By Brenden Slaughter
BeaversEdge.com continues coverage of Oregon State spring football. Today was day four, and the first day in pads for the Beavers.
“It continues to be good work,” Andersen said. “Today was the first day of pads and I thought we handled that pretty well for day one. When the pads come on, it becomes real football for the line of scrimmage guys. It is so much of a difference for those guys on the line without anything on.”
Andersen on Jake Luton...
“He has done good, it’s a lot of new everyday for him,” Andersen said. “Everyday for him is brand new. It’s a new offense compared to what he ran (at Ventura CC), although there are some similarities. Overall, I think he is handling it well.”
Andersen on the team's energy...
“The energy has been good,” Andersen said. “It comes with familiarity of the situation that you are in. We have to continue to keep that up, that is what big time football teams do. They come to work every single day, and when they step across that practice field line their mind shift changes to a division one college football practice.”
BeaversEdge.com continues coverage of Oregon State spring football. Today was day four, and the first day in pads for the Beavers.
Practice Nuggets
- For the third straight day, Jake Luton was the first quarterback to take reps in the portion of practice open to the media. However, no quarterback looked very sharp today. For the past few days, Luton has looked like the best quarterback on the field, but he struggled with accuracy today.
- Darell Garretson was the second quarterback again today. I would say that he was the most accurate of the three today, but he was running with the second team, while Luton and Marcus McMaryion were running with a mix of 1’s and 2’s.
- I chose to focus on Isaiah Hodgins for several plays today. His size, and footwork are something I haven’t seen from the WR position at OSU in a long time. He looks like Jordan Villamin does now, but as a freshman. I can tell he is still learning the playbook, but I really like this kid, and I think he can do big things for this squad.
- Another note on Garretson: As we saw last year, Garretson was the most comfortable quarterback running outside of the pocket, and that still holds true this spring. Garretson is more willing to tuck it and run than Luton and McMaryion. He is also practicing sliding to avoid the hits as well.
- Today was the first day that I really saw the defense have the edge. OSU’s corners are going to be really, really good if they can stay healthy. When I mention things like Luton struggled with accuracy, it was because a cornerback or safety came flying in to tip the pass away. OSU’s strength this season is going to be in the back end and the linebacking core. I will check more in on the D-line at the next practice, but they still haven’t been able to generate a ton of pressure on the QB.
- Senior running back Marcus Greaves cracked the backfield today. The Prineville, Oregon native got some reps with McMaryion and Luton today. Given that OSU really only has two established running backs in Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce, it will be interesting to see if Greaves works his way into the rotation. Greaves is a walk on running back, by the way.
- In addition to Garretson, Luton also took off scrambling a few times today as well. The intriguing thing about Luton is once he gets going, it's hard to bring him down. Based on what I have seen he reminds me a lot of former Utah quarterback Travis Wilson. Very big, a strong arm, and decent mobility but struggles at time with accuracy.
- The Beavers were working on a lot of motion today. Think back to the Civil War when the Beavers had a WR moving on most plays, and had multiple options on that zone read. It was similar today, with Xavier Hawkins and Trevon Bradford in motion often. With Victor Bolden gone, it will be interesting to see who OSU gets to replace what he did with the fly sweep.
- Artavis Pierce looked really aggressive today as a receiver out of the backfield. There were several plays where he fought for extra yardage beyond the whistle. I mentioned several days ago that the Beavers will be in good shape with him, especially if he continues to develop as a receiver. Running backs coach Telly Lockette has mentioned several times that he wants RB’s that are multi-dimensional. Pierce is looking more and more of a threat on the field each day I see him.
- Today was the first day of full pads, and I thought it toned down the energy a bit. The past few days guys were hooting and hollering during every play, while today it was much more business like.
“It continues to be good work,” Andersen said. “Today was the first day of pads and I thought we handled that pretty well for day one. When the pads come on, it becomes real football for the line of scrimmage guys. It is so much of a difference for those guys on the line without anything on.”
Andersen on Jake Luton...
“He has done good, it’s a lot of new everyday for him,” Andersen said. “Everyday for him is brand new. It’s a new offense compared to what he ran (at Ventura CC), although there are some similarities. Overall, I think he is handling it well.”
Andersen on the team's energy...
“The energy has been good,” Andersen said. “It comes with familiarity of the situation that you are in. We have to continue to keep that up, that is what big time football teams do. They come to work every single day, and when they step across that practice field line their mind shift changes to a division one college football practice.”
