5/20/2020 football Edit

Q&A With Oregon State Linebackers Coach Trent Bray

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

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Oregon State linebackers coach Trent Bray met with BeaversEdge.com and a host of others via zoom to catch us up on the latest with him and the team as they continue to navigate the sports world amidst COVID-19.

Q: What have you been working on with your linebackers during this time?

Trent Bray: "We've spent a lot of time looking back at last season and looking at areas that we need to take a step forward this next year. We have been spending a lot of timing refining our technique and each detail to improve our football IQ. It's given us time to work a lot with the guys in a position group setting because otherwise, we'd be out on the road recruiting.

We meet as a group about three times a week. We spend a couple of days on football, but each Friday we've been having a bunch of former players coming in. Jordan Poyer & DJ Alexander were some of the most recent ones and we've also had some older guys as well. We've really wanted to give our guys the perspective of what it takes to be an elite next-level talent that comes through Corvallis."

Q: How is the virtual recruiting going?

TB: "It's been going good. You can definitely see there's a difference between the kids we were able to get on campus before the shutdown compared to the ones we didn't. Luckily, we were on our guys early and they've been on campus several times. With that, we haven't had to worry as much about not getting those kids here as we've been able to grow those relationships with facetime and zoom."

Q: Thoughts on your inside 'backers?

TB: "This is really the first time that we've got everyone coming back and a lot of experience between guys who made big plays for us last season. With not being able to get spring practice in, having a group of experienced guys is going to be a huge plus for us. Compared to the rest of the league, we've got a ton of experience across the board (not just at linebacker) and that's going to pay dividends for us when we get back to playing."

Q: Is this one of the more talented linebacker groups you've ever coached?

TB: "Yes. Definitely the most talented since I was at Arizona State. This group is big, strong, fast, and one of the more mature groups which separates them from that ASU group. There's a lot of talent and depth and I couldn't even tell you who's in the rotation because we've got such great competition."

Q: Have you been working to up the guys' football IQ?

TB: "Most definitely. We've done a lot when it comes to breaking down opposing offenses in our conference and figuring out how we can gain the advantage on any given play. We've been able to get so many more meetings and time to teach them than we normally would have and that's going to be a good byproduct of all this."