Why Oklahoma State football players call Rob Glass the 'most important guy' in the program
ARLINGTON, Texas — Tyler Lacy smiled as he told the story, but you could tell he wasn’t smiling while he experienced it.
While speaking on Wednesday at Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium, Lacy, a redshirt senior defensive end for the Oklahoma State football team, sang the praises of Rob Glass, who earlier this year received a pay raise that likely made him the highest paid strength and conditioning coach in college football.
Earlier on Wednesday, head coach Mike Gundy called Glass the most important person in the OSU program, and Lacy agreed.
“He is the most important guy,” Lacy said. “He is the team. Everything runs through Glass. He knows everybody on the team personally. So it’s good having him there. He pushes us everyday to be the best player we can be.”
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Did such a pay raise — Glass signed a five-year contract for $1 million a year in February — impact Glass’ attitude or approach toward the players?
“Oh, not one bit,” Lacy said, that smile firmly on his face. “He still came in early in the morning ready to go. Ready to run us.
“Came in. Stretched. Got on the line, and ran. There was no change. We said congratulations, but Coach Glass is Coach Glass. He doesn’t really let that faze him. He just comes to work every day at the same time ready to kill us.”
Junior receiver Brennan Presley wouldn’t disclose exactly what his current weight is, though he’s listed at 175 pounds on the Cowboys’ most recent roster update. Still, he extended his gratitude toward Glass for the muscle he’s added over the previous two seasons.
“You spend more time around your weight-room coaches than you do your position coaches,” Presley said. “You’re always in there lifting, even if you’re doing rehab or something like that. And he’s been around long enough to know the system. He’s seen great players come through. He knows what it takes to be at that level. And he’s seen great teams, so he knows what it takes to be at that team level.
So not only does he lift us and train us, but he trains your mind mentally. I think that’s one of the most important aspects that people don’t really realize… You’re gonna get mentally uncomfortable and some people may check out. But he tries to push us past that limit so we can tap into something we don’t even know we have.”
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OSU football extra points
Here’s a look at some other takeaways from the Cowboys’ appearance at Big 12 Media Days:
∎ Photos started popping up on social media over the last several days of the new turf being laid at Boone Pickens Stadium, which is part of an overall $40 million worth of work being done. Most of the upgrades are fan-centric, though the team also got new turf on the practice field, plus some additional locker room upgrades.
“It’s pretty good. It's pretty shiny, I guess,” OSU quarterback Spencer Sanders said of the new turf. “The locker room is getting redesigned. It's not finished, so we don't know what it looks like. Obviously that's going to be exciting. It's supposed to be done before fall camp, so I'm excited about that.”
∎ Sanders shared his perspective on the positives and negatives of the name, image and likeness era of college football: “I'm not pointing any fingers. I just don't like for people to use it for recruitment. But that's what it is nowadays. It is what it is. We're just here to play ball. NIL is here to help us. It's helped quite a bit of people. We actually just got two NIL deals for our team, so I'm excited for that. Hopefully it just brings a brighter future for college football.”
∎ While visiting the site of last year’s Big 12 title game defeat, defensive end Brock Martin admitted that the loss played a significant part in his decision to return for a super-senior year.
“It was a big part of it,” he said. “Chances are, if we would have won that game, we make the playoffs, then you get more attention, more scouting, GMs come and look at you and stuff like that. You never know what my draft grade would have been. I’ll never know, because it didn’t happen.”
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∎ Martin came up with the idea for all the players to wear jeans and cowboy boots on Wednesday, which worked out well for most of the players. But Lacy had to borrow boots from former offensive lineman Josh Sills. Presley got jeans and boots from his younger brother, Braylin, who is an incoming freshman for the Pokes.
∎ Transfer running back Deondre Jackson was one of the latest additions to the team, committing not long before he made the move from Texas A&M to Stillwater in June. It’s an important addition at a position without a lot of college experience behind starter Dominic Richardson. Presley sees good qualities in Jackson.
“He’s cool,” Presley said. “He tried to beat me at bowling, but he can’t do that. He’s good. He has good cuts. He’s really strong and he has a positive mindset, which is what you want from somebody who wants to come in. They want to start, they want to win. He’s definitely gonna be a good back for our team.”
∎ Presley doesn’t make every new guy go bowling with him, but… “if you talk about it, you gotta be about it. You gotta at least beat me,” he said.
∎ Presley also shared some wise thoughts on NIL: “I just wanna have enough money where I can leave my dorm and not have to check my balance when I buy something to eat,” he said. “If I can do that, I’m straight.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football players speak to Rob Glass' value to program
