When a new quarterback comes in, all the fans look for is the first pass or the first touchdown. Transfer quarterback Maalik Murphy had to shake his nerves as his first pass was an incompletion.

It wasn’t until the third quarter that Murphy threw his first touchdown pass. Welcome to Reser Stadium.

The Oregon State football team had their annual spring game at Reser Stadium on April 19, at 12 p.m., where the black team defeated the orange team 13-0.

“It was good just watching them compete…Good competition, healthy,” head coach Trent Bray said post-game.

The spring game is a scrimmage between the entire roster split into two, so you play against your own guys. This gives the new guys a chance to get on some film and for Beaver Nation to get a formal tease at what to see in the Fall of 2025. 

The biggest question that stewed over the 2024 football season remains: Will the Beavers have the same starting quarterback all season long?

The Beaver quarterback room is minorly thin with two people in the headlining for the starting position. Murphy and sophomore Gabarri Johnson. 

“What I like that going on is there’s competition, so that’s good. Gabarri’s had ahead in the spring, he continues to grow and be better and better and Gabarri’s gonna play, whether he’s quarterback one or not. Maalik’s gonna play. We got two really good quarterbacks that can both be in the game at the same time,” Bray said. 

“I think we’ve been doing pretty well as a QB room, kind of making each other better throughout the spring so I hope that continues towards the fall,” Murphy said. 

Freshman quarterback Kallen Gutridge got a couple of reps in, entering in the second quarter after Johnson and Murphy had three drives each. 

MVP of the game

When Bray was sitting at defensive coordinator, the Beavers were performing at their best in recent years. Beaver Nation also got their first look at Bray back in the position after Keith Hayward stepped down and he took over during the offseason. 

The defense kept the game at nothing almost the entire first half before a field goal in the second quarter. 

“Overall in my eyes, defense definitely dominated, just a lot of young guys from outside back room. Making a lot of sacks and it was nice to see their improvement over spring,” veteran linebacker Nikko Taylor said.

Taylor showed out with a notable forced fumble in the second quarter, while the defense tallied up more than three sacks and extensive pressure to the quarterbacks, resulting in incompletitions by Murphy, Johnson and Gutridge.

“We’ve been focusing on details all spring and today they just blew around. Just play fast ans hard and physical and that’s what they did, so it was good to see,” Taylor said.