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Football Spring Practice Thread

By
oob
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428

Basketball is still alive and Mitch has 4 more games to prepare for the trip to Sunken Diamond but the focus of most fans now turns to Football.

Thanks to ObjCritic for these thoughts on Spring Practice:
1) Everyone knows DJ’s the presumptive favorite to start. How does that affect a selfless 2022 team? I think they’ll be fine. DJ has said all the right things, even his dad has said the attraction is “the pieces around him (OLine, deep running back stable, TE, D). DJ won’t have to run as much as he did at Clemson, he’ll be allowed to focus on throwing the ball. DJ himself said part of the attraction of the Beavers was the offense and its ability to prep him for the next level. He’ll be put in a position to make all of the offensive pieces shine.

2) DJ’s social media presence. This is under-reported in my opinion. He gets so much more social media attention than OSU is accustomed to its ridiculous. I noted his announcement of transfer to the Beavers had 1.5M views. That’s not just good for DJ. Its good for Smith and the Beavers. Its going to get an underappreciated talents like RB Martinez much more notice. DJ and Martinez continue to sound humble and dedicated to OSU and not the transfer portal, and this could be a tremendous boost to Smith’s continuing progress in building a program.

3) How will the WRs respond? Gould and Bolden are almost certain to respond. How will Dunmore et al respond to the new opportunities before them? Young WRs will have some great opportunities to surprise the conference.

4) How will the RBs be better integrated into the passing attack? This would make the offense very difficult to defend. There’s the obvious run threat of Martinez and Griffin for example, and DJ himself. But what if he might also pass to Martinez, Griffen, Lowe…..

5) DJ and Chiles will help the D and secondary improve. Every day in practice the D will face elite QB talent. That’s a great thing.


Next, On D, what young CBs step up? How does Tongue’s move to LB pan out? How much does DLine play improve? I think this D is going to be fast and make more plays behind the line of scrimmage.

It all(?) comes together this fall. A “completed” Reser full of enthusiastic fans, new QB talent, great RB depth, a reliable impact TE that catches the ball, a D with a full year under Bray, a decent home field schedule (UW, UCLA, Utah)…what’s not to like?

Baseball off to a ?? start.

By
oob
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305

Next game is Thursday, meanwhile, what can be learned from a 6-1 start where the Beavs outscored (81-26) and outhit (86-62) two teams who are just OK and two who are less than that?

Things like BA and runs scored are surely related to the competition.  BB’s received, Slg% and base stealing success too.

Let’s hear thoughts on areas that aren’t very dependent on the level of competition. Things like hitting 7 batters in 7 games, or committing 8 errors in that span.  Things like over sliding the bag (lookin’ at you, Bazzana) and getting picked off of 1b (Turley today). Any tendencies you’ve noticed. Other things which can give hints as to how this squad will perform against higher level opponents?

Which Beavs have been most surprising so far? (Forrester’s wheels and play at third?)
What’s the best starting lineup?
Any stats that stand out, good or bad?
Other baseball thoughts?

Go general if you’d like with thoughts on PAC12 broadcast predicament? Tinkle’s future? Chance that WBB wins another game? Other General Stuff?
Have at it,
GO BEAVS!

Baseball Opening Day

By
oob
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324

Last year the Beavs opened against the Lobo’s with a 21-1 win. The trio of Trosky, Boyd, and Melton provided 5 runs; they’re out now. Bazzana, Forrester, and Guerra accounted for 7; they’re still here. Does anyone expect a similar scoring performance today?  Will big run output be needed this year?

Creekwater says he’ll be on hand to provide input here (will he see signs of “Mitch Fear” in any players?). What about BG and wannabeav? Anyone else going to Surprise?
Keep an eye out for signs of “micro management” by Mitch…..filming of every second of practice from different angles could be a sign.  No?

Sounds like Josh Worden will be doing radio (KEJO 1240am). Live video with a Flo Sports subscription.
Here’s the schedule:
Fri 11am pacific vs New Mexico
Sat 11am vs Minnesota
Sun 11am vs New Mexico
Mon noon vs UCSB

Go general if you’d like:
Football news?
Rueck with a chance Friday night to build a base for a PAC tourney run?

GO BEAVS!,,,,,,,,,,Mitch only needs 810 more W’s to match Casey.

General, Analytics, and What’s Up with Rueck?

By
oob
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439

Last thread nearing 800 comments, y’all ready for a fresh one?

Talk Tinkle if you must, but lets kick this analytics stuff around too. Appears Mitch may have a different approach than Jonathan; the Bahns piece from the last thread indicates that Mitch uses analytics to get to know his players and to coach ’em up (even to coach up his staff). OTOH we have assumed Jonathan is focused primarily on in game decisions. As angry said prior to the Cal game, “The problem with analytics is they don’t specifically analyze your team.”  Has Mitch avoided that pitfall?

Here’s the link:
https://247sports.com/college/oregon-state/Article/Oregon-State-Beavers-baseball-2023-analytics-coach-efficiency-player-performance-203947860/

Notice, “New this year is the recording of every second of practice, from a multitude of angles, which Canham has used to both measure efficiency and evaluate the areas of the field that he can’t see in the moment.”

Think Mitch is a micromanager or just keeping up with the technology of the times?

Till angry shows up, go as general as you wish: NIL/The Portal and potential locker room problems, QB outlook, Baseball news. And, yeah, what’s up with WBB?

Grading Jonathan Smith (and General Thread)

By
angry
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764

I don’t have a ton of time today, but I wanted to get out some ideas on how Smith has progressed, and see if people see this the way I do. I’m going to give some key areas and then grade them. We should probably do this every year to hold coaches accountable.

Recruiting: somewhere between a B to B+ (up from C+). I’ve always said you can win with legit 3-star talent, and Smith has been the best at getting high 3-star talent and even some legit 4-star talent. The level of athlete has improved each year. Failure to recruit a good kicker in 5 years is disturbing, and QB recruiting failures were a concern until very recently.

Preparation: B+ (stable). There’s nothing glaring here. His teams have always been well prepared, and that trend seems stable.

In game coaching: C (Up from D-). There were minor improvements here. This past season, there were times I thought he’d be a degenerate and go for it, but he punted. So that’s some progress. Overall still way too much miscalculated risk. I’m convinced he doesn’t understand statistics very well at all. Until coaches realize the “stat sheet” is an aggregate of all teams, many of which are better than yours who go for it more and skew that sheet, they’re going to continue to make these miscalculations.

Player Development: B+ (stable). Only a few guys in each class wind up not contributing, and that could be for their own reasons. But he seems to mostly put players where they should be, and finds a roll for all players. I said Martinez should have been the starting back from game 1 this past year, so I think he still doesn’t always have the right personnel on the field. Identifying the best player from day 1 is an area that needs improvement.

Staff hires and management: B+ (stable). Holds staff accountable. Hires good fits. Even willing to hire an unproven guy like Brey who had obvious talent yet no real experience. The Lingren hire keeps this from being an A for me. Lingren is okay, but he’s a weak link in many ways.

Character/Loyalty: A+ (stable). No character problems with Smith, his staff, or his players. Players seem loyal to him and the program and “buy in”…staff hasn’t left. All good signs that he’s doing things the right way.

Motivation: A+ (up from A). Seems a real strength that nobody talks about. Inspires his players. And it seems this is improving as players buy in and see results.

Let me know your grades below. Feel free to go off topic.

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