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Spring Camp

160

Begins Tuesday. Andersen quote: “this is where we want to build an identity.”

Oh no.

Anyway, it should be interesting to hear the reports. I don’t have a great feel for the QB battle, but my guess would be Marcus McMaryion. I expect Hunter Jarmon to finally get the shot Riley wouldn’t give him and become a game changer, too.

I’ll have more insights as this all develops. At this point I’m sitting back to get a feel for how Andersen works and see how he thinks, although I have a pretty good idea.

Go Beavs.

160 COMMENTS

  1. as a Big Ten guy as well, I’d like to hear beavergopher’s opinion and assessment of Andersen. If he has already, my apologies as I missed it.

  2. There were some games last year where the receivers could not get separation on Riley’s slow developing routes.. I’m hoping a QB who is a legitimate running threat creates opportunities in the short passing game for receivers like Jarmon who can get the ball quickly or in gaps left by linebackers worried about the run and do some things after the catch.

    • That’s really not true. WRs were open all over the field at various times. But because Mannion wouldn’t pull the trigger at those times or just didn’t see them, we got some story about them not breaking open. And then Del Rio comes in and slings it, and they are suddenly getting open? He may not have hit the target that often. But at least the camera moved away from the backfield, and you could see the thought process and the open receiver that was missed with the throw.

        • Well… comparatively… what are you wanting?

          Wheaton and Cooks were very different than those who are here now. The windows are different in terms of breaking coverage and verticality. The bigger receivers break open for shorter windows. But they are available for longer periods because of their height. And, of course, straight line speed is going to win some easy catches on the college level.

          And Mullaney being hurt didn’t help. He’s your consummate possession receiver a la Mike Hass… the one who gets open because of precision and catches everything within his window.

  3. Happened to come across this old article about Iowa having celebrities meet recruits on an official visit. How is this any different than when Oregon had Shane Victorino posing for pictures with that 5* Hawaiian d-lineman they snagged this year? The player even bragged about exchanging phone numbers with Victorino. Pretty bold for a team already on probation with the NCAA….(yeah right)

    http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/bigten/2010-10-31-iowa-ncaa-violations-kutcher-moore_N.htm

  4. VanderVeen starts the season… but Collins steals the job by running all over Michigan in the big house.

    I’m excited that Damien Haskins might actually get some carries this season.

  5. Begins Tuesday. Andersen quote: “this is where we want to build an identity.”

    Oh no.

    I get the joke, but note the distinct difference between ‘we’re building an identity,’ and ‘we’re trying to find our identity.’

    We’re going to surprise some people this year.

    • You beat me to it, “build” vs” find”.

      I’ll be as disappointed as the next Beav if Andersen can’t deliver a more organized, better managed, and less predictable product come this Fall.
      So far, I’m enthused. And, the closed practice thing doesn’t diminish that feeling one bit.

      • Hell yes! Anderson isnt going to use Riley’s system (thank god) so why in hell let opposing coaches scout it.

        And build, vs find, is VERY different. Esp when Riley would say it a ways into the season. Build that identity in Spring ball!

  6. I’m just happy to see a clean slate and the potential for those that are deserving to get a fair shot in an innovative system. I think we’ll see some big contributions from some younger, under the radar players.

    • He’d be a perfect fit at Oregon

      I hadn’t heard of his accusations yet. My wife is a Dukie and was telling me a couple weeks back that Sulaimon was the first player ever dismissed by Coach K.

      • Only two sexual assaults? He will need a redshirt year in order to build up his rap sheet to meet Altman’s high standards.

      • Notice that he was dismissed… not suspended for one game (or the second game)… but dismissed… not, “We were told by the police to not say anything,”… but dismissed.

        I’m all for second chances for certain things–drugs, alcohol, stupid shit like sheep theft (golf-cart-gate should never have been an issue), even getting in a fight and, yes, even DUI if its situation is only an intervention and not as serious as it could be. But allowing sexual predators to hang around a college campus?

        I know… innocent until proven guilty. Anyone here want to volunteer one of their loved ones to go on a blind date with dood?

  7. I’m very bearish on OSU football this year. New coaching scheme, new QB and not a lot of senior leadership. Andersen will do well but the cupboard is bare; not even a can of soup in there.

      • Yeah… the QB had to change anyway for the new system to work. But the rest of the O is pretty much returning… especially the line. The back seven on D are pretty much gone. It would be nice if they were still here with all the athleticism they had. Sitake might have shown what a good DC might have done with them. But there is sufficient talent to be developed and placed in the new system as well.

