The Oregon State football team held it final public scrimmage this morning. They had previously moved the time from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. to try and avoid the heat wave sweeping through Corvallis.

The biggest news of the day came in the form of a position change. Kyle White has been moved from running back to cornerback.

This move gives the junior college transfer the best chance to see the field as he had been falling behind, in the race to back-up Ryan Nall at running back. The secondary for Oregon State is paper thin with the recent departures of Gabe Ovgard and Cyril Noland-Lewis. And while Kyle White will be forced to learn a new position on the fly it never hurts to add an additional athlete to the secondary.

As for the scrimmage portion, it seemed that the coaching staff wanted to see what the second and third stringers could do and limited a lot of the Beavers top contributors.

Coach Andersen was quoted by Comcast Sportsnet and said “the mindset was to really get the new kids… kids that are in position to be in the two-deep a lot of reps and live reps”.

The coaching staff kept the offense watered down and Darell Garretson hardly threw the ball. Coach Andersen explained “Darrell didn’t throw the ball much and that’s by script”.

The most exciting action of the day was watching the position battle for back-up RB. Tim Cook and Artavis Pierce continued to battle for the opportunity to back up Ryan Nall. Tim Cook ran the ball eight times for 40 yards; while Pierce totaled six carries for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Marcus McMaryion and Mason Moran also got some opportunities to show their stuff. McMaryion finished the day going 5-of-8 for 67 yards. Moran’s most impressive plays came through the use of his legs; he had a couple nice carries totaling 31 yards during the live stats period, but his throws weren’t where they needed to be.

It’s hard to believe that the season is just two short weeks away. The coaching staff will pour through the tape of this scrimmage and start finalizing depth chart decisions. And will also start making decisions on who is going to redshirt or play immediately.

Welcome, By-Godders. How would you like to join the staff here at The Smoking Musket? As football season closes in on us, we are in need of a couple new faces to help take our coverage of everything West Virginia University to a new level. Ideally, I’d like to have these positions filled as soon as possible, so please don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Compensation: This is the probably the first question everyone will want to ask, and I totally understand. These positions are unpaid. I started out as a contributor just over a year ago, and I know firsthand that it isn’t ideal to not get paid for your time, but I assure you that being part of The Smoking Musket and SB Nation can provide you with a great opportunity to get your foot in the door of the sports media world.

If you would like to receive academic credit for your work at The Smoking Musket, I would be more than happy to fill out any paperwork you would need to make that work.

Duties: We are looking for writers who can meet deadlines, write clean copy and help us grow our coverage of all things West Virginia University. Ideally, I would love to have someone to help us strengthen our coverage of Mountaineers that have moved on to the professional ranks, have a finger on the pulse of West Virginia football recruiting, and help out with breaking news-type articles when the need arises.

Scheduling is flexible, but since the sports world never stops giving us content some weekend availability is preferred. Ideally, you’ll write at least twice a week on average. Possible assignments can range from game previews and recaps, player profiles, or even your own weekly feature.

Background qualifications: Ideal candidates for this position should:

• Have knowledge of and passion for the West Virginia Mountaineers as well as experience writing and covering college sports.
• A proven ability working in a deadline-driven virtual environment.
• Be able to write in line with and adhere to SB Nation’s best practices.
• Experience with recruiting coverage is a plus.

Don’t be afraid to apply just because you don’t have a killer resume. I got my start with very little to work with, and I know what it was like wanting to be a part of this world but afraid to apply. Don’t be. The main thing we are looking for are people who can write and want to write about West Virginia University.

Apply: If you’re interested, send an email to mikemillersbn@gmail.com with a resume and links to a couple writing samples.

Let’s talk about the Blue Chip Ratio.

SB Nation Recruiting Analyst Bud Elliott has an article today about the 2016 Blue Chip Ratios of every team in a Power 5 conference.

The Blue Chip Ratio calculates the percentage of each team’s 4 and 5 star recruits.

UCLA comes in 9th overall with a 0.55 Blue Chip Ratio. In other words, 55% of UCLA’s recruits on this year’s team were either 4-star or 5-star recruits.

Elliott goes on to mention that the Blue Chip Ratio is one of the best predictors of whether a team will win the National Championship. Elliot takes it a step further, writing: “As my colleague Bill Connelly has said, winning in college football takes talent acquisition, development and deployment.” Elliott also explains that, because NCAA rules restrict coaches to 20 hours per week with their players, development is limited.

That leaves talent acquisition (and retention) and deployment as the biggest factors in winning.

