Three things we learned from Oregon State's first two practices

During the first few days of fall camp, BeaversEdge.com is running all pieces of content as "free" items to give a taste of what kind of insight we bring on a daily basis. This article would typically be premium.

With that being said, senior writer Brenden Slaughter breaks down three things he's learned from the first couple of days of fall camp.

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Naturally, the most important question that everyone’s been asking as the Beavers start fall camp is who’s going to be under center for the Beavers in 2018.

It’s still very much unclear who Jonathan Smith and Brian Lindgren will go with, but it appears to be down to Jake Luton and Conor Blount.

Both players offer key pros and cons that the coaching staff will gave to weigh, but make no mistake, the Beavers are going to put themselves in the best position to win games.

Whether it was Seth Collins, Nick Mitchell, and Marcus McMaryion in 2015, Darell Garretson, Blount, and McMaryion in 2016, or Luton and Garretson in 2017, the Beavers have failed to put a quarterback in a position to succeed on the field. There have been some bright spots, most notably from McMaryion to conclude 2016, but those bright moments have been overshadowed by poor play calling and in some instances picking the wrong quarterback.

Smith and Lindgren are taking their time and letting the competition play itself out to give the players more accountability while also giving themselves more time to figure out which guy is going to give you the best chance to win on Saturdays.

MORE: Oregon State Football Fall Camp Headquarters

Several media members, including myself, were a tad bit surprised when during media day last week, Jonathan Smith dropped the nugget of how confident he feels that the Beavers have the talent to win games.

Now.

The now part is interesting to me, because I don’t believe it to be coach speak. Smith is a straight-shooter who doesn’t beat around the bush, and if he’s telling you he has the talent to win, he does.

Smith knows that talent looks like on the field as exemplified by his stops at Boise State and Washington as an assistant, so if he believes the Beavers have the ability to win, why doubt him.

It’s a breath of fresh air hearing a first year head coach say that he’s got the talent to win right away. One of the frustrating aspects of the Gary Andersen regime was that he insisted that he had to get “his guys” to Corvallis for the Beavers to succeed. That mindset never paid off for Andersen, who never found this footing after losing several decorated transfers, particularly at the quarterback position.

How that talent will translate on game days is still very much in question, but there’s no doubt that Smith doesn’t want to wait around to win. He wants to win now, and he’s investing confidence in his players, coaches, and fans by saying they’ve got the talent.

After a disappointing 2017 campaign that featured the lowest of the lows, it was understandable that a lot of the young OSU players lost hope and drive as the season went on. Not only did OSU lose its head coach six games into the season, the Beavers also had consistent internal turmoil that was ultimately their downfall.

Flash forward to fall camp under Jonathan Smith and OSU appears to be putting the pieces back into place. Unlike points last season, players are coming to practice early, staying late, and having a smile on their face throughout the whole process. I haven’t seen this much positive energy on the practice field since the first two weeks that Cory Hall was interim head coach.

And it’s not just the players. From the coaching staff, the support staff, to the media members, it’s genuinely good to be around this OSU program once again.

That’s a far cry from where the Beavers were at the end of the 2017 season and even though the Beavers haven’t played a game under Smith, the culture of positivity and wanting to win is deeply rooted in this years’ Beavers