        • O-line depth is certainly not there based on retirings from injury. Seumalo needs to prove he’s healthy, too. Rumblings of him not being close to 100% is alarming.

          Woods hasn’t impressed me as a potential 1,000 yard back. Until another RB can rise up, there is concern here. I know the new scheme won’t a feature back but we need to get more out of these and that is directly attributable to the O-line which has underperformed.

          Defense may be in a decent position.

          • O-line underperformed because they were asked to sit on their heels and pass pro most of the games. When they were dedicated to the run, they did okay without Isaac and all the walking wounded. It still wasn’t great, but scheme and focus had a lot to do with what they showed us on the field. I think Woods has a resume which will translate into success on their part. And I’m not worried about Isaac or depth right now. It’s too early to spend effort worrying about it right now. We had some good players on the practice squad, and it sounds like everyone else is healthy and ready to go.

    • As Angry mentioned recently, W/L isn’t the only (maybe even the best) measure of a team. I’ll be satisfied with the aforementioned better organized/managed and less predictable product……at least for this year.

        • No argument here, at least in the long run. Results do matter.

          However, for next season seeing a coach who thinks on his feet and doesn’t ignore repeated silly mistakes by a given player, a staff who conditions and prepares their guys properly, and a team which comes out motivated….AND SHOWS IT. Will signal, to me, an improved trajectory for this program.

    • The skill positions are fine, and I even think QB will be fine.
      Most worried about the lines…they will be the limiting factor.

  8. I still think Del Rio starts… at least at first. I think this system can be tailored to suit any QB who isn’t a statue. Del Rio has decent wheels, great feet, thinks quickly and has the best arm on the team.

    What will be the difference is whether or not that all translates to completions and proper misdirections.

    • As long as he can scramble and is money on the short and intermediate passes I agree. If the new scheme results in wide open receivers and a lot of screens as spreads have a tendency to do I think they’ll see some success.

      • I think all Andersen asks of his QB is the ability to run that draw for an easy five or six plus a slide… or more if the safeties read outside. I think LDR has the smarts to make that read and react. He just needs to slow the game down and reel in his arm. He’s shown that he can hit the quicks over the middle and has the arm to make the outs look easy. What doesn’t look easy for him is putting the ball in the right place on those outs.

  9. I think that there is going to be a Del Rio to Villamin connection this year. O-line will be fine. Defense will depend on the pass rush. Right now I have no clue on who could be the standout.

  10. Not expecting a whole lot out of spring ball. With most practices closed, there’s not going to be a lot of information out there. The spring game probably won’t reveal much other than an idea of who is leading for starting jobs going into fall camp.

    I doubt we’d get much information of the type of offense they will run. The coaches will likely run an offense that fits the personnel vs their preferred system.

  11. Mama said something today along the lines of the coaches being very vocal today. Media members could hear them from outside the fenced area pretty easily, and it wasn’t just Brennan that they could hear, as had been the case in the past.

      • Ha, good point. I’ve only gone to about 3 practices over the years, and Cav definitely stuck out every time for his vulgarity and disparaging of his players.

        Reminds me of the music teacher in Whiplash. I’ve only had time to watch the first half hour so far, but I can already tell this movie kicks ass. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out.

    • Preece was impressed with the pace of practice and the playbook knowledge of the team as a whole.

      Also, one of the players (Villamin??) recently was quoted as saying learning the new system shouldn’t be a huge hurdle since the team is coming off of (probably) the most complex system in college ball. Seems that worn out excuse for qb’s needing 2-3 years to learn the system is now off the table.

  12. I just finished watching video of all 7 qbs.

    McMaryion will definitely be the starter.

    Nick Mitchell is probably #2.

    Kempt has a fantastic arm…didn’t realize that. I don’t even see Del Rio in the picture.

    • Kempt does have a fine arm. He’s a drop it in the bucket sort of passer with a little extra zing on the quick shorts. He doesn’t have a rifle or an NFL quality arm. But we are not in the business of supplying the NFL with talent.

      I’d say he’s similar to Chad Pennington.

    • I think you’re concentrating too much on the savvy and not enough on the physical side… or the right physicalities. A QB on any level has to be able to make all the throws first. Anyone n their right mind would take Andrew Luck over any other college QB in the last ten years… in any system. Yes, he could and did wheel when he had the chances. But that was only because he has the arm and head he does.

      You may be right. But nobody else on the roster has LDR’s arm. The bottom line will be whether or not he hits receivers. If he doesn’t, then arm strength doesn’t matter. If he does, then he shows he can earn the playbook and play within it. If that happens, then no amount of wheels or previous experience within similar systems will make any difference.

