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Beavers Eye Second Scrimmage

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MORE: WATCH: Jonathan Smith Recaps Week 2, Previews Scrimmage | BeaversEdge Mailbag: Pac-12 Standings; Recruiting; QB Battle

With the Oregon State football team now having wrapped up its second week of fall camp in preparation for its Nov. 7th opener against Washington State, head coach Jonathan Smith is excited to see how the Beavers respond in the second scrimmage of camp on Saturday.

The Beavers' first scrimmage last Saturday showed the coaching staff on both sides of the ball that the potential is there, but the sharpness and attention to detail weren't.

In the conversations with Smith, defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar, and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren this week, the common theme was that this was the best position the program has been depth and talent-wise since their arrival, but that the details still needed fine-tuning in order to get to where they wanted to be.

Perhaps the most important area where the Beavers would like to have the details sorted out sooner rather than later is at quarterback. Smith and Lindgren have kept the competition fairly open with Tristan Gebbia, Chance Nolan, Ben Gulbranson, and Nick Moore all receiving roughly equal turns throughout the first two weeks.

However, both Smith and Lindgren have said that they'd like to have the competition narrowed down sooner than later. Ideally, a guy would have separated himself following the last scrimmage, but that didn't happen per the coaches, and the battle pushes on.

As far as what's going to be the QB rotation during the scrimmage? Smith says that Gebbia will get a healthy amount of reps being the most experienced guy and that the rotation behind him would likely be decided between the coaching staff Friday afternoon/evening.

"Tristan (Gebbia) is going to get a good amount of the reps, but beyond that, Brian (Lindgren) and I haven't decided how we're going to divide the reps," Smith said. "We'll break down the tape this afternoon and get together a gameplan for Saturday."

With the offensive line still being a bit in flux in terms of who the Beavers are going to with, Smith said that there's going to be a heavy amount of shuffling upfront. The team has a pretty good idea of where they stand, but Smith said there's several good battles brewing, particularly on the inside.

We'll mix the offensive line a lot on Saturday because we're still trying to find the best guys," Smith said. "We have some competition for those spots, especially on the interior, so we want to see those battles play out. You'll see a little mix and matching."

Smith is also really wanting to see how the special team's groups come together in a live session. The Beavers are aiming to get the best 11 guys on the field in each of the respective groups and Smith said there's going to be a fair amount of starters on both sides of the ball that will be on special teams.

"I'm anxious to see how our special teams look in all phases because we're going to go live tomorrow with live reps. We really want to see how we can get the best 11 guys on the field on those respective groups."

NOTES

- Regarding defensive end Jeromy Reichner, Smith confirmed that he hasn't been available throughout fall camp and that he hasn't sustained an injury. It's Oregon State's policy not to comment until the player has first done so. If Reichner has indeed chosen to opt-out, he would join offensive lineman Onesiums Clarke and defensive back Jonathan Riley, whom the Oregonian's Nick Daschel previously reported.

- As far as guys who will be out Saturday, Smith said that defensive back David Morris, running back Calvin Tyler Jr., and Isaiah Newell would be held out for precautionary reasons. He added none of the above three will miss much time. Smith also said there will be some other guys that will sit out that he was missing on in the moment.

- The punting competition figures to work its way through the scrimmage, but Smith said that the leader in the room is redshirt-senior Caleb Lightbourn. The 6-foot-3, 231-pounder has some booming kicks and has kept redshirt-junior Luke Loechner and redshirt-sophomore Josh Green at bay.

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