OSU Beavers WR Anthony Gould Says He’ll Play vs San Diego State And Talks Early Kickoffs

By 750 The Game Staff

The Oregon State Beavers (2-0) host the San Diego State Aztecs (2-1) on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on Fox Sports 1 at Reser Stadium.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Anthony Gould previewed the matchup with the Aztecs and talked about why he likes playing in games with afternoon kickoffs during his weekly appearance on John Canzano’s Bald Faced Truth, presented by Jamba Juice.

But first, Gould updated his status for Saturday’s game, after missing last week against UC Davis due to an undisclosed injury.

“I probably need to tip-toe around that, but I’ll be playing this week,” Gould said Friday on 750 The Game.

The degree to which Gould will see the field remains to be seen as he returns to action, but without him last week, Oregon State turned to fellow receiver Silas Bolden as their punt returner vs UC Davis. Bolden took a punt return 65 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to help propel the Beavs to a big 55-7 victory.

“It was just awesome to see,” Gould said of his position-mate taking one to the house. “Silas hasn’t gotten a kick his way this year, and it was just a cool thing to see that for him being able to experience that and put that on film; but also for the guys. there’s ten other guys that are blocking their tails off, so that we can even get a chance to return it. And being able to celebrate with all those guys, it was awesome.”

Gould said special teams is a point of pride within the Beavers program under special teams coordinator Jake Cookus, so that punt return score was particularly enjoyable to watch.

“It just goes to show how guys are bought in on all three phases,” he told Canzano. “A lot of teams, there’s  guys that don’t really want to play on special teams, they look at it as a negative. But that’s not how we do it at Oregon State. If you’re on (special) teams, that’s your job, and you got to take your job serious. It’s just a great time for Silas, and the whole team and everyone who is out there, being able to experience that, because it doesn’t happen often.”

As for the matchup with San Diego State, Gould said there are some similarities and differences in play-style between the Aztecs and Oregon State’s first opponent, fellow Mountain West foe San Jose State.”

“The defensive scheme they run, just like San Jose State, they’re a well-coached team, they play hard,” Gould said. “That’s what we’re going to get every week. They run some stuff differently defensively. Special teams, they have a good punter over there, and kicker. So it’s a little bit different. But as long as we go out there and execute and do our job, I think we’ll be alright.”

Saturday’s game kicks off at 12:30 p.m., a welcome start time for fans, media, and athletes alike, Gould included. When does his gameday routine start?

“Really, as soon as you wake up,” Gould said. “With the early game tomorrow, it will be wake up, eat some breakfast, then straight into meetings and walk-thrus, then really just tightening up the details for the game. And then it’s straight to the stadium, warm-up, and you play. So it goes by pretty fast. But it’s pretty nice cause you’re not in the hotel all day just sitting there watching other people play or just laying around all day until six or seven when you’re playing. So the early games are nice cause you just wake up, eat, and it’s straight to ball.”

The Beavers are 24.5-pt favorites against the Aztecs on Saturday at Reser Stadium and visit Washington State in the Pac-12 opener next Saturday.

Check out Gould’s appearance below, presented by Jamba Juice.

John Canzano delivers the Bald Faced Truth afternoons 3-6 p.m. exclusively in Portland on 750 The Game.

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