Three Observations From the Oregon State Spring Game

On Saturday we got our first look at JaMarcus Shephard's Beavers in the Oregon State spring game. The defense jumped out to an early lead, but the offense made it close, taking the lead with minutes left in the game. One last stand from the defense gave them a 28-24 win.

With new coaches in charge, new systems in play and a lot of new palyers on the field, nothing is set in stone for next season's Beavers yet. There are a few trends we can glean from how the teams performed in the Spring Game. Here are a few takeaways:

1. Kourdey Glass may be the most dynamic play-maker on offense

The offense struggled for much of the game, with an unfortunate number of drives stalling out around midfield or getting nowhere in the red zone. There were brief flashes of potential though, and the biggest came midway through the second quarter courtesy of freshman running back Kourdey Glass.

After a penalty, the Beaver offense faced a 3rd-and-25. Braden Atkinson connected with Glass on a screen pass, Glass's blockers cleared a nice lane for him, and he was gone. Glass got the chance to showcase his speed, taking the ball 73 yards for the offense's first points of the game.

The 73-yard screen pass was Glass's biggest play of the game, but he managed to be effective throughout the, especially on long third downs. If the offensive line can generate more openings for Glass to show his speed, he's going to be one of the most dangerous parts of the Oregon State offense.

2. Maalik Murphy is still leading the quarterback battle, but no one is running away with it.

Oregon State entered the spring game with three quarterbacks vying for the top spot, senior Maalik Murphy, who started eight games last season, Western Michigan senior transfer Brady Jones and Mercer sophomore transfer Braden Atkinson.

All three saw action Saturday afternoon, and all three made some big plays. But the offense never felt fully in rhythm, especially on passing plays. There lots of dropped passes, lots of overthrows, lots of underthrows. That said, the drives under Murphy were when the offense was most in sync. He was quicker to find his tight ends on quick passes and his timing on deep throws was tighter.

With more time, Atkinson and Jones could catch up with Murphy, but neither made a strong enough case Saturday. Atkinson did have the only passing touchdown of the game, but while his throw was solid a lot of the credit on the score goes to Kourdey Glass's speed and the offensive line's blocking. Still, both players have plenty of time to build a report with the receiving corps before fall camps get started.

3. The offensive line is the biggest work in progress.

While the Beavers did manage to put together some big plays toward the end of the game, there were consistent struggles at the line of scrimmage. In short-yardage situations and in the red zone the O-line was often overwhelmed, and the running game only really got going on screens or runs to the outside.

As the game wore on, the defense also began to generate more pressure, regularly harassing all three quarterbacks in the back field. Coach Shephard mentioned in his post game press conference that conditioning is an issue their working on, so things should be better when the season starts, but it's another rough sign from a group that seems like it needs a lot of work.

While it's good to get a first look at this year's team, there's clearly a lot that needs to be worked on before the season starts. We should be seeing a very different team in action once fall camps get started.

Add us as a preferred source on Google