The Oregon State Beavers will play their first game of the Trent Bray era on Saturday, when they host the Idaho State Bengals at Reser Stadium. Bray held his weekly news conference Monday ahead of the season opener, discussing his decision to start Gevani McCoy at quarterback, how his first game as a head coach will compare to his first game as player, Jam Griffin’s role and much more.
Here’s a transcript of the question-and-answer session:
On Gevani McCoy winning the starting quarterback job:
“It was real close all fall camp. And just kind of the last week, Gevani was just on a big uptick and kind of separated himself a little bit. And so that’s kind of what led to the decision to go with him.”
Did he do anything specific to separate himself?
“Yeah, he started making the plays we need him to make, the comfort with the offense, and then doing stuff with his legs, which is what we like about him in the first place. Not only his ability with his arm, but the ability to make plays running the ball when things break down. And that’s kind of what we saw that last week.”
Is there a plan for Ben Gulbranson and Gabarri Johnson in the first game?
“Absolutely. Ben, again, a great quarterback. We know we can win with him. He’s going to have an opportunity. Same thing with Gabarri. So there’s a plan and that’s kind of what coach (Ryan) Gunderson’s going through right now, (figuring out) what exactly that looks like.”
Was it an easy decision? Difficult decision? What were your conversations with Gunderson like?
“It was tough, because it was close. It was a good battle all fall camp. And then when we look back at the whole body of work and kind of who was trending up, that’s kind of what eventually made that decision for us.”
On Idaho State:
“Offensively, they spread you out and they do a lot of good stuff in the pass game that can cause problems. Defensively, they’ve got a unique defense — that three-high safety. So it’s going to be unique and something that can stress a defense and an offense. So we’ve got to be ready to play. And I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for the Big Sky Conference and at that level; there’s tons of good players down there. We played against them. I kind of grew up in the Big Sky when my dad was at Idaho. So a tremendous amount of respect for that conference and the teams in it.”
Saturday is your first game as a head coach. How will it compare to your first game as a player?
(laughs) “I’ll probably be able to answer that after the game. But, just excited. Anytime the season starts, no matter what position I’m in, it’s just excited to get out there and go and finally play and watch the guys fly around.”
