Oklahoma State football: Mike Gundy laments new safety rules

Mike Gundy was conflicted Monday. In some ways, he thinks football has lost some of its soul. It’s a violent game, and some of the new rules take away the physicality, in the name of safety.

But then Gundy was asked about the horrific injury suffered by Tulane defensive back Devon Walker in a game at Tulsa U. on Saturday. Walker suffered a fractured cervical vertebrae and underwent spinal surgery Sunday.

Gundy says when he sees an injury like that on television, “I change the channel. Just makes me sick. It’s the worst part of what we do. Unfortunately, everybody knows what they sign up for. But it’s scary. That incident is nothing that anybody could do to stop.”

Walker was injured in a collision with a teammate.

“What do you say, other than it just makes you sick?” Gundy said. “But it is a contact sport. Unfortunately, there’ll be some things happen.”

But Gundy still says the game should not be overly-sanitized.

“Best way to put it, I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of the way it’s called now,” Gundy said. “But nobody cares what I think. There’s a certain aspect of the game that’s been taken away. You know what you signed up for.

“If it’s a play where the whistle hasn’t blown and you’re on the field, you ought to be able to play the game. Whether we want to admit it or not, it’s a violent game.