Oregon State begins year three of Gary Andersen era
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The Oregon State football team held their first official practice of fall camp in year three of head coach Gary Andersen's regime at OSU on Tuesday at the Prothro practice fields. There were a lot of similar things about this day one compared to past years. The coaches were for the most part the same, the drills were roughly the same, the music was similar, but there were several things that were very much not the same.
“It was a little different,” Andersen said. “But there is no doubt that these kids have handled practice well. Yesterday they had a practice where it was strength and young coach ran and they handled it well. Today they came out today and had a good second day in helmets, and it was a positive step.”
As Andersen enters his third season at OSU, he is no stranger to the “first” day of fall camp in Corvallis and what he looks for in it. He has high expectations for what he expects out of his team at this point.
“I would expect solid communication - that is so important,” Andersen said. “You’ll get good effort and excitement at the beginning, but the execution is far from perfect on both sides of the ball. I thought the communication was good, the practice was well organized, and those things should be expected at this point.”
For the first time since Gary Andersen came to OSU, the Beavers have multiple quarterbacks with experience, a veteran defense, and a talented, deep group of running backs.
By now you’ve all heard that former five star running back Thomas Tyner recently traded in his green and yellow uniforms (and whatever other colors they're wearing these days) for orange and black ones. Tyner was mostly with the second unit on Tuesday but was able to get a few reps with the ones as well. He mentioned to the media that he was trying to work off the excess weight that he called “fishing weight." Tyner is an avid fisherman in Oregon and is always looking for the next good lake or river to get out on.
“It was fun,” Tyner said with a smile. “I definitely missed it out here and I’m just more excited than anything. I’m excited to get to play this season. It’s awesome (to be a Beaver). The guys have done a really great job of making me feel like part of the team with a family type atmosphere and I love it here. I don’t like living with “what if’s” and I feel like the what if was with football and I didn't want to go out the way that I did.”
“It was good to see him out here,” Andersen said. “Thomas has done a great job since he’s been here on and off the field. He’s developed a bond with his teammates as well. A couple days ago he went over to Ryan (Nall’s) house to have dinner and take their girlfriends out to dinner or cook something. I think he’s fit right in, and he looked good out there today.”
“He’s the epitome of smooth,” Luton said. “You watch him run and he’s a big dude and he just glides. He is a really smooth runner with a lot of talent. I’m just trying to get him up to speed on the playbook right now, but he’ll pick it up.”
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VID: Andersen discusses first day of fall camp
VID: BeaversEdge.com's Marcus Greaves interviews Jordan Villamin
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In terms of quarterbacks, Jake Luton was the first quarterback to take reps in the portion of practice open to the media, and he looked like the kind of guy that the Beavers want to seize the quarterback job. He looked more calm and comfortable in the pocket compared to the spring session when he was still learning the nuances of the Beaver offense. He made several nice deep throws, and I think it’s safe to say that he is the best deep ball throwing quarterback on the team.
“We need to throw the ball more effectively,” Andersen said. “We did hit some routes down the field today which was great to see. We had 4-5 deep balls that were completed today in a very limited offensive playbook, so they seem to have pretty good command of the offense and playing with the type of pace that we want to play so it was a solid day. There is so little offense right now that it's hard to gauge.”
Whoever takes the reigns at quarterback this season, there is no denying that there will be a lot of talent around them at the running back and wide receiver position.
“We got a lot of talent,” Luton said with a smile. “The depth is there too and it doesn’t matter, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team, there are guys that can go get the ball. We got a lot of talent and depth.”
In terms of what the Beavers’ strength is this season, it will most certainly be on the defensive end. OSU brings back a bevy of savvy, veteran playmakers that will almost certainly have them near the top of of the Pac-12 in most defensive categories. It may seem like a stretch to think that the Beavers could have an elite level defense in 2017, but I believe it’s more realistic than people think.
The linebacking corps brings everyone back except for Caleb Saulo, including stud Bright Ugwoegbu and the ever steady Manase Hungalu. The secondary is set up very nicely with freshman All-American Xavier Crawford returning to anchor the back end, along with solid playmakers like Brandon Arnold, Jalen Moore, and Shawn Wilson.
The defensive line is where the Beavers will be tested this season. The Beavers knew that they needed help up front, hence why they recruited Craig Evans, but Evans was in street clothes today and Andersen told us that he was “taking care of his business."
“He’ll be here at some point,” Andersen said. “He is taking care of his business. Craig is exactly where we knew he would be when we recruited him. We’ll just take it day-by-day as we move through time. (Evans) is taking care of business.”
It’s only the first real practice for the Beavers this season, and it’s easy to get overexcited in year three about expectations for the team, but this year the team has the mindset that they are no longer the underdogs.
“These kids shouldn’t feel that way in year three,” Andersen said. “We are sitting in a tremendous conference and threw blows with a lot of teams last season. Our expectations are this ‘We are going to prepare everyday to compete like crazy against each other.’ Every young man out here should be trying to get one notch higher up on the depth chart.”