An August heatwave hit Oregon State University football camp this week, and the team’s usual practice start was moved an hour earlier Monday and Tuesday. 

But at the shadeless Prothro practice fields, where it hit the mid-80s well before lunchtime, running backs coach and Mississippi native Ray Pickering was unbothered. 

“People say it’s hot over here right now,” he said after practice, “and it’s a breeze for me.” 

The first-year coach is one of several new names in the team’s 2025 running back room. And he’s not the only one from The Magnolia State — or unfazed by the Oregon weather. 

With running back Salahadin Allah playing most of the first-team reps on Tuesday, the 12th day of fall camp was an opportunity for senior transfer Marquis Crosby to see more snaps with the second team. 

Like Pickering, Crosby started his football career in Mississippi, where he set the state single-season rushing record for Presbyterian Christian School in 2020. He started his college career at Louisiana Tech, where he rushed for 918 yards and nine touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2022. 

However, he put up just 244 rushing yards over the following two years, missing most of his 2023 season because of a fractured tibia. 

“I’m feeling better. But some days it, you know, goes bad,” Crosby said. “But I just treat, treat, treat.” He said the injury required surgery at the time as well as a rod that has since been removed. 

“The past years, they’ve been a struggle,” he said. “Besides that one good year I had, injuries nonstop. But this year, I think I’m gonna come back stronger.” 

The now-redshirt senior said he didn’t have many offers when he entered the transfer portal after the 2024 season. But after he visited Oregon State, he “felt like it was home.” 

“I think all the guys on the team are very welcoming,” Crosby said.  

And what does he think of Corvallis? “It’s very nice. Weather is good.” 

Oregon summers? “It’s nothing.”   

Moving from the Southeast to the Pacific Northwest is something Crosby and Pickering have in common. Pickering said that both he and Crosby’s father played running back at the same high school. 

“Marquis is a Mississippi guy. You know, I’m a Mississippi guy,” Pickering said. “So just familiar faces, familiar relationships.” 

“We’re from the same place,” said Crosby. “So I just feel like (Pickering) knows what I’m going through. It’s just good to have somebody that’s been in your shoes.” 

While Pickering has been staying cool, he’s focused on keeping the Oregon State run game hot. The Beavers finished 29th out of 134 FBS teams in rushing yards per game in 2024, and the coach acknowledged in a March press conference that a strong running game has long been a part of the team’s offensive identity. 

“Let’s create RBU,” he said in the spring. 

Now a few months further into his tenure as the team’s running backs coach, Pickering was impressed with how his players have bought into what he’s teaching. 

“Very talented guys that love to be around the meeting room,” he said. “Guys that love to absorb the mechanics of becoming a technician of the running back position. Not guys that just say, ‘Hey, we grab the ball and run.’” 

He also praised starter Anthony Hankerson’s work ethic and leadership, comparing the Beavers’ starting running back to current Atlanta Falcons Pro Bowler Bijan Robinson, who Pickering worked with when coaching at Texas in 2022. 

“Supreme leader,” said Pickering. “(Hankerson) does the absolute most — does the extra stuff around the building, around the program and things of that (nature). Wants to be a student of the game, and that’s the most important thing to him.” 

Beyond Hankerson, the Beavers have a bevy of names at running back, including Allah, Crosby, freshman Kourdey Glass, redshirt freshman Cornell Hatcher Jr., and running back/fullback Jake Reichle. 

“Every Batman needs a Robin,” Pickering said. “Hank needs that guy that’s gonna be right beside (him). 

“Now, I want everybody in the room to be that, right? But we know clearly that all of our guys can’t go out there and run the ball at one time.”

In Reichle’s case, that’s meant building a role for himself as a fullback and on special teams. 

“Wherever I can play, I’ll try to own that role,” the redshirt junior said. 

Pickering, whose past coaching jobs include offensive coordinator and offensive analyst, said it’s important for his running backs to contribute to more than just the rushing attack, citing aspects of the game such as pass protection and special teams. 

Oregon State has also frequently used running backs as receivers out of the backfield during camp scrimmages. 

“I would rather have five weapons than four. I’d rather have four than three, you know?” Pickering said. “We can’t become a liability in the passing game. So we get out there and we work different things.”

He said his coaching style, which uses catchphrases to help his players remember what he’s teaching, stems from his background as a teacher. Sound bites such as “tight hands, tight elbows” when pass blocking help players “take it out from the meeting room to the field.” 

Crosby said he’s “still getting used to” the Pickering-isms, but “it helps a lot.” 

“He’s a great coach,” Crosby said. “Best coach I ever had.” 

Despite their Mississippi connection, Pickering said Crosby “kind of fell in our lap” in the transfer portal. 

“We all agreed and felt that he was a fit for what we do here at Oregon State. … And, you know, we were blessed to get him.”