Senior Jake Luton will be the quarterback when Oregon State opens the season on Friday against Oklahoma State.
Head coach Jonathan Smith announced his choice of Luton, a sixth-year player who has missed time with injuries during his college career.
Luton was selected over redshirt sophomore Tristan Gebbia, a transfer from Nebraska.
“It really started in January, the work he put in, the body of work from spring practice and fall camp,” Smith said, per The Oregonian. “I will say Tristan really made it tight the last week and a half. But we felt at the end of the day, Jake deserves to go first. I still feel confident we have two guys we can score points with.”
The 6-foot-7 Luton started his college career in 2014 at Idaho, then spent time at Ventura Community College before landing with the Beavers. He enters the 2019 season having played 12 games (nine starts) at Oregon State, completing 223 of 359 pass attempts for 2,513 yards and 14 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Luton was limited to four games in 2017 due to suffering a serious spine injury during a mid-September game at Washington State.
The NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility in January.
While Oregon State has declared its starting quarterback, Oklahoma State hasn’t. Coach Mike Gundy hasn’t announced if it will be redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders or Hawaii grad transfer Dru Brown will be behind center when the Cowboys meet the Beavers in Corvallis, Ore.
