10:30-noon and open to the public. Get out there and report what you see, guys.
This QB battle hopefully ends today, because it is getting tiring, and they need one guy to start getting the majority of reps. Pick a guy, GA, and roll with it.
Go Beavs
This was public on rivals, so I assume it’s fair game that someone captured it then.
The freshman connection
Quarterback Seth Collins and wide receiver Paul Lucas put on quite a show during practice with several big plays in the first day in pads.
The first came game during 7-on-7 when Collins hit Lucas on a quick slant and then took it the distance. The safeties came on a blitz leaving one-on-one coverage on the outside, which Lucas took advantage of.
Later during live team drills on a very similar play, Lucas caught a pass from Collins over the middle then broke a tackle, then made several defenders miss in the open field and then raced down the sideline before being caught at about the five yard line.
That play sent the team into a small brawl at the goal line were several players (including Collins) had to be taken out of the drill for a couple of plays.
Running backs get their chance
With Storm Barr-Woods and Chris Brown not participating in practice on Thursday this gave opportunities for Damien Haskins, Ryan Nall and Jaylynn Bailey to get a heavy dose of reps.
For most of the team session, Nall struggled to find running lanes, which resulted in minimal yardage. On one of the final plays of the practice however, Nall broke through with a 15-yard touchdown through the middle of the defense. What was impressive with Nall that it usually took multiple defenses to take him down, even if was close to the line of scrimmage.
Both Haskins and Bailey had good days running the ball with the extra reps they were getting. Bailey showed that he was a capable pass catcher by catching a wheel route down the sideline for a big gain, while Haskins demonstrated his unique blend of speed and strength bouncing off tackles for a several good gains.
First day in pads brought some big hits.
The team had been itching to get into full pads and two plays in particular really stood out when the team when live.
The first big hit I saw came from corner Kendall Hill on Lucas. Lucas ran a bubble screen from the slot and as soon as he touched the ball, was met by Hill who was unblocked and welcomed Lucas to college football. Think Sheldon Brown’s hit on Reggie Bush in the 2006 NFC playoffs. After that play the energy level spiked drastically.
Shortly after that when the offense was facing a fourth-and-short situation, Marcus McMaryion handed the ball off to Bailey, as soon as he took a step, he was met by blitzing Cyril Noland-Lewis who came in like a missile and was untouched by anyone on the offense to make the play in the backfield and force the turnover.
Other Notes:
The quarterbacks rotated more than in previous practices, all three freshmen worked with the first unit during team and 7-on-7 drills. Collins had his best day throwing the ball by my opinion. All the quarterbacks made nice plays through the air.
Coaches are using a quick whistle whenever Collins decides to take off and run, once he crosses the line of scrimmage the coaches blow the play dead.
Dwayne Williams, Jordan Villiman, Storm Barr-Woods did not practice today. Malik Gilmore was back in full pads after sitting out a couple of practices.
The offense put the ball on the ground a couple times, whether it was a botched snap, a sloppy handoff or the defense stripping the ball the offense at times did not protect the ball.
McMaryion took the first snaps when the team when live. The starting defense during the session was Kyle Peko at the nose tackle, Lavonte Barnett and Titus Failauga and the defensive end spots; Jaswha James, Bright Ogwoegbu and Caleb Saulo as the linebackers. With defensive backs, Larry Scott, Treston Decoud, Devin Chappell, Noland-Lewis and Justin Strong to round out the defense.
When players were still talking after a whistle, there was no “Jiminy Christmas” being yelled at the players, instead a more vulgar phrase that I’ll let you use your imagination on.
TE Caleb Smith was wearing a different (ineligible) number at practice the past two days. Although he is wearing No. 57, he is still lining up and playing tight end. No switch to the offense or defensive line.
The Oregonian has a pretty good write up.
If I come into any more info I will amend the post.
Funny how Connor is blowing this up on twitter. What a loser.
So this is what is happening:
I made my prediction in March.
I just finished watching video of all 7 qbs.
McMaryion will definitely be the starter.
I took a ton of heat for it all summer. I also read report after report from mainstream media that it was a two horse race. Started to believe it, but held out hope MM would make a move in the Fall. That’s where I stood, and it was consistent.
BUT, after I tried to get a pass from Fenk, people inside OSU reached out to me and offered to give me information here and there. I used that information to write practice reports. Some of it required reading between the lines in order to protect sources, etc, and maybe I read between the lines wrong, but my interpretation of these nuggets was that MM was not performing well and essentially out of the race. I wrote the practice reports because you guys, fans, like them and were bummed Silver and the guys wouldn’t be reporting this year. But they aren’t my observations. They are my interpretations of others observations, media reports, and nuggets people send me. My observations were based off the film since that’s the only time I saw these guys play. And I put that in print back in March.
One more thing to say on this: I did become somewhat biased and believe that Collins and Mitchell were the only choices. But this was recent. Very recent. Like maybe after Media Day when they basically crowned Seth the starter during the interviews. Sources told me Mitchell looked better, though, so that’s what I wrote in the reports. Nobody was telling me positives about MM. So yeah, I became biased and figured it was between those two QBs, and I was wrong about MM. I was actually getting ready to have to write a post saying I was wrong about MM, because that was the deal — the dissenters told me I was nuts, and I said I’d agree to admit I was wrong. Well, I was getting ready for that post based off everything I was being told. I might still have to, because at this point he is not the starter. He’s just catapulted himself into the mix [which is what I was expecting and hoping for before Fall camp].
I’m not at practice, so I have to rely on the astuteness of those who are, and also interpreting information.
That’s the reality here. Connor is bitter because I told everyone to boycott his shit paper because their past narrative (nobody wants to coach in Corvallis, impossible to recruit to Corvallis) was also entirely wrong. Is it any surprise they had this story totally wrong? Nope.
I was the only outlet with the balls to call MM. Why? Because I watched him and can spot talent.
Some good news regarding Seumalo — the coaches are easing him back into practice and using him at guard for now since Andrews is out, but he might move if and when Andrews returns. The expectation all around is that he will be ready to start game 1 barring any setback.
Regarding the QB battle, nothing really new today. Quarterbacks were throwing into the nets (rolling out and throwing from 10 yards away then throwing what would be WR screens), and Collins struggled and lost his cool a couple of times, appearing to be frustrated about his performance. He struggled hitting the net, as did the transfer QB Garretson. Mitchell and Marcus did well in those drills, but McMaryion missed open wide receivers in his 2nd team reps. Based on this and yesterday’s performance, Mitchell probably has the upper hand at this point.
On the second team, Paul Lucas stood out. Very explosive, froze DBs, and ran good routes for a converted RB. He would have scored several touchdowns had McMaryion delivered better balls.