Oregon State’s quarterback job is still wide open as camp moves into its third week, and coach JaMarcus Shephard isn’t pretending otherwise.
Braden Jones, Maalik Murphy and Brady Atkinson are all in the mix, and Shephard made it clear Monday that the race has not narrowed to one front-runner. The sophomore Atkinson has spent the last couple of days making a strong push, but the coach said Murphy still looks like a quarterback who understands the offense and knows where to go with the ball.
“Brady Jones over the last couple of days has really taken a leap forward because of how he’s just owning the offense in terms of attacking,” Shephard said. “He’s downhill making block to stop doing that so he doesn’t get hurt.
Maalik has his moments where he’s really, really taking command of the offense. I tell you what, guys, it’s a pretty tight race right now.
It’s a really tight race. And so I’m looking forward to seeing who emerges over this next week and a half.”
Jones, a senior transfer from Western Michigan, played in five games last year for the Broncos and made three starts. He spent the previous two seasons at Riverside Community College and threw for over 2,000 yards in 2024.
Atkinson was not mentioned in Shephard’s first review of the quarterback battle. When asked specifically about the sophomore transfer from Mercer, Shephard said he “is right there at the front of the pack with all of them.”
“He’s having a great camp. He’s doing exactly what we’re asking him to. He’s mastering the offense and his understanding of it, so I would say he’s right there in the trenches with them,” Shephard said.
Shephard described it as a true three-man fight and said it could belong to anyone.
“It is really a three-man race right now. I’m not trying to pull your leg and be facetious or any of those things. It is truly a three-man race and it could be anybody’s opportunity.”
Offensive coordinator Mitch Dahlen said earlier in camp that analytics will play a big role in the final decision. Dahlen said having those numbers is useful because “you take the emotion out of it.” Sometimes he sees how a quarterback performs in real time, but the tape and the numbers tell a different story.
“At the end of the day, I look at who’s moving the ball,” Dahlen said. “When we say analytics, it’s not yards.
It’s not, ‘Oh, you had 20 completions today. Way to go.’
No, it’s, ‘Did you finish in that new end zone with the new beautiful turf that looms?’”
Shephard was also asked whether this battle would keep going on a week-by-week basis once the season begins. He said it would not.
“I would say that once we name a starting quarterback, that’s who our starting quarterback’s going to be. We’re going to give him every tool, every opportunity, everything to give him the chance to be successful,” Shephard said.
Along with the three veterans in the mix for the starting job, the Beavers also have freshmen Isaiah Arriaza and Danny Geary in camp. Arriaza was on campus for spring practice. Geary, who played at Nelson High in Portland, did not participate in the spring and is making his debut during training camp.
Shephard was asked about his expectations for Geary in his first college practice. Those expectations were basic.
“I just want him to not forget the motions, the snap count, remember which way to turn to hand off the football. And then if you can learn a little bit about protection, that to me is what your goal is for our freshman quarterback, especially when we have three older guys that are in a heated battle right now,” Shephard said.
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