Football Spring Football Day 7 Content Hub

Brenden Slaughter · Apr 4, 2024

Hey Edgers!

After a two-ish week break the Beavers returned to Prothro for the second half of spring!

@tjmathewson and @ryan_harlan7 were on hand for us and have the full scoop!

Practice Video

WATCH: Oregon State Spring Football Video Day 7

Video from Oregon State's seventh practice of spring football...

oregonstate.rivals.com

WATCH: ST Coordinator Jamie Christian & TE coach Jon Boyer

WATCH: Oregon State Football Talks Spring Football Day 7

Hear from new Oregon State special teams coordinator Jamie Christian and TE coach Jon Boyer following day 7...

oregonstate.rivals.com

Nuggets via @tjmathewson and @ryan_harlan7

OFFENSE

It could still be too early for a final evaluation, but I’m a little bit concerned about what we have seen from Gevani McCoy, and Thursday was no exception. McCoy shows good movement in the pocket, but his throws have lacked velocity, timing, and touch. The latter two can come with time, but the arm strength looks concerning. Even on routine passes, the extra half-second the ball takes to get there has led to more PBUs and less first downs. He’s got a lot of ground to make up on Ben Gulbranson for that first-team spot.
McCoy tossed two interceptions on the day, one to Jaden Robinson and the other to Jack Kane. Both on underthrown balls to his right and near the numbers, which the DBs undercut and took back the other way
Gulbranson had a fine day. He was able to stay much more on schedule and even showed off his legs on a read option keeper. He’s doing all the right things to keep himself entrenched in the starting spot. He made a play today we don’t see too often, rolling to his left and throwing on the run, he connected with Tastean Reddicks for a decent gain.
We still haven’t gotten to see many deep shots, which has to be frustrating for a guy like Zach Card. McCoy targeted Jamai East on one late in practice, but it was underthrown badly and slapped away by freshman DB Exodus Ayers.
The best offensive play of the day came when the third-team offense was on the field. The unit used tempo to their advantage and snuck Jake Reichle out of the backfield on a wheel route and Dom Montiel hit him in stride for a massive gain
There was a good amount of work for the running backs today. Damien Martinez, Jam Griffin, and Isaiah Newell all had really nice runs, Martinez in particular had one of his patented outside runs (couldn’t tell if it was zone or not) to the left boundary that he took for 30 yards. He also flashed his receiver ability again, making a nice catch on a flat route.
The more routes Trent Walker runs, the more it looks like he will be starting by the time the fall rolls around. He’s able to create separation on most of the route tree, and has rarely dropped any balls. He and Gulbranson have a pretty good connection, those two linked up for a tight-window crosser in 11-11 for over 20 yards.

Defense/Special Teams

The defense has picked up right where they left off from the first two weeks of spring practices. While that’s expected with the defense being ahead of the offense in spring ball, Keith Heyward’s unit appears to have found their footing even with all the new guys that have joined the team for this upcoming season.
Defensive lineman Luke Levengood, inside linebacker Gyriece Goodman, and defensive back Ugochukwu Odoemelam all joined the Beavers for the second half of spring practices.
Punters Josh Green and AJ Winsor returned to practice today. Green had been recovering from off-season surgery, and it was his first day back, while Winsor's was his second day back after dealing with an undisclosed injury.
According to special teams coach Jamie Christian, kicker Everett Hayes has been hitting from 60-62 yards in closed practices. They’re working on consistently making his kicks regardless of range, but Christian has liked what he’s seen from Hayes after these first couple of weeks.
Christian says players on punt return and kickoff coverage can go four guys deep.
Outside linebacker Oluwaseyi Omotosho took reps with both the second-team and first-team defense during team periods. Omotosho had a few pressures off the edge along with a sack during team periods. I’d expect Omotosho to push his case for a starting role throughout the rest of spring practices and headed into fall camp. Still, he likely could be rotated in and out depending on the scheme and personnel by Heyward.
Takari Hickle got in the backfield throughout team periods and had a sack. Hickle also kicked outside on some team-period reps, which we could see him do in the spring game or even once the season starts. I like the wrinkles that Heyward is bringing to the defensive side of the ball with some stunts from the defensive lineman, pressure off the edge from the secondary, and kicking the defensive lineman outside to create pressure. Defensively, it looks like we’ll see some concepts that are used at the next level from Heyward this season.
Defensive backs Amarion York and Exodus Ayers had a pair of pass breakups today in practice.
Defensive back Skyler Thomas returned to practice and made a lot of plays in his first practice since his knee injury back in fall camp. Thomas had a pass breakup in the 7 on 7’s portion of practice today.
Defensive back Jaden Robinson had an excellent day at practice, with a couple of pass breakups, a forced fumble, and an INT against quarterback Gevani McCoy. Robinson would have had three interceptions, but he dropped one and couldn’t make a play on the second one that came his way. Robinson was the standout on the defensive side in today’s practice.
Defensive back Jack Kane had an INT in 7-on-7’s against McCoy, which was thrown almost right to Kane.

ROTATIONS

First team Offense
QB - Ben Gulbranson
RB - Damien Martinez/Anthony Hankerson / Jam Griffin
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/JoJo Johnson
DL - Thomas Collins
DL - Semisi Saluni
OLB - Oluwaseyi Omotosho
ILB - Melvin Jordan IV
ILB - Isaiah Chisom
OLB - Nikko Taylor
DB - Noble Thomas
DB - Andre Jordan Jr.
DB - Jaden Robinson
DB - Skyler Thomas/ Jack Kane

Second-Team Defense (Some 3rd Teamers Rotated In As Well)
DL - Tygee Hill/Tevita Pome’e
DL - Jacob Schuster
DL - Quincy Wright
OLB - DJ Wesolak/Mathias Malaki-Donaldson
ILB - Aiden Sullivan / Jessaia Moala
ILB - John Miller / Clive Pond
OLB - Zakaih Saez/ Mason Tufaga
DB - Kobe Singleton/Sai Vadarawale
DB - Mason White/ Sam Mason / Josiah Johnson
DB - Exodus Ayers/ Tyrice Ivy Jr. / Austin Ratliff
DB - Harlem Howard /Amarion York / Carlos Mack/ Milan Clark

Brenden Slaughter · Apr 4, 2024