Football Spring Football Content Hub Day 6 (3/16)

Brenden Slaughter · Mar 16, 2024

Hey Edgers!

Great day at practice today as @tjmathewson, @ryan_harlan7, & myself were all on hand! Even had Edger @post5beav on hand as well, great afternoon!

Here's the interview with Trent Bray

WATCH: Oregon State HC Trent Bray Talks Spring Football Day 6

Hear from Oregon State head coach Trent Bray after the Beavers' sixth practice of spring football!

oregonstate.rivals.com

BeaversEdge Talks Spring Football Day 6 & MORE

WATCH: BeaversEdge Breaks Down Oregon State's Sixth Practice Of Spring

BeaversEdge breaks down the first half of spring football and poses questions for the second half!

oregonstate.rivals.com

NUGGETS and Rotations To Come!
BeaversEdge Spring Practice Day 6

The Beavers wrapped up the first session of Spring Practice today at a sunny Reser Stadium, spending the majority of the 90-minute practice running live 11-11, mixing in the first three teams as Trent Bray looks to get an idea what to focus on in the second session of spring. Here’s everything we saw today.

OFFENSE

Today was the best day to see what the Beavers had in quarterback so far. With Gabarri Johnson sidelined in the finale of the first session of spring practice, Gevani McCoy and Ben Gulbranson took the bulk of the live reps, with redshirt sophomore Dom Montiel cleaning up the rest of the reps. Bray said post-practice that they hope to see Johnson in the April session, but TBD.
Defense is usually pretty far ahead of the offense at this point, but the turnovers were an issue.
- Gevani McCoy threw one poor interception, where he was late on a pass over the middle, floating a ball behind his receiver over the middle where Andre Jordan Jr. was waiting right there to pick it off. He had another near pick a series earlier on a bench route to the far sideline, McCoy’s lack of arm strength and timing led to a late ball and Kobe Singleton nearly picked it off.
- Ben Gulbranson avoided throwing any interceptions, but JUCO transfer Aiden Sullivan nearly got him on a late throw over the middle.
- There must've been a miscommunication between Dom Montiel and Anthony Hankerson on a screen late in practice, Montiel floated an errant screen pass to redshirt sophomore linebacker Tyree Blake with Hankerson nowhere to be found.
I really liked the wheels I saw from Gevani McCoy on a late drive, escaping from the pocket and outrunning linebackers to the sideline for a 15-yard gain. Not quite Aidan Chiles-level speed, but certainly enough for the Beavers to run the Idaho transfer a little bit if they need to, especially if McCoy continues to struggle throwing the ball.
Finally getting to set our eyes on the offensive attack plan, there are some pretty apparent trends with new OC Ryan Gunderson. The offense is built around a volume passing game instead of an explosive one. Lots of screens, flat routes, slants, comebacks, and other shorter-developing plays that allow the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly and avoid pressure. Every snap we saw today was out of the shotgun.
One guy who looks like he will be right at home in this offense is former Colorado running back Anthony Hankerson. Hankerson showed the ability to do a little bit of everything so far. His short-area quickness and pass-catching ability stood out, walling off a defender for a sick one-handed catch on the final drive of practice, and improvising on his route to the football. He also scored the only touchdown of practice, dodging a couple of tacklers after getting the handoff in the backfield, and scampered untouched into the end zone. Coming into spring, it looked like Hankerson and Jam Griffin would be battling for reps behind Damien Martinez, and Hankerson looks like the clear favorite for that role after six practices.
2023 JUCO transfer Jailen Holmes had a really nice day. He was the only receiver consistently getting targets and showed the ability to get yards after the catch. While the scheme wasn’t giving him explosive targets (down the field), he was turning them into explosive plays, which is good to see after losing a couple of explosive YAC guys like Anthony Gould and Silas Bolden.
Everett Hayes made a handful of field goals, hitting from as long as 46 yards. His only miss of the day came from 57. The Beavers did not punt all practice.