So, if, under Jim Mora, UCLA has performed well in talent acquisition, then the biggest question left is a matter of deployment. In other words, are players playing in the best positions with effective schemes?

While Southern Cal does have a higher Blue Chip Ratio, UCLA’s talent level should be enough to deliver a Pac-12 Championship…unless the deployment is not the best.

Many Bruin fans felt that Noel Mazzone’s offensive scheme was holding the team back. If Coach Polamalu’s system works as well as we hope, the sky may be the limit for the Bruins.

In fact, Bud Elliott’s article lists UCLA as one of the thirteen teams to reach the 50% Blue Chip Ratio this year and he predicts that this year’s national champions will almost certainly come from that group of thirteen teams. Considering the Bruins play one of those teams in game #1, we’re likely to know more about this year’s team on September 3rd.

And, that’s a darn good reason to follow what going on in Training Camp.

It’s Day 9 of Training Camp in San Bernardino. The team gets back on the field at 3pm today. The weather for this afternoon should be sunny with a high of 103 degrees. So, it’s going to be HOT out there!

It’s good preparation for the Texas heat the team will face in just a few weeks when they head to College Station.

This is our open thread for today’s practice. You can tweet pictures to us @Bruinnation, write a fanpost with words and/or photos/video, or share them in a thread or Spaulding Report. This is our community and the more we each share the better.

Go Bruins!!!

On Tuesday evening, as Oregon Ducks wide receiver Devon Allen chased gold in the 110-meter hurdles in Rio at the Summer Olympics, Texas Longhorns wide receiver John Burt cast a wistful gaze southward.

You see, Burt wants to be where Allen is in four years — competing for his country against the best hurdlers in the world.

Last week, the sophomore admitted that it wasn’t realistic to expect to have a shot at competing for this games with so little prep time out of high school and so much work left to do, but he’s already thinking about and preparing for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

And after becoming one of two freshman to make the NCAA Championships in the event this year, it’s still a lofty goal, but one that increasingly looks attainable.

When the Tallahassee Lincoln product ended up recommitting to Texas late in the 2015 recruiting cycle after flirting seriously with the Auburn Tigers, his track future was a side note as his football future loomed brighter following a senior season that showed serious growth as a wide receiver.

Then Burt ran a personal-best 13.56 110-meter hurdles as a senior at Lincoln, which would have finished second in the 5A UIL state track meet to Kendall Sheffield that year, a notable accomplishment since Sheffield was a nationally-recognized hurdler.

Burt did so even though he competed in numerous other events, too, including the high jump, which he won in the state of Florida, and the 100, 200, 300 hurdles, 400 relay, and the triple jump.

Yet, even after Burt led the ‘Horns with 457 receiving yards last season, his track season was hardly highly anticipated.

No matter — there was Burt running a 13.98 on the higher collegiate hurdles at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship to finish in second place.

There was Burt qualifying for the NCAA Track and Field Championship after running a personal-best 13.91 in Lawrence several weeks later.

He just keeps getting faster and faster, driven by the competitive nature that defines all great athletes.

In 2016, the automatic qualifying standard to make the US men’s Olympics team in the 110m hurdles was 13.52 seconds, a full .4 faster than his current personal best and well behind the 13.38 that Allen ran in Eugene. Want to count Burt out, though?

Just consider where he was two years ago and where he’ll be four years for now.

But other than paying attention to the performance of Allen and Burt’s Texas teammates down in Brazil, it’s time to focus on his sophomore football season on the gridiron.

Burt will embark upon it following an impressive performance in the Orange and White game this spring that included a 66-yard touchdown catch echoing his 69-yard touchdown catch against Kansas and 84-yard touchdown catch against Kansas.

In new offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert’s system, the aggressive approach to calling downfield passes will help showcase the rising track star.

“I like how a lot of the routes are vertical,” Burt said last week. “A guy with my speed likes to get down the field so that’s one of the things I really like about this new offense. It gets a lot of our different playmakers the ball. I really feel like this offense is really going to be something to look forward to.”

There are still question marks about whether senior Tyrone Swoopes or freshman Shane Buechele will win the starting job at quarterback, but there’s no question that Burt will be a favored target whether it is Swoopes or Buechele who wins.

Burt will fill that role as a better football player than he was last season because of his track experience as a freshman, even though it limited his football reps during spring practice.

“Even in the spring while I was still running track, I could already feel that I was faster on the field when running my routes and that sort of thing,” Burt said. “Yeah, I think track really helped me in that area.”

