Oregon State held their usual Thursday walkthrough today in the Merritt Truax Center as the weather conditions outside were unfavorable. The pace was very slow today, and I didn’t see much of the offense.
What we did get to see was the first team defense against the scout team. It is quite hard to replicate a quarterback with the talent of Washington State quarterback Luke Falk, but the Beavers definitely were fine tuning their defense towards stopping the pass game.
OSU has already faced their fair share of pass heavy QB’s this season, particularly Davis Webb. Coach Gary Andersen talked about the similarities between Webb and Falk.
“For the qualities of a quarterback they are very similar,” Andersen said. “Their ability to understand pre-snap awareness is very good. They both have very quick releases, and they both unselfish.”
One of OSU’s biggest problems this season thus far has been the lack of a passing game. The Beavers rank dead last in the Pac-12 in terms of passing yards per game, and Andersen says the Beavers still have a ways to go.
“We are nowhere near where we want to be or need to be to compete week in and week out in this conference,” Andersen said. “There are a lot of things to that, but we aren’t gonna use any crux’s or excuses for it. We are gonna keep battling to make the kids better every week.”
Practice Nuggets
- Quarterback Marcus McMaryion took the majority of the reps at quarterback in the time with the 1’s today. I didn’t see Conor Blount or Mason Moran taking any reps in the portion open to the media.
- The defense was primarily focused on defending the pass today. They worked on making sure they didn’t have any holes in the pass defense.
- The offense didn’t do any 11-on-11 work in the portion open to the media today, as the primarily worked on goal line work on the opposite field from our vantage point.
Injury Notes
- Running back Ryan Nall was back with the first team today. He was not wearing a red no-contact jersey like he was on Wednesday and looked good from what I could tell. He is listed as questionable this week, but Nall practicing today is a good sign going forward.
Final Word
“Washington State has good players (on defense),” Andersen said. “They have a good belief in their system and they move around a lot and they don’t stand still. They do a nice job of being tough and physical and there is good communication within the front seven and back end.”
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