10/28/2020 football Edit

Rs-Freshman OL Joshua Gray Feeling Comfortable At Left Tackle

Joshua Gray (67) protects quarterback Tristan Gebbia (3) - Karl Maasdam (Karl Maasdam)

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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One of the biggest questions for the Oregon State football team this past offseason was how they'd replace three starters on the offensive line, most notably Blake Brandel, who played left tackle superbly over the course of his career.

Insert redshirt-freshman offensive lineman Joshua Gray.

The 6-foot-4, 289-pounder from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. came to Oregon State as a three-star recruit in Jonathan Smith's first recruiting class in 2018, elected to gray shirt, and enrolled in Jan. of '19 in time for spring practices.

Given how quickly the young offensive lineman has all but assured himself of starting at left tackle for the Beavers this season, there's no question that Jim Michalczik hit the jackpot on the recruiting trail. He was one of coach Michalczik's first recruits on the recruiting trail back in '18 and his pitch sold Gray that Corvallis was the place for him.

"Coach M was a big reason why I wanted to come up here," Gray said. "Throughout the whole recruiting process, you could really tell how genuine and smart he is. He's so football intelligent and that is so great. We'll have a question and he'll always have an answer."

Gray, whom the coaches have called an 'ideal left tackle' spent the majority of last season learning the position step by step from Brandel.

He played in the Beavers' final contest against Oregon but credits the current Vikings' offensive lineman for being pivotal in his development as he prepared him for the toughness that being a starting left tackle in the Pac-12 requires.

"I learned a lot from Blake, he was a great teacher and he really led by example," Gray said. "I was very thankful to have him teach me the position. He really taught me work ethic and how to get after it every day and always to keep working no matter what."

While the Beavers are replacing several starters on the offensive line with new faces, none are as young as Gray.

Whereas veterans like Nathan Eldridge, Ke'ili Montibon, Korbin Sorenson, and Nous Keobounnam are fighting to fill the left guard, center, and right guard spots, Gray has steadily been the guy at left tackle just as Brandon Kipper has been at right tackle.

"Joshua has done a great job for us as a young guy and I really like this athleticism," offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said.

The Beavers have indeed been looking at different options upfront as far as rotations go all the way back to the very limited spring session, but throughout, Gray has proven that he's best suited at left tackle as it's a position that he feels tailor-made for.

"I feel a lot more comfortable on the left side compared to the right side," Gray said. "It's a lot different between left and right, and that's why I've been at left tackle and Kipper has been at right.

While replacing three starters on the offensive line is never an easy task, the Beavers have come a long way this fall camp, and perhaps saw peaks of where they're going during this past scrimmage.

"That felt really good, especially after our scrimmage two weeks ago that didn't quite go as planned. It was a confidence booster for the whole offense and we feel really good going into week one. We were more in-sync and our chemistry has grown stronger."