Eric Morris uses 'NFL mindset' in approach to Oklahoma State football spring practice
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STILLWATER — It has taken him some time over his head coaching career, but Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris has finally learned to accept it when the defense outperforms the offense in practice.
And though his players were only in shorts and helmets with no pads Monday afternoon, that’s what he saw on the Cowboys’ first workout of spring.
“It’s taken me a while to learn how to deal with that, to be honest with you,” Morris said. “It was really good for me to go to Washington State and work for a defensive coach in Jake Dickert. Sometimes, practice was scripted for the defense really to have success.
“It was amazing for me to see the flipside of the way I grew up under (Mike) Leach and (Kliff) Kingsbury and (Kevin) Sumlin and all these offensive guys. When it was predicated that way, the defense got a lot of confidence in what they were doing.”
On a warm, windy day with much of the practice held on the outdoor Jerry Winchester Family Fields adjacent to the Sherman Smith Training Center, Morris said the quarterbacks had a tough time adjusting to the elements.
“It was beautiful out there, but pretty windy,” Morris said. “I didn’t think we adjusted very well to that. Threw a bunch of balls over the receivers’ heads. Had some guys open. Thought the wideouts did a nice job.
“To be honest, pretty poor on offense today, and I thought the defense had a nice day to start.”
Despite having a roster is 80% of full of players who have never played for Morris before, the coach chose not to slow-play the teaching process for his new team. He feared wasting on-field hours by restructuring his typical practice approach.
“Looking at the size of rosters and how many people we have right now, there’s an aspect that we gotta be smart with our guys,” Morris said. “A little bit more of an NFL mindset, really monitoring your guys that you know can play football, monitor their reps during spring.
“Make sure they’re still jelling with their teammates and bonding, getting on the same page, getting their communication stuff down.”
Morris focused on Drew Mestemaker’s ‘growth mindset’
After following Morris from North Texas, quarterback Drew Mestemaker was a key factor in helping install offensive principles ahead of Monday’s first team workout.
But at the same time, Mestemaker is only in his third season as a college football player and only his second as a starting quarterback, including his high school years where he served as a backup.
So Morris relies on the redshirt sophomore a lot, but also keeps a close focus on helping him find the next step in his career progression after leading the nation in passing yards last season.
“Just the growth mindset,” Morris said. “Here’s a kid that, when you look at it, didn’t play football at all in high school at the position he’s playing right now. You look at his body of work and we’re at 13 or 14 games that he’s started. Although he had so much success last year, he’s still in a growth phase of his life. And obviously, the speed of the game is gonna be faster playing (Power Four) football.
“I think this is gonna be a big spring for him to grow a ton, playing only 14 games in his career.”
Facilities were an adjustment for Morris
As he discussed what he described as “phenomenal” practice facilities at OSU, Morris reflected on his first head coaching job at Incarnate Word, a small private school in San Antonio.
“We had one field on the whole entire campus,” he said. “We had to share that with soccer and track and field at the same time, so it took a lot of organization trying to figure out how to practice and get everything done on that small amount of space.”
At North Texas, Morris had more space, and the school continues to build facilities in the aftermath of last year’s 12-2 season.
“Every stop along the way, I double up on space,” Morris said with a laugh. “I really like the grass fields to protect our players’ knees and ankles during the course of spring.
“It was nice to be able to utilize all this space.”
Iman Oates still awaiting eligibility ruling
Currently part of a lawsuit with several college football players who spent time at the junior college level earlier in their careers, OSU defensive tackle Iman Oates remains in limbo regarding a potential extra year of eligibility.
Oates is one of the players being represented by the lawyer who helped former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia get an additional year of eligibility because of previous junior college competition.
Oates remains with the Cowboys for now, and Morris hopes a resolution to the lawsuit isn’t far away.
“Still up in the air,” Morris said. “All these things with the NCAA, everything changes. Judges, injunctions, and then the NCAA comes back, sues people.
“Should know in the next couple weeks is what the judge is telling us right now.”
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on X at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OSU football coach Eric Morris uses ‘NFL mindset’ for spring practice
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