Beavers: Two QBs, improved health and singing the fight song

Published 12:00 am Saturday, August 22, 2015

CORVALLIS — From Oregon State’s Saturday scrimmage at Reser Stadium …

• The starting quarterback for OSU’s Sept. 4 season opener against Weber State is Marcus McMaryion … or Seth Collins.

Coach Gary Andersen and offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin wouldn’t name a starter, but both McMaryion and Collins will get turns against the Wildcats in two weeks.

“We’ll alternate them,” Baldwin said. “In the first game, and probably the second game, we’re going to play both. One will take the first reps; that doesn’t mean he’ll take the next reps. That is our plan.”

Collins, the 6-3, 195-pound true freshman from San Diego, took the first snaps during Saturday’s scrimmage, but McMaryion, the 6-1, 200-pound redshirt freshman from Dinuba, Calif., got more reps with the first unit through the day.

McMaryion is the better passer, works through his progressions well, runs well enough and seems to operate the offense more efficiently than Collins. Collins, though, is electric when he keeps the ball and turns upfield. He is capable of making major yardage when in scramble mode.

“You can see they’re both getting better,” Andersen said. “They’re growing into the position. They bring a little bit different style, yet they can still run the offense.”

Andersen said he isn’t sure when he, Baldwin and quarterbacks coach Kevin McGiven will decide on a starter.

“Maybe in the next week it will become more clear who should take more snaps, or maybe (it takes) the whole season,” the first-year OSU coach said.

“The key is they have not been in a game and they’re freshmen,” Andersen said. “We want to give them an opportunity to compete. We’ll go into (the opener) preparing them both. It will not be an issue to get the kids enough reps.”

Andersen said their teammates are comfortable with either rookie at quarterbacks.

“There’s no lobbying going on or locker-room lawyers building a case for one side of the other,” Andersen said. “It’s a good situation to be in. The best spot for us right now is to get them both prepared.”

The better situation, of course, would have been if one of the QBs had grabbed the bull by the horns and won the job outright. That didn’t happen, and the competition will continue at least through the Weber State contest.

• Andersen said he recently spent time visiting with Northwestern coaches, who employed a two-quarterback system in 2013 with Trevor Siemian and Kain Colter.

“I studied how they did it, when they did it, why they did it,” said Andersen, who played against the Wildcats while coaching at Wisconsin. “There was no rhyme nor reason (as to who played when). It was simply one game, one kid would get more reps; the next game, the other kid. It was not because a kid threw an incompletion of interception.

“If you are playing two quarterbacks, the last thing you want to do is yank a kid every time he makes a mistake. That’s no way to operate. … we’re going to do our best to educate ourselves on it and move forward.”

• The best news Saturday was the return to full duty of several veterans who had been held out of the previous week’s scrimmage, including running backs Storm Barrs-Woods and Chris Brown, offensive guard Isaac Seumalo, receivers Jordan Villamin and Victor Bolden, cornerback Dwayne Williams and linebacker Jaswha James.

The return of Seumalo — who underwent a pair of foot surgeries after the 2013 season and missed all of 2014 — can’t be understated. When healthy, the 6-5, 300-pound junior from Corvallis is one of the best O-linemen in the Pac-12.

“Felt really good to be out there,” said Seumalo, a second-team all-conference selection as a sophomore. “I’m not where I want to be, but come Weber State, I’ll be ready.”

Oregon State’s coaches had held Seumalo out of contact duty for precautionary reasons, but are thrilled to have him back.

“Isaac looked great,” Andersen said. “He’s the best of the best, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never really seen an offensive lineman have the ability to change an offense as dramatically as he does when he’s in a game — at least that’s the way it appears at practice. It just seems to tick at a different level, especially in the run game.”

Seumalo will start at right guard between center Josh Mitchell and tackle Dustin Stanton. Sean Harlow and Fred Lauina are on the left side at tackle and guard, respectively. It appears to be a very solid unit, particularly when blocking for the run.

• Villamin had a pair of long catches. The 6-5, 225-pound sophomore snagged a pass over the middle from Collins and raced 63 yards to the 1-yard line. If Villamin had simply run for paydirt, he’d have had a touchdown, but he tried to cut inside, giving Williams a chance to bring him down short of the goal line.

“I have to score on that one,” Villamin said. “I should have just kept going. I was running and saw Dwayne on the side and I thought, ‘He might get me,’ but I should never have cut back.”

Later, Villamin went 46 yards with a pass from McMaryion. Asked for his 40 speed, Villamin said he was timed in the spring at 4.58.

“I had you at 4.78,” joked Andersen, overhearing the conversation.

• The Beavers had 10 penalties in the scrimmage, including five of what Andersen terms the “administrative” variety — false starts, offsides, illegal formation.

“That’s a huge negative to me,” the OSU coach said. “It’s not OK to have 10 penalties in a scrimmage. It’s not OK to practice like that. If we got guys who practice like that, they can go find another school to play at. We have a lot to learn.”

Andersen believes there is a fine line between playing aggressively and not playing smart.

“I never want to be a team that leads the league in the least amount of penalties,” he said. “Our goal is to play aggressive, physical football. We’ll have some penalties. But administrative penalties are not acceptable. We have to continue to clean that up.”

• Andersen was generally pleased with the Beavers’ defensive performance, citing accurate tackling as a positive. Spotty pass coverage on deep balls had the coach more concerned.

“We’re still letting some balls over our heads,” he said. “That’s been a concern the last four or five practices. You get balls over your head in this league, you lose by a lot.”

• At the end of practice, Andersen gathered his players and had them sing the school fight song in front of the fans watching in the stands.

“That’s a tradition we want to start,” he said. “Our kids need to learn the fight song. We want to sing it, not just clap it.”

When Andersen arrived in Corvallis, “I didn’t quite understand why we don’t sing the words,” he said. “Nobody could tell me.”

So Andersen brought in the marching band director, who taught players the words.

“Now we start and break every team meeting by singing the fight song,” he said. “Hopefully by the first game we’ll be good at that.

“I hope it becomes contagious. We’ll sing it on the road; we’ll sing it at home. We’ll sing it if the band’s with us; we’ll sing it if the band’s not with us. We’ll sing it if we win; we’ll sing it if we lose. The kids love it. It’s an important part of it, and a way for us to truly say thank you to the people who came to the game.”

• THIS AND THAT: The receiving corps has been thinned by injuries. True freshman Paul Lucas, who is ticketed to play this season, sat out the scrimmage with some sort of leg injury. Sophomore Hunter Jarmon injured a knee and junior Rahmel Dockery was shaken up by a big hit during the scrimmage, neither returning to action. Andersen said he believes injuries to all three players are minor. … Sophomore Garrett Owens and JC transfer Nick Porebski have solidified their spots as place-kicker and punter, and Porebski will serve as holder on kicks. Owens will kick off and JC transfer Ryan Navarro will serve as long snapper, Andersen said. … Junior offensive guard Gavin Andrews continues to miss action with a protective boot on his broken left foot, and sophomore linebacker David Henry sat out Saturday’s scrimmage with an undisclosed injury. … Titus Failuga, a promising 6-3, 260-pound sophomore, is running ahead of senior Jalen Grimble at defensive end. … During the scrimmage, the Beavers used a 3-3-5 alignment as its primary defense, with walk-on cornerback Devin Chappell — a junior transfer from Western Oregon — as a starting nickelback.

kerryeggers@portlandtribune.com

Twitter: @kerryeggers