Trent Bray Says "A Good Chance" Star WR Misses Opener
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Late last week, Oregon State star wideout Darrius Clemons suffered a lower leg injury, and was spotted wearing a boot at Saturday’s scrimmage.
After practice, his head coach Trent Bray offered only a brief quip and a frown when asked about the former four Michigan transfer's injury. When pressed on other topics, he was more forthcoming, and we will highlight several of his answers here. We’ll also share highlights of conversations with offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson, edge defender Walker Harris, and backup quarterback Gabarri Johnson.
HC Trent Bray’s initial reactions to Saturday’s scrimmage
“It was good. The whole idea was to get a lot of guys that we need to see, kind of the last audition to kinda help us play winning football. So, we got a lot of those guys reps, and we’ll digest the film and see what we got from them.”
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HC Trent Bray on resting the starters
“Yeah, we kind of looked at it. All our ones have over 250 reps in camp, so you’re talking about four games worth of reps. The two live situations we had before - they were extremely well and they did a great job tackling - so that wasn’t a concern. And just the way they practice. If you practice tackling, it’s all feet, body, position, and strike zone. You can practice tackling every day. Even when you got no pads on, they do a great job of that. So, it was more ‘lets get them fresh’ right? So when we get into Cal [Cal Week] they’re operating at 100% and flying around.”
HC Trent Bray on ILB Makiya Tongue & WR Darrius Clemons’ availability vs Cal
Are you expecting to be without some of those guys for week one? [frowning] “Uh, there’s a good chance, yeah.”
OC Ryan Gunderson’s initial takeaways from Saturday’s scrimmage
“Uh, there’s too many penalties, just silly stuff, procedural stuff, but I mean, you got to make it look like football. That didn’t look like football at times. But then I thought Kallen [reserve quarterback Kallen Gutridge] made some great throws. We had some guys making plays out there. But the penalties will ruin a drive pretty quickly.”
RELATED: OC Ryan Gunderson Talks Jake Reichle, Fullback Role in Oregon State Offense
OC Ryan Gunderson on wide receiver depth in 2025
“It’s critical. Good thing is, those guys are all a year older, and the experience is good - experience in the system and experience playing in games - so Taz [Taz Reddicks], David [David Wells Jr], those kind of young pups are stepping up. And then you got guys like Eddie [Eddie Freauff] and Malachi [Malachi Durant] and Karson Boschma that have done a really nice job all throughout camp, really consistent. I like that a lot.”
OC Ryan Gunderson on the competition for QB2 backing up Maalik Murphy
“I think we have a pretty good idea, yeah, of what that thing is going to look like right now.” is that Gabarri [Gabarri Johnson] based on his experience and what he’s done so far in camp? “Yeah, I think Gabarri’s a player that we’ve got a lot of faith in, a lot of of trust in. I think his highs last year were really high and we need to just bring him up so that it’s more consistent. The kid is sharp. He works hard at it. He’s talented. Super excited about ways that he can help up this season.”
EDGE Walker Harris on what motivated him to transfer to Oregon State
“Corvallis is a great spot. Once I came in here, I immediately felt the Corvallis love. I’m a big outdoorsman. I love hunting and fishing. And that was just a big drive to come here at the same time. And I mean, what coach Bray’s building here was truly amazing.”
EDGE Walker Harris’ takeaways from fall camp and the progress of the defensive line
“Yeah, so I mean this summer we really took an initiative to get really close as a team, and you don’t see that nowadays - with everybody taking off from the transfer portal - so we made it a priority to really get close together as a group, and we really feel each other’s presence. We know what each other are going through and how to build off that, and we just understand each other very well, and we’ve come together as a group very well and meshed.”
QB Gabarri Johnson on his development heading into 2025
“I feel like the feeling is definitely better; where last year I was more so just in for runs and different things like that, and taking the backset to Vonnie [transfer QB Gevani McCoy] and Ben [Ben Gulbranson] more, whereas now me and Maalik [Maalik Murphy] kind of go hand in hand with each other. Gundy [Ryan Gunderson] knows what he wants from both of us. So we know when we’re going to get in and do what we’re supposed to do.”
QB Gabarri Johnson on performing as a traditional drop-back passer
“That’s the quarterback position. I do like when people say I can run, and I’m good on my feet, but you know I think I can stay in the pocket and make good passes.”
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Matt fell in love with radio during his college days at Oregon Tech, and pursued a nine year career in sports broadcasting with Klamath Falls' and Medford's highest-rated sports radio stations. He currently lives in McMinnville wine country and is excited to talk about the Beavers again.