10/22/2020 football Edit

Thursday Report: Secondary Aiming For More Takeaways

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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With the Oregon State football team winding down its second week of fall camp in preparation for Saturday's final scrimmage, the Beaver defense is continuing its upward ascent.

The Beavers had nowhere to go but up when the current coaching staff took over the defense following the '17 campaign, and while its taken time, and a whole lot of patience, defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar is starting to see the fruits of the labor from the past two seasons.

"I definitely feel that we have better depth than we had last year because we have more depth, and more guys that are experienced," Tibesar said. "In terms of some new faces that we expect to contribute for us right away, James Rawls, Kyrei Fisher, Jack Colletto, Akili Arnold, and Alton Julian... those guys have really shown up in practice."

Zeroing in on the secondary, there's no question that it was a big position group of need in the offseason. The Beavers had some solid pieces already in the mix with Isaiah Dunn, Jaydon Grant, and Nahshon Wright, but they needed more depth, so they attacked the JUCO ranks and emerged with Julian, Ronald Hardage III, and Rezjohn Wright.

"As a whole, our secondary is playing much better," Tibesar said. "We're making breaks on the ball, we're getting more hands on the ball, more deflections, more interceptions than we got last year at this time. Those JUCO guys have done a nice job of acclimating themselves in and picking up the defense."

Defensive backs coach Blue Adams feels that the versatility of this group is its biggest strength as unlike previous seasons, he now has multiple options on the table to pick and choose matchups and spots to put the defense at an advantage.

"It's always good to have depth, and to have versatile guys that you can put in different spots," Adams said. "From that aspect, it's been a pleasant surprise to watch guys emerge in their new roles. I'm pleased with where we're at, but we've still got a ways to go."

As far as what the secondary is most concerned with this year?

Forcing turnovers. It's an area where the Beavers as a defensive whole have struggled for the past several seasons, but the secondary is taking the responsibility of wanting to be the ones wreaking havoc.

"We need to create more turnovers... that has to be our key contribution to the defense," Adams said. "We have to do a better job at maximizing our opportunities to take the ball away. It's going to be critical to be able to create more possessions for the offense."

NOTES

- Tibesar noted that Jeromy Reichner hasn't been available. It's unclear whether he's decided to opt-out or is absent for another reason. It's the Beavers' policy not to comment on players' status unless they've indicated their plans on social media, which Reichner hasn't done. We're scheduled to talk to Jonathan Smith on Friday, so perhaps we'll get an update.