Oregon State Beavers Football: Tuesday Report

Midway through the 2018 season, Jonathan Smith and Co. are looking forward to using the bye week to work on their craft and make adjustments, all while offering key rest for players with nagging injuries.

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Quarterback Jake Luton, who has been dealing with a high ankle sprain suffered against Nevada, is aiming to be back by the California game. Luton noted that’s he’s never dealt with an ankle sprain this bad before and that it's been frustrating to not be able to practice or play with his teammates on gameday.

“I’ve dealt with just the regular ankle sprain where you roll it and you’re okay and I was really hoping this one was just gonna go away in a couple days and it’s just been lingering around,” Luton said. “It’s the first time I’ve dealt with it and it’s frustrating, but hopefully I’ll get out there this week.“

Just because OSU’s starting quarterback has been sidelined for the past few games, that doesn’t mean that he’s stopped helping the team in other ways. While being on the sidelines in practices or games, Luton has been trying to be the best mentor to Conor Blount and his teammates by stepping into a hybrid-coach role.

“I’m trying to be the best player-coach and second set of eyes that I can be for Conor,” Luton said. “I’m trying to help him see what I see on the field and when he comes back to the sidelines in the game or practice, making sure we’re on the same page. When you’re out there on the field playing, sometimes it can be tough to see things you’re not looking at because you’re so focused on the reads. Me being on the sidelines, I can tell him the other stuff and what to do in another situation.”

With Luton’s return imminent for the Cal game, Beavers’ offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren noted that the Beavers have more flexibility and options when Luton returns, and is excited to get him back on the field.

“It would be great to get Jake back and have him ready to go,” Lindgren said. “He’s a good player with a lot of experience and he played very well in the Nevada game. We’d love to have him back and as an option in that game.”

Tuesday’s media availability also offered additional updates in terms of injuries as the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for several OSU players who are either out, or dealing with nagging injuries.

Receiver Isaiah Hodgins, who suffered a right hamstring injury (his first of his playing career) against Arizona State several weeks ago, is also hoping to return to action against the Bears as he is planning on spending the bye week rehabbing with a targeted Sunday return to practice.

“I’m feeling good, progressing and rehabbing well,” Hodgins said. “My hamstring was really tight in the ASU game and it just kept getting tighter. When I caught that ball, I felt a huge pop and I kinda just went down. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The plan for me moving forward is to light practice on Sunday and to be full go starting Tuesday or Wednesday.”

The Beavers’ offense figures to get a little stronger in the coming weeks now that running back Artavis Pierce is back in the fold. OSU’s junior running back suffered a fracture in his left arm while diving for the end zone against Southern Utah. Additionally, he also suffered several ligament tears, including his bicep and others.

Pierce’s return to the field against Washington State was critical given that he was able to log that first game back before entering the bye week. Since his return to the field, Pierce has sported an elbow brace that protects his left elbow/arm as he continues to recover from the injury.

“I didn’t have a lot of rust, but I just have to get my confidence back,” Pierce said. “I was a little timid because of the injury but I feel like now I’m back 100 percent and not holding back. Since I didn’t have contact in practice that week, the game was the first time I got hit on the brace. Once I got tackled a couple times, I got my confidence back.”

While the Oregon State defense has struggled to make strides from 2017 to 2018, the OSU offense has grown leaps and bounds from where they were a season ago under the guidance of Smith and Lindgren.

Despite serving as the play caller during his time as OC at Washington, Smith opted to put Lindgren in charge of his offense in terms of play calling and scheme. Lindgren, who spent the previous five seasons at Colorado, has implemented several aspects of the offense we’ve come to see at CU over the past few seasons, which features a dynamic balanced offense with elite athletes at running back (see Phillip Lindsay), strong receivers on the outside and speedsters inside and several wrinkles in terms of play calling that keep the offense guessing.

“It’s something that we carry each week,” Lindgren said. “We try and have a couple wrinkles to help us get chunks down the field. We were able to execute one against Washington State, and the other we executed poorly and ended up getting a penalty. It was a screen pass the QB threw to the wrong guy.”

The “other” gadget play that Lindgren mentioned on Saturday is somewhat unique as the Beavers ran a very similar play against the Cougars that the Buffs did against Arizona State. The play starts as a wide receiver reverse before the ball goes back to the quarterback who then throws opposite side, setting up a short screen on the far side of the field to an open receiver where there are limited defenders.

This play is an interesting take on your typical receiver reverse of flea flicker as usually, your opponent is expecting the deep shot out of the trickery. While the Buffs executed this play and the Beavers didn't, it’s an interesting quirk that Lindgren and the Beavs have taken a few things from his time at CU.

“It was the same play and I’m sure they called it the the same way,” Lindgren said with a chuckle. “It was actually the same play that we ran against the Cougs back in 2016 and I’m sure offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini has that in his bank too.”

While the Oregon State offense has certainly exceeded expectations placed on them coming into the season, that doesn’t mean that the Beavers are resting on their laurels during the bye week. Despite the Beavers having a very balanced and dynamic offensive attack, there’s still things that need to be cleaned up and addressed in order to play as close to mistake free football as possible.

In terms of what’s been good through six games, Lindgren lauded the OSU running game, and Jermar Jefferson who’s been arguably been one of the top running backs in college football this season as he ranks second nationally in yards (864) and is tied for second in touchdowns (12).

“I’ve been pleased with how we’ve been able to run and with the emergence of Jefferson,” Lindgren said. “Being able to get some explosive plays in the run game has been extremely positive.”

As far as where Lindgren would like to see improvement, he feels that the Beavers still need to be better at passing the ball and creating chunk plays, despite connecting on a few against Washington State.

“We need to keep working on creating explosive plays in the passing game,” Lindgren said. “We hit three against WSU, but when opposing teams are loading the box and gearing up to stop the run, we’ve got to be able to make them pay.”

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