Takeaways from Oregon State football's second scrimmage of fall camp

CORVALLIS — The Oregon State Beavers held their second and final scrimmage of fall football camp Saturday and were forced to slightly alter their plans due to storm conditions throughout the Willamette Valley.

The Beavers began the scrimmage on the Reser Stadium turf but moved inside the Truax Indoor Center after just a handful of drives due to concerns over thunder and lightning.

For the second time in as many weeks, Oregon State's defense won the day; it surrendered just two touchdowns and three field goals in nine traditional drives. The Beavers' offense ended the scrimmage with three scenario-based red zone drives and found the end zone just once.

Here are three takeaways from Oregon State's final dress rehearsal before its Aug. 31 season-opener against Idaho State.

Still no clarity in quarterback battle

The Beavers' three scholarship quarterbacks — Ben Gulbranson, Gabarri Johnson, and Gevani McCoy — were all still in contention for the starting job coming into the weekend.

None of them necessarily separated themself from the pack on Saturday.

All three of the Beavers' signal-callers split reps with the first, second and third units throughout the afternoon. While OSU did not distribute official stats following the scrimmage, the Statesman Journal charted drives for all three quarterbacks. Their final stats were as follows.

• Gulbranson: 4-for-9 passing. He led one touchdown drive and one field goal drive.
• Johnson: 3-for-6 passing with one interception and one rushing touchdown.
• McCoy: 7-for-13 passing with one interception. He led two field goal drives and a touchdown drive.

Johnson had the brightest individual moment of the day. On his final drive, he began a red-zone scenario with a mix of second- and third-unit players and completed a pass to push the Beavers inside the 5-yard line. One play later, he dashed out of the pocket, pump-faked a pass to freeze a pair of defenders and snuck into the end zone.

McCoy had a few more passing opportunities than the others — partially because the offense stayed on schedule more consistently than it did under Gulbranson or Johnson. But, disaster struck on his first passing attempt of the day. Senior linebacker outside Nikko Taylor tipped a pass high into the air at the line of scrimmage, than caught the deflection and ran it back to to the house for a pick-six.

Gulbranson was stung by a pair of drops from receivers on his second series of the day, derailing an otherwise promising drive.

“I think there’s moments where it looks really good," Oregon State coach Trent Bray said of the Beavers' overall quarterback play on Saturday. "There’s still stuff they got to clean up. They’ve got to handle a lot — motions, setting protections, change in protection. They’re getting better, but again, it’s just a continuous process.”

Bray said he and his staff will decide on a starter late next week.

"Before we start Idaho State prep, we’ll announce it," Bray said.

Injury updates on key offensive players

During his post-scrimmage media availability, Bray was asked for an update on Beavers' receiver Darrius Clemons and running back Anthony Hankerson.

Both players are projected to play big roles for OSU this fall, but neither took part in the scrimmage. Bray said both players were held out for precautionary reasons.

"They’ll be back when we start Idaho State stuff," Bray said.

Clemons, a former four-star signee in the class of 2022 who began his career at Michigan, has consistently been running with the first-team offense throughout fall camp. Hankerson, a Colorado transfer, is going to split time in the backfield with Jam Griffin .

With Hankerson sidelined on Saturday, walk-on Jake Reichle and true freshman Salahadin Allah each had bright moments.

The Beavers' defense looks sharp and disruptive

Oregon State's offense has struggled to consistently stay on track this fall, in part, because the Beavers' defense has been stout.

That held true once again on Saturday. First-year defensive coordinator Keith Heyward's unit looked particularly sharp in the red zone during the scrimmage.

“They just do a good job. I think with our ability to run and physicality, it’s hard to run the ball on us," Bray said. "Which, in the red zone, if you can stop the run, you’re going to be pretty successful. And then same thing, I think our defensive backfield is pretty strong. So when they do have to throw the ball, we’ve got great guys covering them.”

Taylor, LSU transfer Tygee Hill and senior defensive lineman Semisi Saluni all made their presence felt up front during the scrimmage.

Jaheim Patterson, a 6-foot-4 sophomore safety, grabbed an interception, had a big pass breakup and was a difference-maker all afternoon.

"He’s got a tremendous amount of talent, maybe one of the more talented guys in that back room," Bray said of Patterson. "It’s learning for him. So when he can play fast and go, he looks really good. And so we’ve just got to get him to that point where he can play fast all the time.”

Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Takeaways from Oregon State football's second scrimmage of fall camp