Oregon State Practice Report: Beaver defense improving fundamentals
With their home opener against Portland State just three days away, the Oregon State football team held another aggressive, tough, and physical practice as the Beavers aim to improve on their loss to Colorado State. BeaversEdge.com has all the coverage as senior writer Brenden Slaughter was in Corvallis to get the scoop on the Beaver defense as they aim to prove the opening game was an anomaly.
Today was the first day that the media was able to speak to the defense following the disappointing 58-27 loss at the hands of the Rams. The Beaver defense has been putting in the extra effort this week in terms of tackling, communicating and being more fundamentally sound.
Defensive Coordinator Kevin Clune noted that upon review of the film, there are a lot of things that the Beavers can improve on to be more successful.
“There are a million little things,” Clune said. “Where are fits are, run defense, tackling, all those things. It starts with me getting the guys in the right place.”
Manase Hungalu who is one of the leaders and captains of the team echoed what Clune said about the Beavers needing to improve on the little things to be a better team all-around.
“I truly don’t believe that they beat us fair and square,” Hungalu said. “We just made little mistakes that could be fixed. They were obvious mistakes that we don’t do in practice but they showed up in the game and we can’t let that happen, so that’s something we need to fix.”
When asked about the Beavers being able to make adjustments from week 0 to week 1, Clune noted that every week presents a new and unique challenge on defense.
“Every week on defense is a whole different thing,” Clune said. “We don’t get to just run what we run, we have to adapt to the offenses that we face. All the lessons that we have to learn from the CSU game we have to carry over, but yet we have to go beyond that because it’s going to be a different situation against Portland State.”
One recurring theme from talking to the defensive players today was that they want to prove to Beaver Nation that the performance against CSU was an anomaly and it won’t happen again.
The emotion was certainly on display from senior defensive end Titus Failauga as he echoed how much he wants to win during his senior season.
“I don't like losing,” Failauga said. “It was a tough loss, but I think I played well because I did my assignment and I gave it all I had.”
Practice Nuggets
-The Beavers appear to have their uniform combination for the first home game of the season as OSU will wear all-orange uniforms. Given the 100 plus degree temperatures that Corvallis is expected to see this weekend, staying away from black uniforms is probably the smart thing. This is my favorite look that the Beavers trot out on game days.
-Quarterback Darell Garretson was working on designed quarterback draws both in the redzone and between the 20’s. Given Garretson’s mobility and increased reps over the past week or so, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get into the game at some point over the next several weeks in some sort of unique package.
-The Beaver defense showed some fire today against the scout team. After their lackluster performance against Colorado State, the Beavers were in need of finding their groove and energy on the defensive end and it appears that they have done just that this week as every guy was going 110 percent.
-When I talked to Jake Luton yesterday he mentioned that he needed to go through his reads better and be more efficient at throwing the ball. That appeared to be on display today as Luton was trying to get the ball out quickly to his receivers either in the short intermediate passing game or trying to step up in the pocket when trying to get the ball deep downfield.
-Luton made one bad decision near the end of practice when he threw an interception in the corner of the endzone. Interceptions were a concern for Luton during his time at Ventura and in the game against CSU yesterday. Luton needs to continue to improve as a decision-maker in order to take the Beavers to the next level.
-Thomas Tyner was getting extensive reps with the first team squad today. He was used mostly as a runner but was also involved in the passing game as well. Given his lack of production and use in their first game, I believe the coaching staff will be trying to get the ball in Tyner’s hands as much as possible.
-Kalani Vakameilalo, Titus Failauga and Baker Pritchard continued to look very good on the defensive line. Those three guys were part of a very small group of players that Clune and Andersen praised on defense and their leadership and tenacity is growing by the day. Given how OSU performed on defense, they now need to rely on the upper-classmen for experience and leadership and these three are perfect examples of what you are looking for in leading a young team.