Things to know as Beavers end spring football session …

Aiden Sullivan, making a tackle in Saturday's Spring Game, is one of several veterans who make Oregon State's linebackers a strong group (courtesy OSU sports communications)

Updated 4/21/2025 3:42 PM, 4/20/2025 3:40 PM

CORVALLIS — Some notes, quotes and observations following Oregon State “Spring Game” Saturday at Reser Stadium …

• Looks can be deceiving, so the few thousand fans who were on hand on a warm, sunny afternoon should understand that what they saw from the Beavers’ offense isn’t what it will look like next fall.

With none of the projected starting offensive linemen in uniform, the defense manhandled the makeshift front that tried in vain to open running holes and protect quarterbacks Maliik Murphy, Gabarri Johnson and Kallin Gutridge.

Through 60 minutes of running clock in a scrimmage that took 90 minutes to finish, there was only one touchdown — when Murphy found an all-alone tight end Cooper Jensen for 30 yards and a score. Field goals of 52 yards by Caleb Ojeda and 40 yards by Japanese senior Tetsuka Tsuyumine were the only other scores.

At least 20 regulars sat out the day’s competition, including running back Anthony Hankerson, tight end Riley Williams and a host of O-linemen.

“There are some guys we don’t need to see a ton of,” said second-year head coach Trent Bray. “Today was more about young guys getting an opportunity to put more on (video) and see what they can do and how they can help us.”

It was also about getting some more work for Murphy, the junior transfer from Duke who will be the Beavers’ starter in the fall. Under heavy duress from a dominant defensive front, he completed a number of short and medium-range passes but came up empty on deep balls sans the one Jensen caught on blown coverage. Most of Murphy’s misses were overthrown. Johnson and Gutridge went long on several attempts without a completion, too.

“The competitive part of you wishes we would have hit a couple of those vertical throws,” offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson said. “That has been a major point of emphasis for us this spring. There was some good stuff on offense last year, but we were not explosive enough. We need to hit bigger shots down the field.”

On the first play of the game, Murphy unleashed a bomb to Darrius Clemons, who was five yards beyond his defender. Murphy overthrew him.

“We’ve got to hit that one,” Gunderson said.

Don’t get the idea the coaches are down on Murphy, however. Far from it.

The dude is big — almost DJ Uiagalelei big. DJ was 6-4 and 250. Murphy is 6-5 and 235, like Uiagalelei an imposing figure on the field. He has experience and FBS-quality skills.

“Maliik has big-time talent,” Bray said. “He is growing in our scheme. Like any quarterback, you have to learn the scheme, feel comfortable with it. It’s like, ‘What’s my read? Where does the ball go?’ As spring went along, he got a lot better. And his arm strength is unquestionable.”

Steve Preece wasn’t at the Spring Game, but he has been at practice several times this spring. The former quarterback of Oregon State’s “Giant Killers” and NFL veteran has been very impressed by Murphy.

Quarterback Maliik Murphy, a junior transfer from Duke, is ticketed for starting duty the fall

“He is the most technically sound quarterback I have seen at Oregon State in recent years,” said Preece, who has worked on the OSU broadcast crew for 25 years. “By that, I mean the footwork, positioning of the football when he is preparing himself to pass, how he makes handoffs, how he fakes after handoffs, what he is doing with his receivers to keep (defenders) away from the running backs.

“He does a lot of little things that a quarterback is supposed to do, and he does the big things, too. It looks like he has really worked on his craft. He has a very good arm, too. His deficiency is his running. He is not a runner at all.”

Murphy clearly prefers to throw rather than take off and run. But twice Saturday he converted fourth-and-one opportunities on keepers. My guess is, he will be similar to Uiagalelei in that category. Serviceable, and at times productive.

Gunderson will put him in the best position to succeed. He says Murphy has “big-time leadership ability.”

“That was an issue for us on offense last season,” Gunderson said. “I don’t want to be the leader of the offense. We want to be player-led, and (Murphy) has to spearhead the whole thing.”

Gunderson said he has given it to Murphy straight from their first meeting after his arrival on campus.

Said Gunderson: “I try to err on the side of, ‘You are going to get to know me pretty quick, and I am going to be very honest with you. It is not because I don’t like you and I like to tell you your weaknesses. We are committed to doing this together. Your goals are my goals. If you are successful, I am successful.’

