CORVALLIS — Plenty has changed about the Oregon State football program over the past eight months; both on and off the field.

But, as the Beavers kicked off the 2024 season with their first day of fall camp Wednesday at Prothro Field, first-year head coach Trent Bray was adamant that the expectations for his program haven’t changed despite a tumultuous offseason that featured a mass exodus of player and coaching talent.

“The physical talent is here. From a size, strength, speed standpoint, it’s here — we can win the games we need to win with the talent we have here,” Bray said. “Now, it’s just gonna be about how fast we can come together. How fast can these guys play?”

Bray was elevated as OSU’s head coach in November following Jonathan Smith’s departure to Michigan State. He served as the Beavers’ defensive coordinator for three years under Smith and now will be tasked with sustaining one of the more successful stints in program history. The Beavers went 8-5 last season, 10-3 in 2022 and ended both seasons inside the top 25 of the College Football Playoff year-end rankings.

With the Aug. 31 season-opener against Idaho State exactly one month away, Bray and the Beavers began fall practices under sunny Corvallis skies on Wednesday.

Fall practices will be open to reporters and photographers throughout camp, but reporting on injuries, formations and players who missed practice is prohibited by OSU officials. With that in mind, here are some notes and takeaways from the Beavers’ first practice of the 2024 season.

Oregon State quarterback battle takes shape

It’s no secret that the Beavers are in search of a new starting signal-caller following the offseason departures of DJ Uiagalelei and Aidan Chiles.

If Wednesday’s practice was any indicator, a name that is familiar to many Oregon State fans might be the early frontrunner to lock down the job.

Ben Gulbranson, a fifth-year junior who started eight games for OSU in 2022, looked the sharpest of the Beavers’ quarterbacks by a wide margin on the first day of camp. Gulbranson completed several deep, explosive throws — including a long touchdown to Trent Walker and a well-placed shot to Jhae Drummer in triple coverage.

“We know who (Gulbranson) is; he’s a great leader, a great teammate,” Bray said. “He just does everything you ask. Looking forward to seeing how he continues to progress.”

Gulbranson is competing for the starting job with Idaho transfer Gevani McCoy and Missouri transfer Gabarri Johnson, among others.

“It’s really going to be the consistency of running the offense and making good decisions,” Bray said of what he will be looking for from his quarterbacks throughout fall camp. “Who can do that on a day in and day out basis is really what we’re looking for.”

OSU revamps receiver room

For all the departures Oregon State saw up and down its roster throughout the offseason, it scored a few notable victories in the receiver department. Bray retained a respected assistant in longtime receivers coach Kefense Hynson and bolstered the position by adding former Michigan standout Darrius Clemons and four-star signee Jordan Anderson.

But the four receivers from last year’s squad who saw the most playing time (Silas Bolden, Anthony Gould, Jesiah Irish and Rweha Munyagi Jr.) have departed the program. In that sense, there will be plenty of playing time up for grabs in 2024.

Clemons, a 6-foot-3 wideout, failed to carve out a consistent role during his two seasons with the Wolverines. But he was a highly touted prospect coming out of Westview High School in Portland as a senior in the 2022 class and has the chance to be a go-to deep threat during his debut season with the Beavers.

“From a teammates standpoint, he’s just a natural leader,” Bray said. “He just brings that. The football part has yet to be seen because he’s only practiced today; he didn’t practice all spring. But, from a leadership standpoint, his work ethic, how much he studies — he’s always in the building — he brings a ton.”

Joshua Gray’s position switch for Beavers

Joshua Gray, arguably Oregon State’s top returning player from last year’s squad, was full-go during Wednesday’s practice and is in the midst of a position transition.

Gray has started at left tackle for the Beavers each of the last four seasons and is a three-time second-team all-conference selection. Despite generating plenty of NFL buzz last offseason, he put his professional career on hold and opted to return to Corvallis for a fifth year.

But, he has made the move to the interior offensive line and will spend fall camp repping at left guard and center.

“He wants to move inside, especially for his opportunity at the next level,” Bray said. “He’ll play guard and center for us and work that to make him more valuable at that next level. That will be learning a lot of new things about the inside position as we go through fall camp.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Gray allowed just seven quarterback hurries last season — the fourth-fewest in the Pac-12 among offensive linemen who played regularly. On Wednesday he was the last Oregon State offensive lineman to leave the practice field and was seen putting in extra work on the blocking sleds as Bray spoke with reporters.

“It will be easy for him,” Bray said of Gray making the move to the interior. “Coach (Jim Michalczik) did a great job all the time of teaching those guys all five (offensive line) spots. Coach (Kyle DeVan) does the same thing. So, that transition is not that tough. But it will take a little work physically.”

Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney

Oregon Ducks football is having a good recruiting year.

The Ducks are as high as No. 5 (On3) in the national team rankings and as low as No. 11 (247Sports) and No. 12 (Rivals). Those rankings only dipped recently with the decommitment and flip of four-star tight end Da’Saahn Brame to Tennessee.

