Reid no Gundy fan

Perhaps you’ve read the story in ESPN the Magazine in which Bobby Reid voices his displeasure with OSU coach Mike Gundy. It’s very interesting. I recommend it.

Gundy, of course, came to Reid’s defense last September with his infamous rant, after Jenni Carlson’s Oklahoman column questioned Reid’s toughness and said that was the primary reason Reid lost his quarterback job to Zac Robinson.

Lost in the media crush of last autumn was this obvious truth: Gundy had not so much come to Reid’s defense as thrown Reid under the bus. No matter what you thought of Carlson’s column, or how much you think the media could use a good upbraiding, the net effect of the rant was this.

Jenni Carlson that Saturday morning told the state of Oklahoma that OSU coaches thought Reid was soft. Mike Gundy that Saturday night told the whole world the same thing. Gundy’s rant put a massive spotlight on the column — and Reid’s demotion — that otherwise would have remained in the shadows.

Now, some of Reid’s assertions are silly. He and his mother told ESPN that they believe Gundy deliberately produced the rant as a way to embarrass Reid. That’s nonsense, of course. I sat there, 10 feet from Gundy. That wasn’t a performance. That was raw emotion. Misplaced emotion, but real.

The real story about Bobby Reid is this. Good quarterback. Very good quarterback. Just not as good as Zac Robinson. We saw that for ourselves. The Cowboy coaches made the right call in switching. Maybe Reid is soft, maybe he’s not. But he’s not the quarterback that Zac Robinson is.