma State team really excels or under-performs. Sanders isn't the only factor, but he is an important one and is showing improvement. I love watching the interaction between Sanders and Rattay. It's not intense, almost casual and laid back. It is constant and according the Sanders it is helpful and will be good to have Rattay on the sidelines and not on the other end of the ringdown phone talking from the coach's booth.
"I think he can get in my tail a lot easier, but I think it'll help me, honestly," Sanders said on the Zoom interview with the media. "Because if you think about it, just think about when you were a kid and your mom is chewing you out over a phone call, you can hold it over here and you can just play it off, but when he's in your face, it's like 'alright, here we go, bring it on.'"
Sanders doesn't love doing the media availabilities, but he has a great personality and he is expressive. And now, according to his teammates, like receiver Tylan Wallace, Sanders is more mature.
"You can just tell he's matured so much from last year," Wallace expressed in his Zoom call. "He's kind of getting in there, stepping up, being a more vocal leader than he was last year. He's getting guys going, he's doing the right things he needs to when it comes to QB play, making the right reads, staying in the pocket. I just feel like he's really just matured a whole lot from last year."
That is good news for the Cowboys on Saturday and not so good for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
