Trent Bray: Oregon State QB Battle Still A 3-Man Race
The Oregon State Beavers officially begin the 2024 football season on August 31 when they host the Idaho State Bengals. However, preparations for the season have long been underway and continued Saturday in the Beavs' first intrasquad scrimmage of the fall.
Afterwards, Bray was directly asked if he believes the competition for the starting quarterback job is still a three-man battle.
"I do," Bray stated. "Yeah, it's going to go right until the end."
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Fifth-year junior Ben Gulbranson is one candidate for the job, whose experience certainly helps his cause. Idaho transfer Gevani McCoy (also a redshirt junior) is also a strong candidate. Redshirt freshman Missouri transfer and former four-star recruit Gabarri Johnson also impressed Bray with his athleticism in Saturday's scrimmage, which the defense won.
"I thought Gabarri made some plays with his legs when things weren't open, which I really like. And then that last play, being able to keep it alive and find the open guy, that was impressive," Bray noted. "I think they're all getting better, learning the system, feeling more comfortable. Really the end of this last week and today, I think they're getting better every day. "
Veteran running back Jam Griffin, when asked, had this to say about McCoy's time in the offense on Saturday: "He's getting more comfortable back and he looked pretty good today. So it's going to be fun watching those guys progress right before the season."
Bray made it clear that the option of utilizing each of the quarterbacks in a split-responsibility role or in specialized packages is not something they're really entertaining at this point. With less than three weeks until the season opener, Bray's just going to wait and see.
"We're just going to see who's going to win the job, be the guy, and then we'll see how we can use the other guys to help us."
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.