DEFENSE

Five turnovers for the defense today
Takari Hickle consistently got into the backfield and had several tackles for loss against several different backs. Hickle was a standout on the defensive line today, along with Nikko Taylor, who also got into the backfield while on the field together. Taylor had a sack as well.
- Jacob Schuster forced a fumble and recovered the fumble on a handoff exchange between Dom Montiel and Jake Reichle.
- Several guys in the front seven had several tackles for loss, including JoJo Johnson, Thomas Collins, Quincy Wright, and Oluwaseyi Omotosho.
- The defensive line consistently got pressure on the offensive line with a lot more size as well as athleticism up front making it hard for running backs to run up the middle.
Aiden Sullivan had a great day in live reps, making plays sideline to sideline. Sullivan nearly had a couple of interceptions, a sack, a few pressures, and a few solid tackles in space, including one on running back Isaiah Newell. While both Isaiah Chisom and Melvin Jordan IV are likely to start as inside linebackers, Sullivan could likely see an expanded role this season, rotating in for either Jordan or Chisom, which is similar to what we’ve seen in previous seasons where the inside linebackers rotated personnel in the defensive scheme.
Andre Jordan Jr. had excellent pressure off the edge on a rep and a couple of plays with an interception during live reps.
- Defensive coordinator Keith Heyward uses defensive concepts similar to what Bray did in his position but has added his wrinkles to the scheme. There will likely be more use of cornerbacks to pressure off the edge against opposing quarterbacks. There wasn’t quite as much emphasis last season on bringing a five-man front or six-front pressures with a cornerback, but it seems we’ll see more of that this season with Heyward in specific packages.
Kobe Singleton continues to shine in spring ball practices and during the live reps period today. Singleton nearly had a couple of interceptions as well as a couple of pass breakups against a few different receivers. He continued to take reps with the second team defense but could likely see first-team reps in the back half of spring ball practices
Defensive back Harlem Howard had a few solid tackles in live reps, including one against Isaiah Newell in the open field.
Clive Pond had a great day as well, with a tackle against running back Dyontae Navarette and a forced fumble.
Linebacker Tyree Blake intercepted Dom Montiel in live reps. Blake made a break on Montiel’s late throw due to miscommunication on a screen pass and went the other way with the ball.
Tackling for the defensive appears to be much improved for both the secondary, linebackers, and defensive line, with very few missed tackles.

ROTATIONS

First team Offense

QB - Ben Gulbranson
RB - Damien Martinez/Anthony Hankerson
WR - Jamai East
WR - Jeremiah Noga
WR - Trent Walker
TE - Jermaine Terry
LT - Jacob Strand
LG - Tyler Voltin
C - Van Wells
RG - Nathan Elu
RT - Grant Starck

Second Team Offense (Some 3rd Teamers Rotated In As Well)
QB - Gevani McCoy / Dom Montiel
RB - Isaiah Newell / Jake Reichle / Dyonte Navarrete
WR - Zach Card / Jailen Holmes
WR - Jordan Anderson
WR - David Wells
TE - Carter Neuman / Bryce Caufield
LT - Thomas Schnapp
LG - Ryan Berger
C - Dylan Lopez
RG - Jason White
RT - Jacob Anderson

First Team Defense
DL - Takari Hickle
DL - Nick Norris
DL - Jacob Schuster
OLB - DJ Wesolak
ILB - Mason Tufaga / Aidan Sullivan
ILB - Isaiah Chisom
OLB - Nikko Taylor / Zakaih Saez
DB - Noble Thomas
DB - Harlem Howard
DB - Amarion York
DB - Sai Vadrawale

Second-Team Defense (Some 3rd Teamers Rotated In As Well)

DL - Tevita Pome’e
DL - Thomas Collins
DL - Quincy Wright
OLB - Mathias Malaki-Donaldson
ILB - Melvin Jordan / Jessaia Moala
ILB - John Miller / Clive Pond
OLB - Tyree Blake /
DB - Kobe Singleton
DB - Sam Mason / Josiah Johnson
DB - Exodus Ayers / Austin Ratliff
DB - Joe Swen / Jaydin Young / Jack Kane

Brenden Slaughter · Mar 16, 2024