OSU aims for offensive success
To say that the 2015 season was rough for Oregon State on the offensive side of the ball would be an understatement. Quarterback play was a revolving door, injuries plagued the backfield, and the wide receivers couldn’t create the necessary separation in order to make big plays. Those factors directly affected the most important offensive stats, as OSU was last in the Pac-12 in multiple offensive categories, including points per game (19), and total offensive yards per game (336).
As the Beavers ready for their opener against Minnesota on September 1st, they are out to prove that they will not let another season like last happen again on offense.
The OSU football team knows they have to be better on offense to win more games in the 2016 season.
The biggest difference heading into this season, is that the Beavers have an experienced veteran quarterback in junior Darell Garretson. He was lauded in the past year for his leadership and chemistry with teammates while running the scout team offense, however he was ineligible to play after transferring from Utah State.
Garretson watched the sputtering offense with a keen eye last season from the sideline, and knows that this year will be different for the Beavers because everyone is more familiar with the offense.
“I think guys are just more comfortable as far as as knowing the system and being in it for a year,” Garretson said. “Guys are really in tuned (to the offense) and now we are playing the details part of the offense, rather than schemes.
One wide receiver who created chemistry with Garretson right away was junior receiver Jordan Villamin, who lauded Garretson’s leadership qualities from his first day in Corvallis. Villamin knows that this season, with Garretson at the helm, OSU is a more tight knit group.
“With (Garretson) being at quarterback, he is such a leader and takes command of the offense so well and keeps us all on track,” Villamin said. “We are just so much more of a complete offense now, we have all the running backs we need, we have depth at wide receiver, we have good tight ends, our line is good, but we just have to be consistent to be a good offensive unit.”
When head coach Gary Andersen came to OSU from Wisconsin, he preached that OSU needed to have a dynamic running game, that featured three running backs. Injuries plagued that idea last season, but this year OSU has depth at the running back position led by sophomore Ryan Nall.
Nall believes that OSU can compete with anyone in the country, and looks forward to the challenge of fine tuning what he believes is going to be a dynamic offense.
“A lot people think that we are underdogs, but I don’t. I think we have a team that can beat anybody in the nation,” Nall said. “If we execute our offense and execute our plays, we can put points on the board and beat anyone, we have one of the deepest and most versatile backfields and receiving cores around.
Senior receiver Victor Bolden, entering his final campaign in the orange and black admits that last season was quite disappointing, but feels that OSU can take a massive leap based on the playmakers coming back on the offense.
“We have a lot of weapons here, and the defense can’t key on just one of us,” Bolden said. “I’m excited to see how things shake out for us this season.”
The Beavers may not make a bowl game this season, or shatter any offensive records, but as a unit OSU has the mindset that they must win more games in order to speed up the rebuilding process in Andersen’s second season.
“Honestly, success is wins and losses plain and simple. That is the only way to measure success, you either win or you or you lose,” Garretson said.