      Sanders will end up on the WR crew. Kempt will transfer… and Vanderveen probably will too. LDR, McMaryion/Mitchell and Collins will be the three QBs who get the majority of reps. And next year the loser of the M/M battle will likely transfer.

    • I was very high on Kempt as a Riley recruit. Thought he could have been really good. As an Anderson guy though…well, he’s statuesque.

      • Is it just my imagination or does ___________ have consistently better Oregon State pieces than the Oregonian?

        Yes… thank you Advance Publications for shitting on information for those of us too dumb to process it.

    • And so in the end, it wasn’t age or injury that ended Fred Jackson’s fantasy relevance. Thanks dude – you won me a lot of championships over the last 4 years. It’s been real.

      • I didn’t think of it that way. Fantasy certainly made the sport relevant for me when I played it. But even that became boring after a while.

    • In that video, Mitchell had the most throws.
      Del Rio was in a lot of the footage, but he threw an int and incompletion. I don’t think LDR lasts, despite the big arm. I’m not convinced, based on what I saw in games last year, he can win with his mind. Mitchell and McMaryion are very poised on film.

      • I’m not booking Del Rio. His inability to put the ball on the money would or will kill his chances if he can’t correct it. But he has, by far, the most poise and best arm out there.

        Again, none of that matters if you can’t hit those outs. If you can rainbow those suckers and still win, you’re doing better than incompletions.

        • If I remember correctly, McMaryion had close to a 4.0 GPA. On film he plays slow and calm with a ton of poise. Andersen kept emphasizing “mind” from the QB play (which I love, btw). McMaryion seems to have that. Even Mitchell has it. I feel like they will start to get the most reps.

          Del Rio doesn’t strike me as bright and his play on the field last year didn’t change that. I realized he has a pedigree, big arm, and came from an SEC program, but I still think there are better options, on this roster, for what GA wants to do. Even if OSU still ran a pro offense, I think Kempt is the better prospect for that than Del Rio.

          I could be totally wrong. I don’t think Del Rio is garbage, but I do think he’s a bad fit. Had Riley been coach I’d think Kempt #1 and Del Rio #2 for that system.

    • A couple of comments about the practice video:

      – Did McMaryion change his number to 19? If so, whoever made a pass with the #19 jersey looks exactly like Chuckie Keeton.

      – The big guys look more fit than in years past. Weight in the right places meaning they won’t get as winded during games.

      – I thought Vanderveen’s throwing motion looked smooth of the 2-3 passes they showed on video. I still think he’s the forgotten guy in the QB race. He was a dual threat QB in HS and a stud basketball player. Averaged around 21-22 ppg playing shooting guard, so he’s no Mannion (statuesque).

      – Dashon Hunt had 2 great INTs on video. Was wondering who #9 was, so was happy to see it was Dashon making plays. Also saw a good play by Dwayne Williams.

      – Ryan Nall looks big and fast

      • I think #19 is Collins

        Mitchell looked pretty good in the limited OSU video, and his HS video shows he can run. Only thing I don’t like about Mitchell is that jump step when he throws. Maybe that was due to a weak arm in HS or bad coaching and it’s fixed now.

        • Weird – look at the roster here: http://www.osubeavers.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30800&SPID=127145&SPSID=750126&DB_OEM_ID=30800

          Collins is #4 and McMaryion is #3. My guess is that McMaryion switched for special teams purposes (holder?) because he shares a number with Brandon Arnold. Guess we’ll find out in the next few days.

          I agree on Mitchell. His throwing motion looks odd, like he’s powering through his whole body to make it downfield. Not ideal for an offense that will require the QB to throw on the run, off balance, etc.

          • someone should quiz GA about him. Which class is it he still has to pass? How long is your leash going to be with someone that obviously has the mental capacity of a rock? (no offense to rocks)

            Honestly, I’m still with angry on this one. I don’t believe for one second he will ever step on the field for Oregon St during a game. If I’m wrong, I’ll gladly admit it.

  13. OT… I’ve been watching UK @ UGA.

    It’s not a done deal by any means with UK’s depth. But UGA is feeling it right now.

  14. just watched an interview with storm woods on the portland shit rag website. I’m paraphrasing here but he stated they would be watching some film from Andersen’s former teams to get an idea of the formations and sets and how they are run. I took this to mean more of what he did at Utah State since well I didn’t see much spread option run at Wisconsin. I will say this much. Practicing week in and week out against an offense that runs up tempo should help better prepare the defense for the spread option teams they’ll see in the Pac-12. No more plays where the defense isn’t ready like we saw against WSU last year when they snapped the ball and the team was looking at the sidelines. Nebraska. The gift that keeps on giving. and my birthday isn’t for another month!

