11/4/2020 football Edit

Oregon State Football: Wednesday Notebook

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

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With the Oregon State football team back in the swing of practice in preparation for Washington State after having Tuesday off, BeaversEdge.com gives you the latest with the team in this in-depth notebook.

MORE: WATCH: Offense + Defense Previews WSU | Jake Luton To Start In Jacksonville

Offense Gearing Up For New-Look WSU Defense

With Washington State having gone through a coaching change this offseason, naturally, the Beavers would have to get creative to get the full picture of what the new coaching staff is bringing to the table.

The Oregon State offense didn't have much trouble scoring against the Cougars in 2019 as the Beavers ran up 53 points, but the personnel, staff, and schemes are all different this time around.

Nick Rolovich, whom the Beavers were very familiar with prior to getting hired at Washington State as he served as Hawaii's head coach previously, brought in defensive coordinator Jake Dickert from Wyoming to revamp the Cougars' defense.

Oregon State offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren noted that as far as film study and prep goes, the offense has been largely focused on Wyoming's defense from last year as they expect the Cougars to deploy a very similar look.

"Their defensive coordinator came over from Wyoming, so we expect there to be a lot of carryover," Lindgren said. "You might see some new wrinkles, but they had a good defense at Wyoming and we expect Washington State's defense to look very similar."

Chance Nolan Named Backup QB

Four-star JUCO QB recruit Chance Nolan has won the backup quarterback job and will be the first guy off the bench in the case that something happens to Gebbia.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder was one of the highest-rated quarterback recruits to sign with the Beavers in recent memory and if it hadn't been for the fact that spring practices were canceled, he just might have made this QB race close.

Nolan faced an uphill battle in terms of learning the complexities of Lindgren's scheme while also re-adjusting to division one football, yet, he buckled down and really thrived in the late stages of fall camp.

That strong finish caught Lindgren's eye and he feels really confident about what Nolan will bring as the No. 2 in the QB room.

"He didn't really have much of a spring, so things started to really slow down for him in the third week of camp," Lindgren said. "I thought he did some nice things in the scrimmage and he brings a good amount of experience from the JUCO level. We feel he gives us a good chance, so we're rolling with him at No. 2."

True-Freshman QB Jaden de Laura & The Run N Shoot

Washington State made headlines earlier this week after Rolovich announced that true-freshman quarterback Jayden de Laura would be getting the start against Oregon State.

The 6-foot, 195-pounder and four-star recruit from Hawaii hails from the same high school powerhouse that recently produced NFL quarterbacks Marcus Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa and has shown the coaching staff at WSU that he just might be the next big thing in Pullman.

The hard thing for the Beavers is that they'll be preparing for de Laura exclusively from his high school film. Once a true-freshman quarterback has played a few games, that's the tape opponents will work from, until then, high school tape is the best the Beavers can do.

"We're not looking at his whole high school career, but we've been watching a lot from his senior year last year," defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar said. "There haven't been many times in my coaching career where I've had a situation quite like this."

Another noticeable difference for the Washington State offense this season will be that they'll be running The Run N Shoot as opposed to the Air Raid offense that former head coach Mike Leach deployed.

"The Run N Shoot is very different from the Air Raid philosophically," Tibesar said. "This offense has more of an emphasis on running the ball. When Rolovich was in Hawaii, they had a really diverse running game compared to what Washington State did in the past."

Added Omar Speights: "We're expecting to see exactly what we saw from Hawaii last season. Downhill runs and the ball getting out quick, with some deep shots too."

As far as what the Beavers' plan of attack is against de Laura?

"We're going to attack their scheme and quarterback," Tibesar said. "We'll see how he handles pressure and coverage and see what he's ready to deal with. If we're able to find a weakness, we'll keep attacking it."