Oregon State football head coach Trent Bray talks signing day, transfer portal

Published 5:15 pm Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Oregon State head football coach Trent Bray met with media members Wednesday, Dec. 4, to talk about his thoughts on Oregon State football’s recruiting class as well as the Beavers’ plans with the transfer portal. 

The following is a question and answer format transcription of Bray’s answers. Questions have been shortened for brevity. 

Opening statement: 

I’m really excited about this class. 
I thought we hit on needs that we have. These guys have, you know, it was big to us (that) their film (was) looking good and the way they play, um the wiring of who they are, but also the physical measurements and tools that that we were looking for. And I thought I thought we hit on that and did a great job of evaluating who those guys are, what’s their skill (sets are).

I look from top to bottom, I really like this class and I’m excited about this class joining us. We’ve got six of them that’ll be here mid-year, which is exciting because I think some of them will have an opportunity to help us. 
So yeah, just real excited in general

Q: Why so heavy on defensive back and edge rushers? 

A: We were pretty top heavy as far as classes in our in our secondary… 
So we wanted to bring a bunch of good depth in that could that could develop and have to have some time to develop the next year or two and and then be ready to hit the ground running (as sophomores and juniors).

Q: Who are the six coming early? 

A: (Safety) Sean Craig, (edge rusher) Bleu Dantzler, (linebacker) Jeremiah Ioane, (cornerbacks) Trey Glasper, David Madison and Jalil Tucker and (offensive lineman) and Jake Normoyle in the spring. So seven total, six in January. 

Q: What is your position on early enrollees? 

A: It’s good from the standpoint of them getting into our strength and conditioning program earlier. If they’re going to have a chance to play as a freshman, it’s it’s really almost the only way. 
Now, there’s still guys that do it. (Linebacker Dexter Foster) did it this last year after coming in June. But (the early enrollees) get a whole winter conditioning, they get a spring practice, tthey’re they’re here in April, March for weight training and conditioning and then right in the June and July.

They get a lot of learning during that time, extra meetings with the coaches, they get 15 spring practices. So it’s a really good thing for them. It’s become more and more common (that) kids want to do it and they get ahead in school, which is good. They’re they get a whole spring term and winter term and summer term before they are even truly freshmen as far as the academic year starts. 
So I think it’s great for them that way.

Q: What do you like about the interior defensive line and edge rushers you signed? 

A: Yeah, I really like the (group). You look at Bleu Dantzler out of Arizona, just a really dynamic athletic guy that can rush the passer, which is something that we want to add and need to continue to develop. Logan Knapp, just a big, long kid that has the ability to rush the passer, but it’s also physical at the line of scrimmage. (I) really liked his film. He’s going to be a big guy at six-foot-six, 250 pounds already. His ability to develop (is something) I’m excited about. 


Then Jesse Myers and Nik Fisher on the inside. They’re guys that can play on the edge, but their size and growth development are going to put them inside for us. Which, in our system the way we want a vertical attack, we like taking edge guys that are still have some length, but might not be quite as long as we want and move them inside. 
And their ability to gain that weight and be that dynamic, vertical penetrator and be able to do all the movement stuff we need.

Q: How has your recruiting strategy evolved over the years and how are recruits receiving Oregon State as a place to come post-realignment? 

A: It’s been good on the recruiting trail for a couple of reasons.

I think the development in what we’ve done since since I’ve been here over the last seven years, um on offense and defense. But for me particular on defense, the ability to produce and develop guys to have a chance to play at the next level. 
That’s always intriguing to a young person. And then the success that we’ve had and and where we’re going in this new Pac-12 Conference is exciting not only for me, but recruits have responded well to it.

(The Pac-12 is) really the only conference in the country that you can play regionally anymore. 
And so for a California kid, a Washington kid, an Oregon kid, the ability to for your family to truly watch you play every weekend has been an intriguing thing for some of these guys. 

Q: Quarterback Tristian Ti’a remains unsigned, what is the situation with him? 

A: Yeah, everything is good with him. He’s just planning on signing in February with the rest of his teammates.

Q: How do you go about recruiting your roster from staying away from the portal? 

A: It’s going well. It’s going well. You’re always going to have a couple guys here and there that are going to either move on for opportunity on the field or opportunity financially. So you just try to hold on as best you can. But it’s been really well received and I feel good about retaining most of these guys that are going to help us win next year.