Oregon still boasts a 2025 class of 14 commitments, two of which are five-star prospects: Dakorien Moore and Dallas Wilson. There are also 11 four-stars in the bunch.

So who is left for coach Dan Lanning and company to target that could push this class even higher before the early signing period in December?

Right off the bat: Trey McNutt. The five-star safety has been a big time target for the Ducks for awhile, and the Ohio native was even projected to pick Oregon at his originally planned commitment date earlier this month. He even made another trip to Eugene for Saturday Night Live.

But Texas A&M has continued to push hard. The Aggies brought in the talented rising senior again recently. Although Oregon remains the favorite, the Aggies are going to make the Aug. 3 announcement one to tune in for.

Five-star athlete Michael Terry was in Eugene last week but has also been in Austin (Texas) and Lincoln (Nebraska). This is another one where the Aggies are also in the mix. The Cornhuskers are getting some buzz—also tring to flip four-star wide receiver Isaiah Mozee—and the Longhorns are trying hard to keep him “home”, but the Ducks are still the favorite to pull Terry out of the Lone Star State.

Also looking at a commitment this weekend, four-star offensive tackle Juan Gaston out of Georgia is set to pick between the Bulldogs, Tennessee, and Oregon. The Ducks don’t want to lose another recruiting battle to the Volunteers in about a week’s time, and the in-state school of Georgia has plenty of pull.

Expectations are for Gaston to end up in the SEC wearing red and black, but he did call Oregon a “dream school”, so keep an eye out on Aug. 2.

Wildfires across Oregon have so far burned over one million acres. Although milder weather has brought some relief to firefighters, officials say they still have a long way to go.

As of Tuesday, there have been over 100 active fires reported across the state, 36 of them are large fires burning 100 acres or more. There are also five “megafires” currently burning over 100,000 acres.

Jessica Neujahr, a public affairs officer with the Oregon Department of Forestry, says the recent dip in temperature has provided some relief and allowed firefighters, especially in northern Oregon, to be proactive.

“We’ve had a little bit of rain and that allowed them to boost up some containment on some of those fires,” said Neujahr.

Firefighters battling the Durkee Fire, which is the state’s largest wildfire, have it 51% contained as of Tuesday. New mapping shows the fire has burned more than 290,000 acres. The Lone Rock Fire in Morrow County also saw an increase in its containment lines as officials reported was 77% contained Tuesday.

Despite the recent cool weather, Neujahr says crews still have a long way to go as wildfire season typically peaks in August. Temperatures are expected to rise, and dry conditions are likely to return by the end of the week, she said.

According to Neujahr, this wildfire season has seen a significant rise in human-caused wildfires. Statewide, there have been 567 human-caused fires which have burned over 170-thousand acres. About 357 fires were caused by lightning strikes.

“The best thing that people can do right now is to check their local fire restrictions to make sure that they’re not bringing a potential fire hazard onto the landscape,” said Neujahr.

Being extra careful and mindful of potential fire starters like avoiding driving over dry grass will help prevent new fires, Neujahr added.

Oregon, along with most of the Pacific Northwest region, remains on a national preparedness level five status, meaning the state has the potential to exhaust most, if not all, its firefighting resources.

Neujahr says officials have been pulling any available resources granted to them through the state’s emergency declaration ordered by Gov. Tina Kotek earlier this month.

This week, ODF pulled additional resources from the Oregon National Guard including ordering four hand crews and two medevac helicopters.

Type a location, such as Oregon or Washington, in the search box at the top right of the graphic below to see the latest on fires in the region:

“It is good for us that we’ll get more resources, “said Neujahr. “But it doesn’t change the fact that resources are still strained across the board.”

ODF and other firefighting agency partners have pulled nearly 10,000 firefighters from more than 20 states to help crews battle wildfires in Oregon.

“We’re really trying to protect our firefighters and our incident management teams,” Neujahr said. “This is very exhaustive work and they’re working immensely hard at trying to keep these fires as small as possible … We’re working towards longevity.”

Get the latest updates at the State of Oregon Fires and Hotspots Dashboard.

Durkee Fire

Location: Baker County

Size: 293,390 acres

Containment: 51%

Injuries: 3

Residences Destroyed: 4

Other structures Destroyed: 19

Falls Fire

Location: Harney County

Size: 142,307 acres

Containment: 69%

Injuries: 11

Fatalities: 1

Residences Destroyed: 13

Other structures Destroyed: 15

Lone Rock Fire

Location: Gilliam County

Size: 137,214 acres

Containment: 80%

Injuries: 7

Residences Destroyed: 3

Other Structures Destroyed: 90

Cow Valley Fire

Location: Malheur County

Size: 133,490 acres

Containment: 99%

Injuries: 1

Residences Destroyed: 2

Other structures Destroyed: 5

Monkey Creek Fire

Location: Umatilla County

Size: 110,414 acres

Containment: 10%

Injuries: 5

Residences Destroyed: 4

Other structures Destroyed: 6