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Recruiting Defensive Tackle

90

Looking at the roster, the DTs are as follows:

  • Brandon Bennett
  • Andrew Seumalo
  • Castro Masaniai
  • Naali Robbins
  • Mana Tuivailala
  • John Braun

Braun and Masaniai are converted offensive lineman. Robbins and Seumalo converted defensive ends. Bennett is an unknown–there is absolutely zero film on the guy. Robbins has a low ceiling.

The Beavs have struck out with Visesio Salt. That leaves Josh Banks, an unknown, as the only JC option right now. With the passing of Thompson, it's imperative to move prized recruit, Issac Seumalo, to defensive tackle.

How I long for the days of average Pac-12 level DTs like Gerard Lee. Beavs can't even land a guy like that anymore, though.

However, Mike Riley insists he's content with the DT talent. My question: are you?

90 COMMENTS

  1. Is putting Seumalo on D-line robbing Peter to pay Paul though? Or do we have enough O-line that his non presence on O wouldn’t be felt as much?

    • There are five other linemen in the class. Weinrich, Bays, and (Gavin) Andrews are all top notch prospects. Even Mitchell and Eldredge look solid. Sure, Seumalo is the best of the bunch, but he projects great at DT, too, and OL is rich while DT is poor.

      Next year’s line would be: Enger, Josh Andrews, Sapolu, Phillipp, Kelly. That’s an upgrade over this years line, with the guys mentioned above waiting in the wings. I think they can and should move Seumalo. If Thompson hadn’t passed, then there’s an argument either way…but now it seems obvious.

      DT looks so weak. The team will continue to be bad so long as DT is weak. It is the most important defensive position and hardest to recruit.

        • To me, Gavin Andrews, Garrett Weinrich, and Grant Bays are all prizes. Josh Mitchell is just a notch below. Mitchell played some DT in high school, and was actually pretty good at it. I guess it’s possible he moves. Chase Eldredge is the final guy. He’s only a 2-star prospect but almost looks the best of the bunch–his highlight reel is a heavy dose of pancakes and domination. Needs to add about 25lbs, though–that could be why he’s projected lower.

          This is the best OL class I can remember.

          • I remember hearing something about Seumalo wanting to play OG, because that is what he likes the most. Let’s hope he can be mature and understand that there is no I in team.

          • went and watched chase’s tape. i LOVE how he finishes, even if some of the time its after the play… hard to imagine we are his only offer…

    • I think we have enough prospects and Enger and Andrews at OG that moving Isaac to DT would be a good move for the team. However his NFL potential is at OG. When you combine the fact that Riley is big into the whole preparing guys for the next level (whatever it may be) and the fact Isaac is a coaches son I have a hard time seeing him moved to DT even if it is what is best for the team. It would be nice if we could land a couple DT’s for sure.

  2. Riley was content with the DT spot before the death of Fred Thompson, but only in terms of HS defensive tackles. Since they were looking at JC talent, it’s clear that Riley wasn’t satisfied with the overall talent level. It’s revisionist history to suggest that he’s currently ‘okay’ with where we’re at in terms of talent.

    Personally, I think he was right to be ‘okay’ with what we had from the younger guys. Thompson and Castro would have started and there’s a lot of young depth behind those guys. Considering our needs elsewhere, signing another HS DT wasn’t the best use of precious recruiting spots.

    At the risk of being mocked, I’ll point out that walk-on redshirt David Vieru looked excellent all season and I expect him to be in the mix next year.

  3. I’ve seen some remarks in here that there were a couple of young players, former wrestlers like Vieru who looked good, and that gives me some small optimism. My concerns would remain though that the d-line is going to be too small, the lack of experience, and the barometer of their performance – did they look good in drills, did they look good against an atrocious offensive line?

    At the start of the 2011 season, I cautioned against the optimistic forecasts for OSU because people were basically saying “this team is better than last years” rather than saying “these players can compete against Pac-12 teams” and I urge that again. Consider the appropriate context – league competition. In that regard, the undersized D-line is cause for concern again. Riley’s still living in his vacuum if he things his young, undersized players already on the roster are the answer to the problem.

  4. How do you move a guy that has NFL prospects at O-line, especially with his dad on the coaching staff? Does Isaac have as good of a chance of a career in the league if he switches? You don’t get to mess with very many 4 or 5 stars positions before you stop getting any of them to come.

    I think it is highly likely that Isaac is pushing for starting position next year, he was almost able to get redshirt knowledge this year with his access to the program and practice time. I don’t know that the coaching staff will give that up.

    It makes getting a JC guy even that much more important.

    • I agree that he likely wont be moved. However I think a redshirt year would not be a bad idea. Enger and Andrews are a couple of our better O-lineman and I don’t think it is a given he will beat them out.

      • I don’t know. That is a good question. I have always just heard he projects out better as a OG. As I am not a scout I can’t tell you how he projects as a DT. DT’s do get paid more than OG’s usually though.

