Beavers seeking improvement and chemistry in Bend
After day one in Bend, Gary Andersen is pleased with how his team is gaining chemistry as a group, both and off the field through team bonding.
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The Oregon State football team returned to Bend, Oregon for the second straight season on Saturday.
Throughout the week, the Beavers will handle their usual practice duties in addition to several unique factors such as intense heat and high elevation. As the Beavers head east, Gary Andersen and Co. are hoping that several questions about the team will be answered with this unique week of team bonding.
“The major emphasis of Bend when you leave Friday night as a staff and as a football team is what freshman are going to be a part of the travel squad,” Andersen said.
Perhaps even more so than anything else in Bend is how the Beavers build their team chemistry with bonding on and off the field throughout the week.”
“I want them to continually bond,” Andersen said. “Off the field, this is a good place to be around one another, and they have some time in the evening to spend some time with each other. We broke up their roommates so they couldn’t have predicted who was going to be together. Getting to know other people is big, and it helps this team come together.”
One of the more unique advantages that the Beavers have in playing in Bend is that they will be mentally and physically aware of what it will be like to play in Fort Collins against Colorado State. Bend has an elevation upwards of 3,500 feet, while Fort Collins has an elevation of 5,000 feet. Given all of those factors, I think it’s a huge advantage for the Beavers that they will get practice playing in those conditions.
I’ve talked with BeaversEdge.com’s Marcus Greaves about when he played in Colorado in a Beaver uniform, and he told me that it is every bit as hard as advertised when it comes to playing in the elevation.
“It's tough because no matter how much conditioning we do or how good of shape you're in with the higher elevation, it just feels like you're constantly out of shape,” Greaves said.
Several other OSU players have echoed the same thing to me as well. With all that in mind, Andersen and his staff are very wise to have their players playing in the high elevation in fall camp.
Development of youth in Bend appears to be the norm for the Beavers as just after day one, Gary Andersen praised the play of several young players. Last season, running back Artavis Pierce was one of the young players that was lauded for his impressive play in Bend, and he was rewarded for being the first true freshman player to have his stripes removed from his helmet.
This season, several young players appear to be well on their way to impressing OSU coaches as well. After day one, Andersen praised the play of newcomers Kesi Ah-Hoy, Isaiah Dunn, Keli’i Montibon, and Calvin Tyler.
“There are a lot of young guys that have jumped out to me,” Andersen said. “Kesi is playing very well at inside linebacker. He was running with the first group today. Isaiah (Dunn) has played very well at cornerback and has been doing a very nice job. Keli’i (Montibon) has done a fantastic job thus far and will compete for a starting job. Calvin (Tyler) jumps off at me time and time again and has done a tremendous job.”
In terms of good news for the Beavers, they welcomed back defensive tackle Elu Aydon who hadn’t practiced this past week. Gary Andersen noted that he was just going through some extra conditioning and has him back with the squad now.
Being in Bend for the OSU football team is one of the more unique things that the team experiences all season long, and it’s extremely important for player development both on and off the field according to Gary Andersen. However, one of the more important aspects of Bend according to Andersen is that by the time the Bend week ends, the Beavers know a lot about how tough they are as a team.
“You identify your toughness early in camp,” Andersen said. “Each team has to identify their own toughness and you get gauged by that on game day. When you walk out of here you need to be prepared to be a tough football team and you earn that. You can just say you're tough.”