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With the Oregon State football team set to kick off spring practices on Tuesday, BeaversEdge gives five burning questions ahead of the start of spring ball!
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1. Who Will Impress At Quarterback?
The biggest question on everyone's mind entering Oregon State's 2023 spring practices is about the quarterback position...
The Beavers have easily their best collection of top-to-bottom talent at the position since head coach Jonathan Smith arrived and that's got a lot of people excited for what Oregon State's ceiling ultimately could be...
It's been quite the offseason for the Beavers as they welcomed in Clemson transfer DJ Uiagalelei and four-star freshman Aidan Chiles to compete with incumbent starter Ben Gulbranson. Travis Throckmorton is the only other scholarship quarterback as Tristan Gebbia and Chance Nolan both sought the transfer portal after last season.
After leading the Beavers to a 7-1 record in relief of Nolan a year ago, Gulbranson will certainly get the first look during spring practices as he's earned that right, but Uiagalelei and Chiles didn't come to OSU to wait to play and they'll be pushing him immediately.
Uiagalelei elevates the overall talent level at the position to an area we haven't seen if he reaches his full potential in OSU's offense, while Chiles is the most high-profile high school quarterback to sign with the Beavers in years.
It's easily the most exciting and intriguing quarterback derby since I began covering the program in 2014 and I could not be more intrigued to see how this battle ultimately shakes out.
Per Smith and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren's history, no starter will be named until fall camp, but I think it's going to be clear within the first few practices that the Beavers struck gold in the quarterback market this offseason.
How that all ultimately plays out is still up for debate, but the quarterback production that was lacking in several key ways last season suddenly looks extremely promising...
2. How Does The Defense Replace Big-Time Production?
Oregon State's defense was certainly one of the feel-good stories in college football this past season as the Beavers flipped the script on their defensive output and had one of their better years in program history in 2022.
However, maintaining that level of defensive play will be a challenge as the Beavers are looking to replace both inside linebackers (Omar Speights & Kyrie Fisher-Morris) and three of the five biggest contributors in the secondary (Jaydon Grant, Rejzohn Wright, & Alex Austin).
That's quite a lot of production to replace, as we've covered in our defensive back and inside linebacker offseason analysis, but the Beavers have done a nice job recruiting depth and talent that should be capable of seizing bigger roles.
Unlike the first couple of seasons in the Smith era where perhaps the defensive talent was a bit top-heavy, there's a lot more balance and depth created with good recruiting classes and I expect the Beavers to be able to handle those departures and plug-and-play quite well.
However, this early on during spring, there's definitely going to be a bit of a musical chairs narrative in the works as I'm sure we'll see a ton of potential guys' chances to showcase themselves in those key positions.
