PROVO, Utah — Oklahoma State quarterback commit Jett Niu can admit that now. He was a little nervous about speaking with Mike Gundy before his commitment.

Not because he was starstruck, but because the 2025 3-star prospect knew what question he needed to ask Gundy before Niu could feel comfortable with the Cowboys. Both of his parents were stunned the moment the words left Niu’s lips.

Did the 20-year Oklahoma State coach have four more years left in him?

“I kind of asked the question. …If I’m going to give you that commitment, then, I mean, I might as well want you to stay for the four years that I’m here,” Niu said on October 17.

Gundy assured Niu that the longtime Cowboys head coach had no plans to leave. It was, in many ways, the final piece of the puzzle before Niu announced his commitment on September 10.

His decision came less than 48 hours after Niu’s visit during Oklahoma State’s 39-31 double-overtime win over Arkansas. When he arrived in Stillwater this weekend, Niu had no intention of committing to the Cowboys, at least not yet.

Somewhere along the way, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound quarterback from Lehi, Utah (located halfway between Salt Lake City and Provo) got caught up in the weekend’s momentum and ended up declaring for Oklahoma State.

“The fans, I mean, they came deep and the paddlers are amazing,” Niu said. “And they’re super loud, and you can definitely say the vibe there was great.” … We could barely hear ourselves thinking, I mean, it’s every high school player’s dream to go play in one of these stadiums where it’s so loud. It’s like everyone is looking at you there.

On Thursday, Niu completed 31 of 42 passes for 368 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-34 overtime loss after Lehi missed an extra point in the Utah 6A state semifinal.

In 12 games, Niu totaled 2,856 yards, 28 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. He also rushed for three more scores, and it wasn’t uncommon to see Niu miss significant portions of second halves this season as Lehi beat seven opponents by at least 24 points.

As cool as it was to watch the throwback with the Oklahoma State faithful, the highlight of Niu’s weekend in Stillwater was a roughly two-hour conversation with the Oklahoma State quarterbacks coach. Oklahoma State, Tim Rattay.

“We talked about football,” Niu said. “And, I mean, I really learned who he is as a quarterbacks coach, and he learned who I am. And, I can, we can kind of feel the connection. And I mean, he’s probably my favorite coach.

Niu described Rattay as both laid back and competitive.

Rattay joined the Cowboys staff at the position in 2020 after coaching NFL quarterbacks for Washington in 2019. His first NFL experience was as a seventh-round quarterback who started 18 matches and played in 22 others during an eight-year career.

This first-hand knowledge of both sides of the NFL was especially important to Niu.

“My dreams are to go to the NFL,” Niu said. “And he kind of knows what it takes to take the next step.” … He’ll coach me to hopefully get to the next step, and I think it’ll be great.

Niu spoke often about the NFL during a lengthy interview in October. Sometimes it may seem unrelated, but with Niu, the NFL is always on topic considering the time and energy he invests daily in pursuing this particular dream.

Of course, to get there, Niu knows he’ll have to both improve as a quarterback and round out his frame, which brings him to another reason Niu chose to play for Oklahoma State: the strength coach Rob Glass.

“They have one of the best strength and conditioning coaches, in my opinion, and I think that’s everyone’s opinion. … He’s doing great things there,” Niu said. “And I know that I could, that he can go out there and we can build my body up and get bigger and faster and stronger.”

Oh yeah, and there was just something about Stillwater.

“When I was there, I felt like I was at home,” Niu said. “I mean, that’s all I could say.”