Oregon State DC Keith Heyward Preaches Fundamentals Ahead of Idaho State Matchup
While the Oregon State Beavers are heavily favored heading into their 2024 opener against the Idaho State Bengals, the Beavers can't rest on their laurels. Idaho State led the FCS in passing yardage last season with 330.1 yards per game. Even so, the quarterback leading that attack remains a mystery.
Jordan Cooke & Hunter Hays split the majority of the time for the Bengals last year, but both have different skill sets and both will likely see the field on Saturday - along with potentially others. That presents a unique challenge for OSU defensive coordinator Keith Heyward and the players in his unit. However, Heyward stated this week that the main priority is just playing with effort and physicality.
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"They got a a number of quarterbacks who could play. Just looking at their depth, you really don't know who's going to play. So at the end of the day really it's about us the way that we've been practicing," Heyward said Wednesday. "That's how it's going to be all season long. It was really about how we prepare, us understanding our job how we fit within the scheme, and understanding how the offense is trying to attack us. If we just do that we'll be fine. It really doesn't matter what opponent is out there because it's going to change week-to-week, but what's not going to change week-to-week is how we prepare our players and what we ask them to do."
As mentioned Cooke and Hays have different skill sets. Hays is a slightly better runner (234 yards on 61 carries and six touchdowns in 2023), but both are fairly athletic. While that will be important to keep in mind, Heyward hopes his players stick to the responsibilities they have learned over the course of the last several moments when the game kicks off at 3:30 PM Saturday on The CW.
"It's still only one ball and we got to hunt that one ball. There may be a quarterback like they showed last year that has more a little bit more of escapability and elusiveness and we're going to be aware of that, but at the same time if we're sound in what we do, and your job within whatever the defense is called, you have to do that job and know where your help is and just play the call."
Joe Londergan joined the SI brand in 2023 with G5 Football Daily. With over 15 years of experience in covering and working directly in college and pro sports, Joe's expertise has been featured in Front Office Sports, SB Nation, and XRAY.FM. He is a member of both the Football Writers' Association of America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and a master's degree in sports administration from Seattle University. Outside of his writing career, Joe enjoys golfing, although he admits that while he hits driver decently, his short game is a liability.