By Brenden Slaughter
Today was the first offensive availability of the spring for the Oregon State football team. The Beavers are coming off a 4-8 season where they made strides towards success, but still are looking to make a bigger step this offseason, moving towards 2017.
Today was the first offensive availability of the spring for the Oregon State football team. The Beavers are coming off a 4-8 season where they made strides towards success, but still are looking to make a bigger step this offseason, moving towards 2017.
Practice Nuggets
- Jake Luton was the first quarterback to take reps in the portion open to the media. He showed everything we have seen from him so far. Quick release, arm strength, vision, poise, and nice footwork in the pocket. The most impressive part of seeing Luton live for the first time, was his arm strength and his mobility. You wouldn’t figure someone with his stature is comfortable running the ball, but he is.
- The offensive line is a massive shuffle. I tried to get a read on the first unit, but OSU was heavily rotating guys in and out. The guys that were in their the most were: Fred Lauina, Sumner Houston, Gus Lavaka, Blake Brandel, and Will Hopkins. But again, it was very fluid and I wouldn’t put much into it until the Beavers get a quarterback established.
- Another note on Luton: He looked to have very good chemistry with Trevon Bradford in particular. I expect Bradford to fill the role of Victor Bolden this season almost seamlessly.
- Offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven on Luton: “I think he has a lot of tools to work with,” Mcgiven said. “I think he is everything from a potential standpoint that we thought he would be. He is a big kid, intelligent, and can sling the ball around.”
- Luton worked with Ryan Nall very well too. Despite the Beavers wanting to throw the ball more this season, Nall was heavily involved today. I really like the combo of Nall and Luton.
- The first team wide receivers looked like this as best I could tell: Timmy Hernandez, Trevon Bradford, and Hunter Jarmon alongside H-Back Noah Togiai. Togiai looks really good, and given that he looked so good early in the season last year, look for him to have a big impact in the offense next season.
- Darell Garretson was the second quarterback to get reps today. As far as I could tell it was with the second unit. Other than an interception, Garretson looked pretty good. He is fully recovered from his ankle injury, and has no restrictions.
- Marcus McMaryion was the third quarterback to take reps. It was interesting because McMaryion worked with a mix of 1st, 2nd, and third string guys. For example, he had some first team offensive linemen, Artavis Pierce at running back, and Andre Bodden at wide receiver. So your guess is as good as mine in terms of how the Beavers are running this quarterback competition.
- Conor Blount was the fourth quarterback to take reps today, and he did not seem to be in the flow of the offense very well. Blount’s first pass was a pick six to cornerback Xavier Crawford, and his third pass was also an interception.
- Pierce looks a ton faster. From what I could tell, Pierce looks like he got bigger and stronger in the offseason, while still keeping his shiftiness that the coaching staff praised last season. With Ryan Nall and Pierce in the fold, the Beavers are set in the backfield.
- Speaking of Nall, I caught up with him to talk about the offseason and particularly the ankle/foot injury that lingered with him last season. He told me that the injury isn’t a factor moving forward in spring. That is welcome news for Beaver fans given that Nall easily would have ran for 1000 plus yards if he was fully healthy last season.
- Last thing in terms of nuggets: There was an energy that I have not seen from OSU under head coach Gary Andersen at practice today. Both players and coaches energy was through the roof. The most notable was cornerbacks coach Cory Hall when Xavier Crawford picked off Conor Blount for a pick six. Hall was jumping up and down, and the fellow defensive players followed suit. After talking to these players and coaches today, there is the standard that 4-8 isn’t close to good enough. I’m excited moving forward for the Beavers.
Quotable
“I looked at it as a clean slate,” McGiven said on the quarterback battle. “(McMaryion) started out each drill yesterday, and (Luton) started the drills today so we are trying to mix and match and making sure they are getting a chance for us to evaluate them running certain concepts. It’s a clean slate in my mind. I want to see these guys fight.”