That’s a scary thought for opposing defenses and a heartening thought for the chances of Burt becoming one of the breakout wide receivers in college football this season and perhaps even a future Olympian in 2020.

The Arizona State Sun Devils continued its preseason preparations today outside on the Kajikawa practice fields. The media was allowed to view stretching in addition to individual and 11-on-11 drills.

Mixing it up:

During the “takeaway” period, ASU offense and defense flipped roles as the offensive coaches worked with the defense and vice versa.

Some of it went along just fine:

Some of it… less so:

Saturday scrimmage:

Head coach Todd Graham said the team will conduct a scrimmage on Saturday and that it will be a “big evaluation” for every position, most importantly the quarterback battle between Manny Wilkins and Brady White.

“It’s been very competitive, but Saturday will be a huge evaluation for the quarterback position as well as every other position,” Graham said.

Graham is putting an emphasis, as always, on turnover ratio and is looking for which quarterback takes care of the ball the best. When asked if either QB is putting any distance between the other, Graham said:

“Sometimes when they walk on the field, there’s a little bit of space in between them. That’s it.”

So that reveals a lot.

Injury update:

Junior defensive back Mo Chandler and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jalen Harvey were both in green but participated in most drills today. Neither were seen during the team period. Redshirt senior Laiu Moeakiola and redshirt senior Salamo Fiso were not seen while the media was at practice.

“We’ve had a lot of, not major stuff, but a lot of missed practices and stuff on the back end,” Graham said. “We just got to get some steadiness there.”

Two-minute Drill:

Media viewed a couple series of 11-on-11 today. The defense worked in a nickel set for a portion as well.

First-team offense:

QB: Manny Wilkins

RB: Demario Richard

WR (outside): Cam Smith, Ellis Jefferson

WR (slot): Tim White

TE (slot): Raymond Epps

LT: Evan Goodman

LG: Sam Jones

C: Stephon McCray

RG: Quinn Bailey

RT: Zach Robertson

First-team defense:

DT: Ami Latu

3-tech: Tashon Smallwood

Devil: JoJo Wicker

SAM: DJ Calhoun

SPUR: Koron Crump

WILL: Christian Sam

Corner: Kareem Orr, Gump Hayes, Tyler Whiley

Bandit safety: Chad Adams

Field safety: J’Marcus Rhodes

“I feel like I needed to show people that I haven’t gone anywhere. They’ve got me here; I’m still going to bring something to the table every game, and that it’s finally time.”

Ohio State H-back Dontre Wilson via Tim May, The Columbus Dispatch

Expectations were high when Dontre Wilson came to Ohio State from Texas as a four-star recruit in 2013. Now entering his senior season in Columbus, the hype hasn’t quite materialized for Wilson, but the hybrid back still has one season left to prove himself for the Buckeyes. When he first committed to Ohio State, many saw Wilson in the mold of Percy Harvin, who head coach Urban Meyer coached at Florida. Not only have injuries slowed Wilson in his first three years at Ohio State, but also there have been other offensive options who have emerged during that time. Last season Braxton Miller got a lot of the snaps at H-back after he switched to the position from quarterback before the season.

Now with Miller, as well as a number of other starters from last year’s Ohio State offense now gone, Wilson will try and make the most of his senior season. The key for Wilson will be if he is able to stay healthy throughout the season. In 2014 Wilson only appeared in 10 games, and last year he was only healthy for nine games. Not only does the coaching staff know that Wilson still has plenty to offer on the field with his explosiveness, but Wilson feels the same way. During this offseason Wilson has posted a number of videos to Twitter, showcasing him getting ready for the season, and reminding everyone else of what he brings to the table. Throughout his college career, many Buckeye fans have been waiting for Wilson to break a big play with his speed, and if he is able to stay healthy fans might get to see that a few times during his final year with the Buckeyes.

“Coming in I was pretty decent at pass blocking. I was better than most running backs coming in at the high school level. I’m getting better. I’m going against Raekwon McMillan, Dante Booker, guys that are gonna get me better at pass protection. We go at it every day and it’s really making me better.”

Ohio State running back Mike Weber via Bill Landis, Cleveland.com

Not only does Mike Weber have big shoes to fill when it comes to what Ezekiel Elliott did with the football in his hands, but he is also tasked with trying to measure up to Elliott when it comes to pass protection. One of the most overlooked parts of Elliott’s game the past couple years was how well he was able to block in the backfield and give his quarterback extra time to make reads. Pro Football Focus found that Elliott was used 108 times last year as a pass blocker and of those times Elliott only allowed one quarterback pressure. While it might be hard to imagine Weber excelling as much as Elliott did in pass protection, Ohio State is still going to need a strong effort from him if they have any designs on winning the Big Ten and making the College Football Playoff.

