CORVALLIS – At the northeast corner of the Merrit Truax Indoor Center, Sumner Houston took a break from what has become his new post-practice routine.
Along with fellow center Yanni Demogerontas, the former defensive lineman fires off 50 shotgun snaps in order to perfect a form that he has not seriously honed since the third grade.
“I had two bad ones today,” Houston said Saturday. “Got to get it perfect.”
During an offseason in which surreal moments have become commonplace, the most jarring one came in the backyard of his family’s Northern California home.
At his exit meeting after last season, Oregon State coach Gary Andersen broached moving Houston from the defensive line to center, a position where the Beavers were thin.
So Houston started the transition by connecting with his older brother and former Wisconsin quarterback Bart Houston.
The older brother, who completed his NCAA eligibility last season, regularly took snaps from his younger brother like when the duo was in grade school. He gave his younger brother play calls, allowing Houston to snap the ball and determine side protections or running blocking. Sumner Houston did not know the blocking techniques he will develop throughout spring football, so he improvised.
“It was nice to bring back some good memories with my brother,” the younger Houston said.
Less than three months after rotating into the defensive front during the Beavers’ first Civil War win since 2007, Houston has been tasked with manning one of the central positions for an offensive front that most recently manhandled the Ducks.
Houston made 11 starts while playing all 24 games on the defensive line over the past two seasons. The 6-foot-2, 294-pounder had 13 tackles and one quarterback hurry last season, possessing the strength but perhaps not the size for the three-man front that will utilize the likes of 332-pound Elu Aydon and 317-pound Kalani Vakameilalo.
Defensive teammates said Houston was initially gloomy about the move, but he has since fully invested in battling his former position group mates in practice each day.
“Sumner will always be Sumner, no matter what position he plays,” Aydon said. “He plays to the whistle.”
Offensive line coach T.J. Woods said he had his eye on Houston for a while due to his intelligence, work ethic and strength. Woods has long been familiar with the new center’s family, as Bart Houston overlapped with him and Andersen for two years when they coached at Wisconsin.
Last season, Houston initially changed his number from 52 to 94 with the expectation that he could get some reps at tight end. But that number changed back during fall training camp. Oregon State needed to use Houston as an emergency guard when a variety of factors depleted the unit’s depth.
Houston never sat in on an offensive film session and was never needed in a game, yet impressed the staff with his adaptability.
Woods said Houston’s on-field experience would help with any jitters, but acknowledged the transition would take time.
“Other than not being nervous or scared when you’re out there, everything else is foreign to Sumner,” Woods said “… Other than the quarterback, nothing’s going through someone’s mind more than the center.”
Houston has benefitted from his defensive experience early on, using his background to determine which direction pressure will arrive from and avoid getting baited by disguises in the scheme.
But that background can only get him so far.
The construction engineering management major was moved in part because of his intelligence, but acknowledged struggling with the speed of the game.
Sumner Houston used the word “surreal” to describe the experience of snapping to his older brother for the first time since third grade.AP Photo/Timothy J. Gonzalez
A former two-way tackle at California high school powerhouse De La Salle, Houston said he has been getting play call help from senior guard Fred Lauina and working after practice with Demogerontas.
“Now I’m getting the tempo down,” Houston said. “I just need to do my calls a little bit faster.”
Demogerontas and Brayden Kearsley shared the center role in OSU’s first three games last season before a mass line reshuffling moved senior guard Gavin Andrews to center. Using the same five-man front, the Beavers rushed for a school conference record 474 rushing yards against Cal on Oct. 8 and closed the season with 310 rushing yards against Oregon.
Andrews has completed his eligibility and Kearsley left the team, leaving Houston, Demogerontas and redshirt freshman Nous Keobounnam to battle for the starting role. Starting sophomore guard Gus Lavaka praised Houston for his demeanor amid the switch.
“He messes up because we all mess up,” Lavaka said. “He doesn’t get down. He’s like, ‘All right, I got it. I’m good.’ … I feel like he’s way better than the first day he started.”
The process is still in its infancy with more than six months from the season opener against Portland State. Until then, Woods expressed confidence in Houston’s development as the new first team center retreated to the corner of Truax for 50 more reps.
“I promise you,” Woods said, “nobody cares more than Sumner Houston.”
— Danny Moran
dmoran@oregonian.com
@DannyJMoran
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