“We have a very good, honest relationship. He has a great personality, a big smile, a good mood. But when you are in that huddle, it matters to him. He is super competitive.”

Gunderson said he likes the OSU quarterback “room” a lot. There were only three QBs on hand for the spring — Murphy, Johnson and redshirt freshman Kallin Gutridge from Wilsonville High.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson says “there is a lot of work to do, but I like where we’re at”

The 5-11, 190-pound Johnson, a redshirt sophomore who transferred from Missouri and played sparingly last season, can throw the intermediate pass but is chiefly a runner who can make things happen on a scramble.

“There is good competition there,” Bray said. “Gabarri had a heck of a spring. He continues to grow and get better. He is going to play. Maliik is going to play. We have two really good quarterbacks who could both be in the game at the same time. We can do a bunch of different things. It is exciting how our playbook can grow with those guys.”

It may be that Bray and Gunderson intend to use a package with Murphy and Johnson much as Jonathan Smith did in 2023 with Uiagalelei and Aidan Chiles — using Johnson for, say, a couple of series in the second quarter.

Gutridge, a 6-3, 210-pound left-hander, has a good arm, great feet and excellent athletic ability — a combination of the skills of Murphy and Johnson. Gutridge has benefitted by getting a good deal of work in this spring amid a small quarterback room.

“The best thing that could have happened to the two understudies is having only three (quarterbacks),” Preece said. “It is a lot easier with three guys rather than five or six. Gundy is doing a great job with them. He is very detailed. He really works them.”

“They all do things differently,” Gunderson said of his QBs. “It is up to us to tailor to the guy who is in there. Gabarri and Maliik are different players but are both guys who can help us win games this fall.”

Before leaving to take care of autograph requests from a long line of fans after the scrimmage, Murphy told the media he knows getting accustomed to a new offense, new teammates and a new environment will take time and practice.

“Everything takes reps,” he said. “As spring has gone on, I feel like I have gotten better. The people around me have gotten better. It feels like these last two practices have been our best of the spring. Today’s wasn’t perfect, but we did a lot of good things. I am pretty excited for what we can do this fall.”

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Murphy will need more help in the fall. During Saturday’s scrimmage, his receivers had a hard time breaking contact with the Beavers’ veteran group in the secondary. Sophomore Taz Reddicks might have had the best day among the receivers.

“We have to get better at winning one-on-one matchups,” Gunderson said. “We have to be better at our craft, our technique, and we have to have a better relationship, receiver to quarterback. We need to break tackles on long runs every now and then to be more explosive.

“It takes time. It takes failure to get better at it. I hope we got most of the failure out of the way this spring.”

Few of the O-linemen who saw duty Saturday will be in coach Mike Cavanaugh’s rotation in the fall. Projected starters could look like this: Van Wells, a 6-3, 295-pound senior at center; Tyler Voltin, a 6-4, 380-pound senior, and Dylan Sikorski, a 6-3, 340-pound redshirt freshman, at the guards, and Keyon Cox, a 6-5, 295-pound sophomore, and Josiah Timoteo, a 6-4, 310-pound sophomore, at the tackles. Among the reserves: seniors J.T. Hand (6-4, 310) and Tyler Morano (6-5, 295), juniors Jacob Strand (6-5, 300) and Nathan Elu (6-5, 315), sophomore Zander Esty (6-4, 300) and redshirt freshman Adam Hawkes (6-5, 300).

“We need to heal on the offensive line,” Gunderson said. “We have been thin there the last couple of weeks, but we have guys coming back we are excited about.

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“I know this was the Spring Game, but it’s not the end. There is a lot of work still to do, but I like where we are at.”

The Beavers won’t abandon the run game that was successful a year ago, when Hankerson rushed for 1,082 yards and 15 touchdowns and Salahadin Allah showed great promise as a bruising freshman. Gunderson would simply like to add more big-play juice through the air.

“You have an identity and you have a core,” he said. “You have what you do over and over again, and you have to get good at it. Those things need to be tailored to who you have. You build on top of those things. That’s what spring is for. We run stuff, and (the players) probably get a little tired of it. You do it until you can’t get it wrong. We are in that pursuit of this becoming second nature.”

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The advantage on Saturday went decisively to the defense.