Early returns on Weber’s blocking have been good, as head coach Urban Meyer says that Weber and Curtis Samuel are the two best blocking backs in the program, but they aren’t quite at Elliott’s level yet. Weber knows that he’ll have to continue his early success, and if he doesn’t Meyer wasn’t shy about saying that he won’t play if he can’t block. Since Weber isn’t as good of a blocker yet as Elliott was, it may force the coaching staff to tweak their game plan, putting a little more pressure on the tight ends and offensive line. A big bonus for Weber is he gets to practice against talented linebackers like McMillan and Booker, which should help him improve his blocking even more as the year moves on.

“My teammates really helped me push through it. I’m looking forward to this year. It’s a new year, I’m healthy and I’m ready to go out there with my guys again.”

Ohio State wide receiver Noah Brown via Chris Cullum, Ohio State Athletics Communications

Much like at running back, Ohio State lost some key contributors at wide receiver from last year’s team, and will be hoping some new faces can help pick up the slack after Michael Thomas and Jalin Marshall left for the NFL. One of those faces is Noah Brown, who likely would have seen significant playing time last season had he not missed the season due to a leg injury. So far the returns on Brown heading into this year have been glowing, and he is likely going to play a big role in a young Buckeye offense.

After missing all of last season, Brown is hungry to get back out onto the field and contribute. The biggest difference that Brown’s teammates have noticed heading into this season are with his hands, which quarterback J.T. Barrett likened to “suction cups”. With over 80% of last year’s receptions being made by players who aren’t on the team anymore, if Brown’s strong training camp work can carry over into the regular season, he’ll likely

“We don’t feel any pressure. Preparations (have) been year-round, and we are ready to meet any challenge we experience this year and put in a lot of work.”

Ohio State defensive end Sam Hubbard via Nicholas McWilliams, The Lantern

Heading into this season, there are plenty of questions about how Ohio State’s defense will respond after losing so many starters from last year’s team. The biggest hole the Buckeyes need to fill will be the one left at defensive end by Joey Bosa. Luckily for Ohio State they have two very talented ends that saw some success last year in putting pressure on the quarterback. Sam Hubbard and Tyquan Lewis combined for 14.5 sacks last season, but some of that was due to the extra attention that Bosa was given by the opposition. The duo already got a little taste what life without Bosa was like last season, when Bosa was suspended was not only suspended for the season opener against Virginia Tech, but also when he was ejected early in the Fiesta Bowl to close out the year.

Big things are expected from Lewis and Hubbard this year, and they should be able to live up to those expectations after getting to work even more with strength coach Mickey Marotti and defensive line coach Larry Johnson in the offseason. Now that it has been announced that defensive lineman Darius Slade will be out for the season, even more pressure will be placed on the two defensive ends to continue to create the pass rush that was seen from the Buckeyes last season. Even more than their play on the field, both are also expected to be leaders for some of the younger Ohio State defensive linemen coming in, one of which is Joey Bosa’s younger brother Nick. The two are happy to take on their leadership roles and if last year’s performance from the duo is any indiction, Ohio State’s defensive line should be able to create pressure in the backfield and allow the rest of their defense to make plays.

STICK TO SPORTS

It’s not because he changed his name, is it?

Jalen Dread

Sophomore
Lineback
5-10 / 220
Foley, AL

Recruitment

A three-star linebacker for 2015, the Foley native didn’t get the kind of attention from SEC schools you’d expect for a Alabaman, which may have stemmed from a season ending ankle injury his junior year. Other than South Carolina, the only other serious attention came from Southern Miss.

That said, per 247Sports, he was the 35th best player in the state for his class.

College Career

The majority of Dread’s freshman season was spent on special teams, where he logged 10 appearances.

However, all signs point the sophomore has one of the harder work ethics on and off the field after earning All-SEC Academic Honors as well as being awarded as the most improved freshman on the Gamecocks defense last season.

Hopefully that gets rewarded with playing in the upcoming season.

2016 Outlook

Not much as been said, written, and for that matter, read about Dread this off-season, but that doesn’t mean he won’t produce for one of the Gamecocks strongest units in 2016. As of yesterday, he got some reps with the second team defense at linebacker during the first public practice of Fall Camp.

With that, could the sophomore be on the rise?