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The life of being a backup quarterback in college football is never easy. You're always in the shadow of the starter, often holding up play cards in games, and occasionally run the scout team offense. You often put in as much or more work than the starting quarterback, and often times, that hard work is never seen by fans on gameday.
Being a backup quarterback in college football requires a tremendous amount of work ethic, determination, and trust in the coaching staff. You have to have the mindset that you’re hard work will someday pay off.
Luckily for the Oregon State Beavers, they have two quarterbacks with game experience in Darell Garretson and Conor Blount, who are waiting for their opportunity to show what they can do. But until then, they have to continue to practice one of life’s hardest virtues.
Patience.
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From the moment that we start to gain our independence as children, our parents always teach us that patience is a virtue. Nearly every kid in the world has been told at some point or another that "Patience is a virtue and you must learn to be patient." For many children, this was one of the harder things that they ever had to hear.
Whether it’s a college football player or a preschool toddler, the notion of patience doesn’t get easier.
In today’s world, football players in general, not just quarterbacks are increasingly impatient. If a player doesn’t get opportunities right away, they are usually looking to transfer schools immediately before they waste anymore of their eligibility. Sometimes this is trigger happy and warranted, and sometimes it’s players not trusting the process.
As Garretson and Blount currently sit behind starter Jake Luton, they too are practicing an incredible amount of patience. These two have very different stories, as one finds himself trying to finish his senior year with a bang, while the other hopes to be Oregon State’s quarterback of the future.
They are both on different timelines at OSU, but are both faced with the tough truth that neither one of them is the starting quarterback.
With the departure of former OSU quarterback Marcus McMaryion, the Beavers have just four quarterbacks on the roster in Luton, Garretson, Blount, and true freshman Aidan Willard. Blount and Willard are expected to redshirt this season while Garretson prepares to be the backup quarterback after spending the first six games of last season as the starting quarterback.
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The case of Garretson is a perfect teaching point for what patience looks like and how you are supposed to handle both adversity when it hits you square between the eyes.
He came to OSU in 2015 after playing two seasons at Utah State, and was widely considered to be OSU’s most complete quarterback despite having to sit out the season per NCAA transfer rules. He showed patience running the scout team in practices as he watched OSU limp to a 2-10 season, while having a carousel at quarterback.
His chance came the next season when former quarterback Seth Collins was set to be a permanent receiver. His chief competition was McMaryion, but Garretson won the job early impressively heading into the 2016 season.
Things appeared to be going Garretson’s way in 2016 as looked very good early against Minnesota. However, OSU’s offensive line struggled to keep Garretson upright, and he was never the same guy health or confidence wise after being blindsided multiple times by Minnesota’s Tai’yon Devers. He battled nagging injuries throughout the 2016 season before being ultimately lost for the season due to a broken ankle against Utah.
It was a tough pill to swallow for the guy who won the job after transferring from Utah State, as he saw the Beavers go on to late season success, winning their last two games of the season, including a Civil War win against Oregon.
“It was tough,” Garretson said. “I think ending on a bad note wasn’t the best thing for me. It is what it is, that year was last year and it’s time to move on.”
Despite losing his job to Luton while the team was in Bend, Garretson has been extremely impressive in practices since McMaryion departed. He’s been sharp, efficient, and has ran the offense with swagger that I have never seen from him. His confidence appears to be at all all-time high and it seems like he is playing without a worry in the world.
Where has this version of Garretson come from you might ask?
“I’m just playing well and having fun,” Garretson said with a smile. “I’ve been sticking with my reads and trying to do the best that I can. The biggest thing is, I’m just having a lot of fun out here.”
While OSU does have their starting quarterback in Luton, the OSU coaching staff is beyond blessed to have a guy like Garretson who has the leadership skills and talent to be starting quarterback in the Pac-12.
“To describe Darell is a lot of moxy,” receivers coach and passing game coordinator Jason Phillips said. “I see a guy that’s very competitive and wants to go out and do what’s right for his team. He wants to compete, wants to win and is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure his teammates are successful. Darell is a great piece for us and we are very happy to have him. It’s a long season, so he’s going to have to be ready to play when his time comes.”
Blount’s journey towards being a starting quarterback for a D-1 football team wasn’t nearly as much of a roller coaster as Garretson’s. He came to OSU in 2016 after being recruited by Andersen during his time in Wisconsin. He flipped from Wisconsin to OSU late in the recruiting process and started his time at OSU as a walk-on before earning a scholarship after playing well beyond his years against Boise State last season.
“All that experience I got last season is huge for me,” Blount said. “I can put those moments in the back of my mind and this year I just get to soak it all in, which is something I really wasn’t able to do last season.”
If OSU is able to stay healthy at the quarterback spot in 2017, Blount will redshirt and give himself a year to soak up more knowledge and learn OSU’s offense inside and out. He noted that being able to understand the offense and learn the reads better will help him play the game faster and more efficiently.
Blount has taken an unconventional route to his redshirt season as most players redshirt year one, but he’s taking it in stride - knowing he’ll have three years to play starting in 2018.
“I don’t have time to sit here and be sad or mope about (most likely not playing in 2017),” Blount said. “I think the redshirt is good for me and being able to learn from guys like Darell and Jake is huge. Last year I expected to come in and sit down and learn the offense. Now, this year I get to do that with the redshirt year and get to learn and see everything again.”
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When Phillips arrived at OSU in the offseason from Kansas, he brought with him a pedigree of high powered passing attacks. While he’s made it clear to me and others that OSU is not trending towards being an Air Raid team. There is no doubt that the Beavers have to pass the ball better this season to keep defenses honest after ranking near the bottom of the Pac-12 in nearly every statistical category in Andersen’s first two seasons.
For the immediate future, the Beavers are starting to invest in pro-style quarterbacks with a strong upper-body and a big time arm. This is quite a departure from when Andersen first arrived and dual-threat QB’s like Seth Collins were what he was looking for.
More than anything, it has to do with OSU’s rotating cast at offensive coordinator as well. I’m sure Dave Baldwin, Kevin McGiven, TJ Woods, and even Phillips all have a different “vision” of what they want their starting quarterback to be.
However, with McGiven and Phillips now working side by side as offensive coordinator and passing game coordinator, it appears they’ve found what they are looking for in their “ideal” QB.
“If a quarterback has an arm and can throw, he can fit in our system,” Phillips said. “We aren’t an air raid offense. We are a power offense. All four quarterbacks that we have are capable of being successful in this system.”
In his time at Utah State and against Minnesota last season, Garretson flashed a nice deep ball and showed he could air it out if necessary. And Blount has perhaps the best deep ball on the team right now from what I’ve seen from practices and scrimmages.
With Luton already being a junior and Garretson exhausting his eligibility after the season, the Beavers will be looking for a new starting quarterback in just two short years.
Blount feels that he is a perfect fit for this offense with his abilities and is just waiting in the wings for his opportunity.
“No doubt, being 'the guy' is what I work for every single day,” Blount said. “I want to be that guy and my time will come, and when it does, I’m going to be ready.”
Both of OSU’s quarterbacks are practicing patience in different ways as one is preparing for his last season, while the other is preparing for the future. While Blount is poised to take the season off, Garretson is ready to go as the the backup for the Beavers in his final rodeo donning the orange and black.
“The mentality of being a backup quarterback is to prepare like you are the first string guy because you never know what can happen,” Garretson said. “If the time is called where I’m put in or a situation happens, then I just have to be ready. That’s the main key about being a backup is to be prepared at all times.