“The offense had some good plays, but in my eyes, the defense definitely dominated,” said Nikko Taylor, a 6-5, 255-pound senior outside linebacker. “A lot of young guys from the outside ‘backers room — Blue (Dantzler), Shamar (Meikle), Will (Haverland) — were making a lot of sacks. It was nice to see the improvement since the start of spring.

“We have been focusing on details, and today the guys just flew around. It was about playing fast, hard and physical.”

Danzler is a 6-2, 230-pound true freshman from Chandler, Ariz.

“He is like 17 years old,” Taylor said. “He just came from high school and is doing what he is doing already. He had like four or five sacks today. His ability to bend and rush will help us in the future.”

A year ago, Oregon State was 133rd of 134 FBS teams with only seven sacks. That should turn around next season. Bray said the edge play “has been much improved.” He singled out Taylor, Meikle, a 6-3, 225-pound redshirt freshman, and 6-1, 250-pound junior Tyree Blake.

Bray’s position group is inside linebackers. The Beavers are strong there with such players as Dexter Foster, a 6-3, 225-pound sophomore; Raesjon Davis, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior transfer from USC; Aiden Sullivan, a 6-1, 230-pound junior; Gyriece Goodman, a 6-1, 215-pound junior and Makiya Tongue, a 6-2, 225-pound senior.

“We have some athletes at inside ‘backer who can rush the passer and apply some pressure,” Bray said.

The D-line, a weakness a year ago, should be better with the development of sophomores Thomas Collins (6-1, 275), Tevita Pome’e (6-2, 310) and Jojo Johnson (6-2, 290) to go with the veteran presence of junior Tahjae Mullix (6-foot, 275) and seniors Jacob Schuster (6-1, 345) and Nick Norris (6-4, 275).

The secondary might be Oregon State’s strong position group. It is deep with size, talent and The secondary might be Oregon State’s strongest position group. It is deep with size, talent and experience. Junior Jaheim Patterson (6-4, 210) and seniors Tyrice Ivy (6-3, 210) and Skyler Thomas (6-2, 215) “look like NFL-bound safeties,” said Preece, who played the position for nine years in his NFL career.

Among those filling the cornerback and nickel roles are sophomores Exodus Ayers and Sal Vadrawale, juniors Amarion York and Noble Thomas and seniors Kobe Singleton and Mason White.

“We are way ahead of where we were at this time a year ago,” Bray said.

Part of that is Bray returning to more on-field coaching as de facto defensive coordinator, rather than the “CEO” role he adopted in his first season as head coach.

“Seeing the defense and the way he is running it reminds me of my first year at Oregon State in 2023 (when Bray was D-coordinator),” Taylor said. “It is beautiful. Coach Bray loves the game. He is always trying to look out for our best interests. I appreciate that about him.

“You look at last year’s defense compared to this year, it is night and day. This year it is super-detailed, plus Coach Bray has upped the intensity. He expects the best from us. That is what we are giving to him.”

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Bray and Gunderson both paid homage to three staff members outside the official coaching staff — Danny Langsdorf, Robb Akey and Mark Criner.

Langsdorf, whose title is “offensive senior quality control analyst,” was Oregon State’s offensive coordinator under Mike Riley from 2005-13 and at Nebraska from 2015-17. Langsdorf, the coordinator during Gunderson’s career as a QB at OSU, has been O-coordinator at Temple the past three seasons.

“Having Danny in that room is super helpful for me, talking with the players when I am doing coordinator stuff,” Gunderson said. “To have a guy who has coordinated for a long time, it has been invaluable.”

Akey, special assistant to the head coach and also helping coach the outside linebackers, has 35 years experience as a college coach, the last six as defensive coordinator at Central Michigan. Akey is the former head coach at Idaho and ex-D coordinator at Washington State. He also coached for three years in the NFL.

Criner (defensive quality control) was D-coordinator at Southern Mississippi from 2021-24. He has also coached at Idaho and Portland State in a career spanning more than three decades.

“With those three guys, who have a ton of experience at high levels, it has been great for our players, and is a big part of our improvement,” Bray said.

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The Beavers have one more hurdle to clear before summer. The second transfer portal window ends on Friday April 25. There is the possibility they could lose more players to the portal.

“Goal No. 1 after the (2024) season was to retain the players we had,” Bray said. “We are about player development. We don’t want to flip our roster every year. We did a good job with retention and added some good players from the portal.”

Bray said the OSU coaches are “looking at players in the portal” to help a couple of position groups, though he didn’t single them out.

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