The Oregon State football team wrapped up their second to last week of fall training camp with their final scrimmage on Saturday.

Unlike last week where the defense dominated the offense, this time there was no clear winner according to Head Coach Jonathan Smith. 

“I thought that there was better play offensively for sure, moving the ball scoring a couple of times,” Smith said. “I was pleased with a lot of it being back and forth from both sides with a few good plays on each side, a couple of turnovers and some fourth down stops.”  

Defensive Coordinator Trent Bray mentioned after Thursday’s practice that he was pleased with the response of the defense with the negative plays against them in the first scrimmage and was looking to carry that into the final scrimmage of fall training camp. 

“There’s going to be adversity through the season and it’s how we respond,” Bray said. “They’re going to make plays, the offense is, it’s a talented offense and it’s how we respond to the negative plays that happened.” 

The final scrimmage of camp according to Smith was to give players the opportunity to prove themselves for starting or backup positions, but with one week to go before the season opener against Boise State on Sept 3., there are still position battles that the coaching staff is figuring out, such as tight end. 

“I think when that fifth DB is in the game when we’re playing nickel, that’s pretty competitive, the running back rotation is competitive,” Smith said, “I think Luke [Musgrave] is going to play a lot of tight end but behind him with the way Overman has come along, J.T. Byrne has done some things, Gabe Milbourn and Jack Velling had some catches today.”

Another position battle that Smith mentioned were the special teams headed into the final week of fall training camp, with many players vying for a starting role for this season.

Before Saturday’s scrimmage, the defense dominated Tuesday’s practice at the Merritt Truax Center, which was an overall more intense practice than previous. The main emphasis of practice was on situational football such as practicing the two minute offense in team periods.   

However, the offense was able to get in the endzone a couple of times highlighted by a touchdown from redshirt freshman wide-receiver Jimmy Vaslin III to end Tuesday’s practice, which was likely an indication of how the final scrimmage of camp would play out for the Beaver offense.  

Thursday’s practice was a more relaxed practice unlike the other ones during the week with more of an effort to give the Beavers a break before the off day on Friday and the scrimmage on Saturday. 

There will be a change of scenery for practice as the Beavers head up to Portland to practice at Providence Park on Sunday where they’ll also be playing Montana State University on Sept. 17. Smith mentioned that the practice will be a light practice and is more designed to get the team acclimated to playing in the stadium. 

The Beavers have one more week of training camp where they’ll begin to transition game week preparations and practices for the matchup against the Boise State Broncos. 

Highlights from this week’s practices 

• Redshirt sophomore defensive back Akili Arnold had an intercepted quarterback Chance Nolan during 11 on 11’s 
• Defensive tackle James Rawls had two sacks within a few plays during two-minute drills 
• Defensive back Rejzohn Wright intercepted Chance Nolan during two-minute drills
• Defensive back Kitan Oladapo had a pass break up during 7 on 7’s 
• Quarterback Chance Nolan threaded the football into tight coverage to wide receiver Tyjon Lindsey in 7 on 7’s 
• Sophomore defensive back Skyler Thomas intercepted quarterback Ben Gulbranson on a crossing route in 7 on 7’s in Thursday’s practice 
• Senior defensive back Ronald Hardge III had a pass breakup in 7 on 7’s in Thursday’s practice 
• Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Makiya Tongue had a toe tap sideline catch in 7 on 7’s 
• Redshirt junior punter Josh Green had a 55-yard punt during Tuesday’s practice  

Observations 

• Redshirt junior defensive back Alton Julian got some work with the second team defense during Thursday’s practice 
• Redshirt sophomore transfer running back Jam Griffin got some work in with 3rd team offense and ran the ball well during Saturday’s scrimmage 
• Redshirt sophomore long snapper Dylan Black has been limited in camp according to Smith  
• Wide receiver Anthony Gould is increasing his practice workload