Oregon state football’s Gabarri Johnson ‘problem’ and how to fix it

Published 1:55 pm Saturday, August 10, 2024

As I sat in the stands of Reser Stadium taking in the first open Oregon State football scrimmage and watched the Beavers play, I got to thinking. 

“Wow, this Gabarri Johnson kid really can move!” 

Designed runs aren’t going to show up often in this format often, with quarterbacks in non-contact jerseys there’s just no real reason to risk having them attempt to be consistent ball carriers. Maybe twice I saw Johnson pull the ball on a read option play and take it himself, but several times I watched him evade pressure and put the athleticism on display. 

After all, you don’t rush for nearly 1,500 yards and 19 scores as a high school senior without freakish capabilities as a ball carrier. 

I’m not sure if the redshirt freshman is ready to take on the starting quarterback role. But what I do think is that he is too athletic, too dynamic of a player and comes with too much recruiting pedigree for him to not get on the field. 

There’s a saying in football, “If you have two quarterbacks, you have none.” But what if you just played two quarterbacks? Come on, it could be fun! And I’ve seen it work, but we’ll come back to that. 

“I couldn’t even answer that right now,” head coach Trent Bray said about the prospect of playing two quarterbacks. “We haven’t talked about any kind of multiple quarterback stuff yet. We’re going to see who’s going to win the job, be the guy and then see how we can use the other guys to help us.” 

Offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson had a bit of a different answer to a similar question asked on Aug. 1 about if the team wants a clear-cut starter. 

“We’ll do whatever is best for the team,” Gunderson said. “Whatever is best for the team, best for the offense. If that’s playing two guys, we’ll be playing two guys. But whatever coach Bray, myself and the offensive staff is best for the team to score points and win games is what we’ll do.” 

Well, as I alluded to earlier, I’ve seen a lot of football where a lot of points were scored and games were won with two quarterbacks getting reps. And I’d never, ever in my life pass up an opportunity to mention my alma mater in a story. 

Troy Taylor’s 2021 and 2022 seasons at Sacramento State did exactly this — and man was it fun.

Two quarterbacks splitting reps to add an edge to the team. Jake Dunniway was named an All-Big Sky Third Team honoree, while Asher O’Hara was a first team selection as an all-purpose player in 2022. 

Dunniway was the more traditional quarterback while O’Hara was a capable passer but more importantly, a dynamic athlete with a flair for the dramatics around the goal line. Sidebar, look him up on YouTube or Twitter, the number of times I watched him jump over a pile at the goal line was ridiculous and that was just the first video I found. 

In two years of Dunniway and O’Hara splitting reps, the Hornets went a combined 21-4, made the FCS playoffs in both seasons and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. In the span, Dunniway passed for 4,993 yards with 31 scores, while O’Hara passed for 1,772 yards with 18 touchdowns and ran for 1,599 yards and 28 scores. 

Some will call it gimmicky or only working because it was at the FCS level, but that Hornets team thumped Colorado State employing the strategy. This works and this is fun. 

And what made it so successful was, at the end of the day, O’Hara wasn’t on the field as a wildcat quarterback. He was a legit passer who completed 73% of his passes without a turnover in 2022. Opponents couldn’t stack the box and had to respect the threat of a pass when he was on the field. If they didn’t, Taylor had no problem dialing up a pass to take the top off the defense. 

Pick your poison on who fills the role of the more traditional quarterback within the scheme, whether it be Gevani McCoy or Ben Gulbranson.

But my pitch to Gunderson and Bray, who surely are taking the time to read this, is to put Johnson on the field.

He has the highest recruiting pedigree out of any quarterback on the roster as a former four-star, he was not brought in to do nothing. I understand that Johnson still may need time to grow as a football player, but while he does that he can still be a valuable tool to the offense. Allow him to be the dynamic athlete he is and make plays without the pressure of needing to be on the field constantly as a starting quarterback — he can grow into that role as he further progresses. 

So please, do your offense a favor — heck, do ME a favor and relive the 2022 Sac State Hornets success — put Johnson on the field.