Q: How do you feel about early signing day coming before the portal opens as opposed to after? 

A: I love “the portal window”. The portal technically has been open for a couple of months now when you talk about coaches recruiting our guys and (other) guys saying they intend to enter the transfer portal. 

So real you’ve got to do both. You gotta set out your time (about how to) attack the high school recruiting and and staying in touch with those guys and evaluate those guys. While (also) keeping an eye on who’s going in the portal (so) when that opens, you’re ready to have those guys and those lists ready to to start bringing them in and recruiting them.

Q: How has your view on high school recruiting changed in this new era where they may only be around for one or two years as opposed to four or five? 

A: Yeah, I would say that at a lot of universities, it’s probably one to two years. When you look around the country (at) what’s going on, it’s really the administration that you’re working for.


I feel good about Oregon State and and their ability to allow you to develop a roster. You saw it with Coach Smith and what we did over over that period of time. So high school recruiting, to me, and junior college recruiting (are) going to be the main area that we’re going to attack. 
And hopefully, you know, you’re filtering in five to six portal guys a year instead of 20 or 30.

Q: How many players on the current roster do you know have been contacted by other coaches and programs? 

A: I would say anyone that started for us.

Q: What position groups are you looking to add guys to via the portal? 

A: With losing three starting offensive linemen we’ll look to add a guy there. We’ll look at some some guys on defense. (I) said edge, a corner, an interior defensive lineman, and we’ll look at a quarterback as well.

Q: You won some recruiting battles against bigger, more resourceful programs. What does it say about the culture you’re fostering? 

A: I think it goes back to the identification of who the person is you’re recruiting.

What is that kid about? 
What interests him? what motivates him? Kids that are motivated by success and want to be developed and understand the long game and where they want to go are attracted to a school like (Oregon State).

So we just got to identify those kids that have the skill set we’re looking for and those are the ones we go after and I think we did that.

Q: How do you feel about your quarterback situation? 

A: We have to see how everything shakes out. I probably can’t give you a truthful answer on that right now. But I think there’s some good young players, but we need a veteran guy.

Q: Do you think one of Ben Gulbranson, Gevani McCoy or Gabarri Johnson transfers? 

A: I don’t know for sure. It’d be speculation, but usually that’s what happens when you’ve got a couple of guys that are in that same class.

Q: How ready is redshirt freshman quarterback Kallen Gutridge from Wilsonville High School? 

A: I thought he did a nice job through the season as far as developing the fundamentals of playing the position. We’ll see in Spring ball (if he) can handle the the mental side of it and the reads and all that as a young player. That’s really what’s gonna separate him or tell us he’s ready or or not quite ready.

Q: Do you anticipate having quarterback Ben Gulbranson back next season? 

A: That’s hard to say. I think he’s weighing his options. He’s got medical school, (so) does he come back for another year? We’re going to meet later this week, he’s figuring out what his final decision is going to be. 

Q: If Gulbranson is back, can you name him the starter immediately? 

A: I thought we played a lot better…and moved the ball better, especially better through the air, when (Gulbranson) was in there. So he’s definitely a guy that that you would look at as definitely the front runner (to start next season).

Q: What are your thoughts on Jalil Tucker, who was coached by current defensive backs coach Rod Chance when he was at Oregon in 2022? 

A: Yeah, he has a skill set. From ability to run and change direction and then the length that we like at corner.

And then it’s just great whenever Coach Chance has a really good relationship, knows who the kid is and how he’s wired and there’s so much about a kid’s success at our (program) when they’re wired the right way and trusting Coach Chance and that this kid is (wired that way). As I’ve gotten to knowing through the recruiting process, I believe he is and I believe he’s going to be very successful here.

Q: Lots of tall defensive backs in this class, is that the way you like to recruit them? 

A: The way we play, we wanna press and we wanna get our hands on (receivers). So that length really helps take the receiver’s get-off the line of scrimmage away. 
Also, length allows you to recover better when you do make mistakes. So, at corner, that’s very important.

But yes, I always believed in (recruiting) a bunch of corners because you can always move them (to safety or nickel). 
If you recruit too many safeties, you can’t move them (to corner).