Beavers look to usher in a new center

Over the past several Oregon State football seasons there have been recurring questions surrounding the offense: Mannion or Vaz? Terron or Storm? Who’s going to fill the shoes left by Markus Wheaton? Who’s going to fill the even bigger shoes left by Brandin Cooks? Is a tight end tunnel screen really the best play call on third and long? Dual threat or pocket passer?

The list goes on. But when it comes to the center position, Oregon State has been rock solid for the past four seasons.

Whether it was Isaac Seumalo early in his career, or Josh Mitchell taking over when Seumalo suffered a foot injury, the person snapping the ball to the quarterback since 2012 has not an area of concern.

Now the next in line to take over for what co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach TJ Woods calls, “the most critical spot on the offensive line,” could be a sophomore who has yet to play a down of college football.

Enter, Yanni Demogerontas.

Penciled in as the starting center in the latter stages of spring ball, Demogerontas will duke it out with senior Gavin Andrews for the starting nod. But with Andrews slated to start at right guard, Demogerontas may have the inside track at center.

“I’m excited for this opportunity, and I’m going to make the most of it,” Demogerontas said..

Given the state of the offense in 2015 where they scored a Pac-12 low 19 points per game, and finished last in nearly every passing category, the offensive line may have been one of team’s better units.

With Seumalo and Mitchell anchoring the middle; Dustin Stanton, Will Hopkins and (when healthy) Sean Harlow providing adequate tackle play, OSU fielded a solid offensive line unit for a team that finished 2-10.

But due to inconsistent quarterback play, a revolving door of injured running backs and sporadic wide receiver corps, the offensive line play might of been overlooked due to the low offensive output a season ago.

In 2015 the offensive line gave up the second fewest sacks in the conference; the unit also paved the way for ball carriers to average 4.8 yards per carry, which was a higher average than six other Pac-12 offenses.

With Seumalo in the NFL and Mitchell out of eligibility, the center position will become all the more magnified in 2016.

Besides being physical and owning the line of scrimmage, Woods offers a blueprint into what he’s he believes is the most important trait of a center can have.

“They’ve got to be the conductor,” he said. “The first step is having the confidence in yourself to lead, to be able to make those calls, call out directions with some authority and with some confidence.

“To me that’s the number one thing that has to happen. One way you can do that is trust yourself and be intelligent to have to handle the volume of information,” Woods added.

Once finding himself at the top of the depth chart during spring, Demogerontas took a student-like approach to learning the ins and outs of the position. That meant extra time studying film, continuously going over notes on the film to not only learn his responsibilities--but the entire offensive line’s duties on a given play.

“That’s a lot of what I worked on during the summer,” Demogerontas said. “Making sure I 100 percent know what’s going on, making sure everyone on the o-line is on the same page and making sure we are working as a unit.”

One aspect of playing center that can’t be overlooked, is the exchange between the center and the quarterback.

“One of the things that is very important in our offense is snapping the ball,” said Woods. “The gun-snaps have to be timed up the right way, they have to be in the right spot, it’s very, very precise.”

In OSU’s offense, shotgun snaps have to timed up just right to get the offense in the proper rhythm. Snapping the ball could be the deciding factor on who gets the starting nod.

“It’s that simple,” Woods added. “A lot of times (snapping the ball is) what separates who can play center and who can’t. It’s just one of those things.”

With limited experience snapping the ball prior to spring, Demogerontas snapped until the action became second nature during the summer, allowing him to make the proper reads and set the offensive line.

“I worked on snapping the ball a lot,” Demogerontas said. “So when I’m snapping I’m not thinking about snapping.”

Even though there is question marks surrounding the player who touches the ball the same amount of times as the quarterback this early in camp, there is still time for Demogerontas to work out the kinks before the Beavers open their season against Minnesota.