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With the Oregon State football team having wrapped up their spring practices with their spring game on Saturday, BeaversEdge gives three things we learned, poses two questions, and gives on prediction moving forward...
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1. Offensive Line Still A Work In Progress
To say that Oregon State's offensive line group was undermanned in spring football would be an understatement... After graduating four starters after the conclusion of the 2024 campaign, Van Wells was the lone returning starter, along with Tyler Voltin, who started the season before suffering a season-ending injury.
Tyler Morano and Jacob Strand were another pair of guys who had experience over the past couple of seasons, including the 2023 Sun Bowl, but they were also out, recovering from injuries.
The Beavers' new transfer portal additions, J.T. Hand, Keyon Cox, and Josiah Timoteo, were also limited as Timoteo was the only player to play all spring, while Hand didn't see action and Cox just a few practices in March.
That meant the Beavers would be heavily relying on younger and less experienced options during spring, and that naturally led to some growing pains and some better success from the defensive line/edge rushing group...
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The group that saw the most action in spring was Adam Hawkes, Nathan Elu, Zander Esty, Jayden Tuia, Timoteo, Jake Normoyle, Dylan Sikorski, Jack Wagner, Ben Hartman, and Thomas Schnapp.
While that group is largely young guys and does have oodles of potential, Timoteo was the only guy with extended in-game playing experience at OL, and that led to some up-and-down play from the group in their first spring, led by position coach Mike Cavanaugh.
It may not have been an ideal scenario from a numbers standpoint, but the Beavers made the most of spring from the perspective of the OL and getting in sync with their new position coach.
Perhaps most importantly, they got those young guys valuable reps, and you never know when that could benefit the Beavers come the 2025 season, we may look back and realize it was key to build up the next level of offensive linemen.
