Wes Lunt’s high school coach notices ‘spooky’ similarities between Rochester HS and Oklahoma State

As you’ve probably been able to see from the stories and blogs the past day or so, I had a great chat this week with Derek Leonard, the high school coach of Wes Lunt.

When asking him what makes Lunt ready to start as a true freshman and quarterback the defending Big 12 champs, he pointed to some “spooky” similarities between Oklahoma State and Rochester (Ill.) High.

Offensive system

We already knew this. Lunt was always regarded as the best fit to run OSU’s spread offense, because he ran a similar system in high school. He’s shown an ability to quickly pick up the scheme, and coach Mike Gundy said last week that OSU has not had to “dumb down” the offense at all for the true freshman.

“Their offense is extremely fast, and we are extremely fast for a high school,” Leonard said. “As soon is the ball is blown dead, we go, ‘Hike.’”

Replacing a great

When Lunt took over as the varsity starter at Rochester, he was replacing Sean Robinson, a dynamic dual-threat QB who Leonard said had more than 30 Division I scholarship offers and ultimately wound up at Purdue. At OSU, Lunt is, of course, replacing the best quarterback in school history and an NFL starter in Brandon Weeden.

“He was so prepared and so ready,” Leonard said about Lunt’s first high school start. “I remember he was nervous. He’ll be nervous (Saturday). But he’s so even-keel and he was confident, though. I don’t think he was worried about replacing Sean, and I don’t think he’s worried about replacing Brandon Weeden.