The Oregon State football team returned to Prothro Practice Fields on Tuesday with a familiar face in uniform on the sidelines. Jake Luton.

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For many Beaver fans who were watching the Beavers loss to Washington State several weeks ago, many of them thought that they might never see No. 6 wear a Beaver uniform again.

Quarterback Jake Luton took a vicious but not malicious hit from Washington State’s Jalen Thompson and remained motionless on the turf before eventually being taken to the local hospital and diagnosed with a thoracic spine fracture.

The medical and football future of Luton was in question for his family, friends, coaches, and Beaver Nation as he began the healing process.

While many outsiders wondered if Luton would ever play football again, it was never a question for him.

“Never,” Luton said. “As soon as I was conscious, it wasn’t ever a thought. I want to play.”

Over the past several weeks, Luton has been very careful with his healing process, making sure that he has been dotting his I’s and crossing his T’s.

“It’s good to be out here and I’m healing up well,” Luton said. “I started throwing yesterday and today. I went in yesterday and they said it was healing up well and I was headed in the right direction, so I have to just keep building on it.”

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Playing the game of football always comes with its associated risks, but going through something like Luton did is on the far spectrum of the terrible things that can happen with football. Luton noted that this was one of the toughest things that he had to go through in his life.

“It’s been really tough,” Luton said. “Being away from the guys and the game has been the hardest part. But, there is only so much that I can do, so I have to keep looking at the positive in it and keep working.”

Luton added that the injury really made him think about how lucky he is as a player.

“At the end of the day, it’s something where I had to take a step back and think about how lucky I was to come out of it as good as I did," he said. "I can’t think about that for too long because it’s football and I got hit and that’s the nature of the beast and I’m ready to step back out there and play.”

When asked about whether or not Luton hoped to get back on the field this season, he didn’t offer anything from the doctors, but rather from his own perspective.

“I have hope and that’s all I’m worried about,” Luton said with a laugh. “I want to be back out there as soon as possible and when I say that I’m ready, hopefully they’ll let me back out there.”

As many Beaver fans remember last year, OSU and Cal were involved in a shootout in Reser Stadium where neither team could really play defense. OSU got the last laugh as quarterback Darell Garretson ran in for the final score in overtime.

Garretson fondly remembers last year's heroics, but notes that this is a new year and a new team.

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“That was a pretty special moment,” Garretson recalled. “But that is last year and this is this year and Cal is a completely different team. It’s time to come back this week and have some fun out here.”

Since that late October night in Corvallis last fall, the Golden Bears have gone through a complete staff overhaul as former head coach Sonny Dykes was let go and the Bears brought in longtime defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox to be there next head man.

Wilcox put together a terrific staff in the offseason, but most importantly, he brought in a top notch defensive coordinator in former Fresno State head coach Tim DeRuyter, who has changed the Cal defense into a very aggressive unit.

“They are a different kind of defense and are a very well coached unit,” Garretson said. “They are mixing up their coverage looks after having an odd front and man formations last year.”

They are a little bit more aggressive defensively,” offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven added. “I had a chance to play against DeRuyter when he was at Fresno State, so I know that style of defense. It’s very aggressive and they use a lot of different things in their Blitz package. They’ve created a lot of turnovers and been in and won some big football games.”

By now, everyone who’s been on twitter or was at Reser Stadium on Thursday, or was watching on television knows that the Beavers ran a throwback pass to their second biggest offensive lineman in Fred Lauina.

McGiven added his perspective on the play.

“We just started working on that play last week,” McGiven said with a laugh. “I still didn’t know if we felt great about it going in. The kids did a really good job executing it and Darell had to make a tough throw over the top. They did a really good job of executing it.”

In a season where there hasn’t been much positive press about the Beavers, Lauina’s play went viral on twitter, creating a vibe and a buzz around the program.

“Anytime you can generate some excitement like that it’s fun,” McGiven said. “Having little wrinkles like that make sure that the kids have fun during the week. I joked with Fred that I was going to call the play on the first play of the game and he got all excited, and I was no I’m not gonna do that.”