Change is inevitable they say. Well, change has occurred in Corvallis, Oregon over the past few months and the fans have embraced it. Embracing change can be a difficult thing to do, but Beaver fans have no other choice, BUT to welcome it. At first, it was the change in coaching staffs. Riley out, Andersen in. Old style out, new style in. Now it's the quarterbacks.
If there was one thing Beaver Believers could count on the last few years it was that they had a good quarterback under center. He wasn't a Marcus Mariota, but Sean Mannion was pretty good for a college quarterback. Sean Mannion had some very good moments for Oregon State and those moments will be missed because what the fans have coming is not a Mannion type of quarterback this year. It will be a freshman and with young players, come young mistakes and lots of growing pains. Beaver fans are going to see something with the offense that they haven't seen before. They are going to see an up-tempo spread offense with Head Coach Gary Andersen. What does that mean? Well, if you pay attention to college football or football in general that simply means that the Beavers are going to try and make the game a "track meet". They have seen this kind of thing 45 minutes to south of them in Eugene with the Ducks. Now it's their turn at it. Well, this also means that they are going to expose their quarterback to possible big hits. Whoever the quarterback is, they are going to get hit, it then becomes the job of the coaching staff to minimize the BIG hits.
With the departure of incumbent quarterback Luke Del Rio to a transfer, Oregon State is left with three young freshmen quarterbacks. Nick Mitchell, a redshirt freshman, Seth Collin, a true freshman, and Marcus McMaryion, a redshirt freshman. In other words, young, young, and young.
The competition for the starting position will be wide open for all three of these kids, however, after watching film on these kids, the one that sticks out in terms of what the new coaching staff wants to do is Seth Collins. He'll be a true freshman this upcoming fall and this kid has all the intangibles that you would want to see. He's 6'3", he's a 170lbs, he's athletic as any high school kid I've seen, he's a leader, strong arm and possesses good speed when he's running with the ball. Now, Collins is only listed at 170lbs, but I'm sure he'll be weighing in at more than that when he finally arrives in Corvallis. He was a late edition to the Beavers recruiting haul, but once a Riley quarterback recruit de-committed then that open the door for this kid to come to Oregon State. Collins will certainly be a player to keep an eye on during the summer practices and into the fall.
Nick Mitchell is another quarterback that is in the mix for the Beavers starting job. He is 6'2", 185 pounds, but was recruited by Riley as a pro-style type of quarterback, so given that the new offense is an up-tempo type of offense he may be at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to getting the starting nod. Being on the scout team last year he showed the ability to throw the ball pretty well, with accuracy, but he did show that he could run with the ball. He may not be able to run the ball with the athleticism and speed that Collins will show.
Next on the quarterback possibility sheet is Marcus McMaryion. He is a dual threat quarterback and also ran the scout team for the team last season. Like Mitchell, he's a redshirt freshman with no game experience, so the growing pains would be just as pronounced as it would be with any of the other two quarterbacks. He's 6'1", 193lbs, mobile, strong arm. The film I saw with this kid was pretty good. He can certainly move around and his arm showed pretty good strength, so he certainly has some promise to be the starter as well.
At the end of the day, it's going to be a battle for the starting quarterback position. In my humble opinion, I think the true freshman out of El Cajon, California, Seth Collins may just be "the guy". Could be totally wrong, but he certainly passes the eye test with me. McMaryion and Mitchell will push him, but in the end, I think Coach Andersen has certainly found a player that he wants on the field. It's going to be interesting times in the Willamette Valley this fall. I, for one, will be watching.
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