STILLWATER — The divorce between Oklahoma State and its second-winningest quarterback in program historical past was finalized on Thursday.
Spencer Sanders introduced his dedication to Ole Miss for his closing school soccer season, as first reported by Chris Low of ESPN.com.
Sanders entered the transfer portal on Dec. 5, and though studies of a potential return to OSU surfaced in latest weeks, nothing materialized and Sanders settled on Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss squad over Auburn.
So the Cowboys will hand the offense to incoming transfer Alan Bowman, as soon as a starter at Texas Tech who spent the previous two seasons as a backup at Michigan.
Over his 4 years as starter, Sanders gained 30 video games and threw for 9,553 yards with 67 touchdowns and 40 interceptions, finishing 61.0% of his passes. He additionally rushed for 1,956 yards and 18 touchdowns. He leaves holding a top-three spot in a number of main statistical classes at OSU.
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Spencer Sanders joins crowded QB room at Mississippi
“I’m excited to take my shot in a league that is in a special class, and I’m prepared to see what that is all about,” Sanders mentioned of the SEC in his interview with ESPN. “I’ve had three totally different offensive coordinators, so it isn’t like I’m opposed to taking part in underneath new individuals or new schemes. It’s no disrespect to Oklahoma State, both. They raised me to be the quarterback I’m proper now, and I’m grateful for that. It was simply time to transfer on and check out one thing new.”
A polarizing participant throughout his profession due to his distinctive playmaking potential countered by his unlucky knack for turnovers, Sanders gained many followers along with his toughness this previous season. He injured his shoulder in early October, which he advised ESPN was a separated AC joint, and performed by way of the ache for a number of weeks.
That included a come-from-behind win over Texas during which he tried an OSU single-game file 57 passes two weeks after the shoulder damage. He got here off the bench in dramatic trend to lead a rally previous Iowa State in November as effectively.
To cap the Cowboys’ 12-2 season in 2021, Sanders led the comeback from 21 factors down for a 37-35 win over Notre Dame within the Fiesta Bowl, maybe the crowning achievement of his OSU profession.
He would’ve been locked in because the starter at OSU, which solely had younger, inexperienced quarterbacks behind him in Garret Rangel, Gunnar Gundy and incoming freshman Zane Flores. But he opted as an alternative to be part of an Ole Miss quarterback room that features returning starter Jaxson Dart and incoming transfer — and former five-star recruit — Walker Howard. Dart threw for two,974 yards with 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this previous season.
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Alan Bowman is now set to be OSU’s beginning quarterback in 2023
For OSU, Bowman has one yr of eligibility remaining, offering a little bit of cushion for coach Mike Gundy and his offensive workers to put together the younger quarterbacks for what ought to be a hotly contested quarterback battle going into 2024.
Rangel is now a redshirt freshman, Gunnar Gundy a redshirt sophomore and Flores simply began lessons earlier this week.
Bowman brings a degree of expertise the Cowboys would have been lacking. He began 16 video games from 2018-20 at Texas Tech and has thrown for greater than 5,300 yards in his profession.
Of the 16 scholarship gamers who left OSU within the winter transfer portal interval — which closed on Wednesday — 14 of them have landed at different Division I packages, with 9 at Power Five faculties (together with Notre Dame).
In response, OSU has introduced in 13 gamers from the portal, together with Bowman and several other others who’ve college-level beginning expertise.
Now, the Cowboys’ prime precedence is filling the defensive coordinator function following Derek Mason’s announcement final week that he plans to take a sabbatical from school teaching when his contract expires on Jan. 31
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