Cowboy commit not ruling out trips

It's been about two months since Irving (Texas) MacArthur three-star linebacker Justin Gent committed to Oklahoma State and it's been about that long since anybody has talked to him how preseason practices have been progressing.

"I noticed myself being more physical with the linemen," Gent, ranked as the nation's No. 40 inside linebacker, said.

"We have a new coach and that's a big thing he's been teaching us. Be physical and it will pay off in the fourth quarter. It will work, and we will just wear people down."

Gent, who is 6-foot-1 ½ and 206 pounds, committed to Oklahoma State after picking up offers from Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Utah. He said he's still committed to the Cowboys, but isn't ruling out taking other visits.

"I get hand written letters from other schools - not telling me to de-commit or anything," Gent said. "They just tell me that their school would be a great opportunity for me, and to just let me know they are still interested even though I'm committed. Utah and Texas Tech have been talking to me the most. I, also, found out recently I have an offer from North Carolina."

Gent said he still pretty much solid.

"My commitment is still pretty solid," he said. "I mean, it's not written in stone or anything. I set my mind to the commitment, and I felt like it was the right thing to do. I looked at my options at the time and they were the best school for me. But I'm not going to tell other teams to stop recruiting me or anything."

Gent said the biggest reason he might talk to others is because of some advice one of his former teammates gave him.

"One of my old teammates told me the one thing he regrets is that he didn't take all of his visits," Gent said. "So I plan to take all of them and go to some different places. Like, go to North Carolina and see what they are all about. You only go through recruiting once, so I want to enjoy it all.

"I don't know if there is any one team that would make me change my commitment, but I would say nothing is written in stone. I like Oklahoma State, but who knows what could happen in the next few months?"