All kinds of emotions must swirl through a college football quarterback when he takes his first NFL snaps. But for one quarterback, his exact emotion was pretty clear.
Late in yesterday’s game between Oklahoma State and Kansas State, the Wildcats had the game well in hand and the Cowboys knew they were beaten. So Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy took out starter Spencer Sanders and sent in freshman Gunnar Gundy – his son.
It wasn’t Gundy’s first snaps at quarterback of his career, but you couldn’t tell by the way he was taking the snap. Cameras zooming in on Gundy showed that he was visibly shaking. His left hand in particular was moving wildly.
The clip has been going viral with over 2.4 million views since yesterday. But some users are defending how nervous Gundy must have been:
Whoa. Freshman at OK State taking his first snaps.. Imagine how much of a dog in high school he was to get there.
Still nervous. These players are people pic.twitter.com/iSD46Gc2zh
— Trey Hannam (@TJHannam10) October 30, 2022
“If you’ve never played QB, you have no clue how nerve wracking it is until you get your first snap,” one user replied.
“My brother was a qb. He always told me that his whole body was shaking until he took that first hit. Then he was good. I was the same way as a nose tackle. It’s all a racing heart until it gets going. Good on that kid for getting out there,” wrote another.
“Maybe consider it could be an adrenaline dump/rush as well. It causes hands to shake. Happens to a lot of fighters and first responders,” a third wrote.
Whether Gunnar Gundy managed to settle in or not, it didn’t help the offense much. Kansas State went on to win the game 48-0.