  15. off topic but anyone got any ideas to help streaming issues from the pac-12 website? Their videos are always extremely slow to load and choppy. When I try to stream games from their website I get the same. It’s not an issue with any games I stream from ESPN3 or any of our Ukranian friends websites. I use firefox as my browser

    • Download VLC Media Player, then go to xrxs.net to find links to the national feed and copy it to paste into “Open Network”. The regional feeds don’t work for me, but the national link works crystal clear.

      • I have this question into the Pac-12.com tech support folks. I’m seeing widespread issues with the Pac-12 website streaming being choppy so it appears I am not the only one having this issue. I’ll try your work around and report back on what the pac-12 tech support tells me. I have a sneaking suspicion they’ll pass the back and tell me it’s my ISP even though I talked to them first. And it’s ONLY Pac-12.com videos and streams that give me issues. So I highly doubt it’s my ISP

  16. PBH checking in. We’ve essentially been off the grid for several weeks in a remote area of Mexico. Very spotty to almost non-existent internet service. Spent some time last night catching up.

    Noticed that the basketball team appears to have hit the wall. I fully expect Altman’s bag of mismatched toys to win tonight. The tank is on fumes.

    Encouraging start to spring ball. When is the water balloon fight?

    Baseball looks like a rebuilding year…but still should make regionals?

    Good for the lady Beavs.

    Nice to be back, cool marine air feels good. Adios JB

  17. Angry- you’re kind of an idiot aren’t you… Kempt threw a pick as well… So did Mitchell. Youre comparing McMaryion against high schoolers to LDR against USC. Come on man

    • Curious how the crowd mix will look tonight. Portland based Beav fans probably wont be going due to thelate start, which means more tix available for duck fans, and with the Ducks making a late NCAA tourny push, their bandwagoners would be more willing to make the trip up north.

    • Yes. In fact, we’ll likely be in it halfway through the second. It’s just a matter of who has legs after that.

      Olaf has been taking set shots for several weeks now instead of the little jumps he used to take. Malcolm seems to have the endurance necessary, but he relies on GP2 to get him open looks. LMW doesn’t work the lane as much as he once did. That pretty much means he can’t work his confidence back into any given game, so he relies on the occasional trey and some transition. Reid, Gomis and N’diaye all have something left. But they need the perimeter players to step it up in order to give them any space down low. Otherwise, it’s going to be one-on-two every time.

  18. There’s way too much reading into the QB battle after only one day of practice and select film to look at. I doubt there will by any decision by the end of spring either. Maybe a top 2 or 3 but that’s it.

    Andersen shouldn’t choose anyone until game prep for the first game of the year.

  19. Saturday’s practice is open to the public according to Gina Mizell in that video. Anybody able to make it and report back?

  20. Keep in mind that most of what you will see and read from the media–other than Saturday practices–only happened in the 20 minutes that the media is able to be at practice.

  21. Wayyyy to much bring read into the QB battle based on very quick video clip from spring practice #1. And Angry is ready to name McMaryion the starter. We can all speculate and try to be the first one to guess right. BUT Angry is wrong in that – GUARANTEED. 100% wrong

  22. It seems to me that early practices combined with closed practices signify a more serious approach; an “all business” and damn the distractions way of doing things. If, as I suspect, access to players becomes more limited I’d view that in the same way.
    The company line, however, is that closed practices are to keep the opposition guessing.

    I’d be interested in hearing the views of others.

  23. Several years ago we suggested that Beavers should study and emulate a different football system and culture (based on similar characteristics found at other successful schools) rather than fixate on the cult of the individual. At the time, most folks simply wanted a new “Moses” to lead Beavers to the promised land of fame and glory, and simply wanted to throw money at the problem. “Respect the Process” may be a slogan, but it is the most likely recipe for success at this time. The closed sessions are not really about preventing spies from eavesdropping. This new system is predicated on focus and quick decision making based on rapid diagnosis and reading. This system does not encourage audience participation during the practice sessions. While it may be true that open sessions promote good will and potentially increase fan interest/money because fans then feel like they are participants in a real life Madden game. It also tends to distract the actual participants and give them a false sense of self esteem. Let the glad handing, autographs and selfies happen later. Get the guys to compete and earn the glory first.. If you build it, they will come. And if they do not come, then try something else.

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