      • I was actually asking the question, like ean I do not pretend to be a scout. I’ve always heard more about him being projected as a better OG, as such I just don’t see a guy like that being moved. Even more so since the kid’s dad actually has a legitimate voice in the decision.

  5. I agree that losing a starter like Thompson changes the landscape and the priorities for a DT. But it still would not have been a High School DT that they needed to go after, it is someone that can make a difference now.

  6. We will suck on defense next year because of the poor recruiting at DT the past four years which continues in this class. MR and Banker have really screwed themselves……………..and the poor fans.
    Can’t beat the Ducks without pressure up the middle disrupting the fakes and reads. Another beat-down in the Civil War looms.

  7. A legit DT or two would be nice.

    Wasn’t Rosa moved to DT? He was mentioned after Castro went down, http://tinyurl.com/6obxhbb

    Sophomore Mana Rosa moves into the fourth spot of the four-man rotation at defensive tackle now that starter Castro Masaniai is out for the season with a broken leg.

    He’ll play behind starters Kevin Frahm and Andrew Seumalo, and the first tackle off the bench, Ben Motter.

    “He gives us some quickness in there,” Riley said of Rosa. “He’s a player who is rising.”

    • They better start feeding him yeast, because he better rise a whole hell of a lot. I do like saying his name. Kind of rolls of the tongue.

  8. Recipe equals change to 3 down linemen and 4 backers. Add 1-2 jc de/lb such as Marcus Pierce Brewster, Ruben ibarra or Tyrone Ward of SFCC to existing mix, add one nose tackle run stuffer and you have a decent Pac 12 front seven.

    • I agree, the smaller faster DL/DE’s will be better suited for the amount of spread offenses that are in place in the Pac-12 now. Oregon is no longer the minority on the spread…it’s become a norm or mix of pro-set and spread.

      • At the end of the state’s business hours Monday, there were 30 applicants seeking to be the next Hawaii head coach for football.

        UH did not release the names of the applicants, but the Star-Advertiser has learned that the list includes two members of the current Warriors staff in associate head coach Rich Miano and director of player personnel George Lumpkin, as well as Utah offensive coordinator Norm Chow, coaches from Oregon State, Baylor, Texas, Navy and an entry from an NFL team.

        • What’s funny about the whole situation is a lot of writers think Banker has a decent shot at the job, but Paul Buker keeps saying how it is a long shot at best. He seems to be rooting for Banker to stay at Oregon State. I don’t understand the logic there.

          Banker going to Hawai’i would be the best thing to happen to the program in years.

  9. Cousin of Obum at Mt SAC is the real deal and better than most D1 wrs. He looked great in state championship game beating a future D1 corner back consistently. Unfortunately he is being recruited by many of the bigs.

    • But with Obum being his cousin the Beavers still have a decent shot to land him. If he didn’t have a cousin on the team it wouldn’t look good. I’m hopeful he’ll be a Beaver.

  10. This may not go over well here but I admire Kelly for his dligence and gameday engagement. In fact, ever since he vaporized those Duck yobs when they were horning in on his conversation with Erin I’ve kinda liked the guy.

    • Damn, they didnt ask the right question. “Do you think it was a big mistake to give Riley a long term contract?…his performance dropped right after that and has continued to decline”

      Yeah, they didnt get stupid overnight, they just stopped caring about winning. Any change to even a coach who values winning would probably energize the team.

      Too bad they rose up and won 3 games.

      • The answer to that question is no because he wanted to keep Riley no matter what and he feels by giving a lifetime contract, he’ll have Riley forever! UGH! BDC HAS TO GO!!!

    • Ummmm….what?!!? Isn’t the purpose of an Athletic Director to DIRECT Athletics?! Directing means LEADING and leading turns to who leads your student athletes on the field and not leaving ALL hiring decisions on the head coach…Our problem isn’t Riley, it’s BDC. He has an attitude of, “Not my problem the football team sucks because I only hire/fire head coaches and if the head coach feels he has good people, then I won’t doubt him no matter how many games we lose and get humiliated in because that’s on the Head Coach…not me.” UGH!! Really?! No accountability by BDC and we expect Riley to be accountable?! Who is taking the blame if your HEAD COACH doesn’t take it!? Oh, that’s right…the players…So it’s not the people LEADING the players, it’s the PLAYERS not being able to perform on the field….hmmm…there is something COMPLETELY wrong with this picture…am I wrong here?

      • I think I must be in the minority here, but I agree with BDC that he has no business telling Riley how to fix his team. What does BDC know about football X and O’s? Athletic Directors are just administrators.

        I am fully in agreement with people on here that don’t believe he is administering very well. BDC should set the expectations. The metrics should be clear and they should be directly tied to $$. The ship has sailed for doing that in Riley’s contract, but it should be clear to Riley that if he doesn’t hit the specified metrics he will be let go. And the specified metrics should not be “some improvement”. I think it should include being no worse than top two quartiles in total offense and total defense and recruitiing or some similar quantifiable goals. At that point BDC should step back and let Riley manage, same with Robinson, Casey…

    • I hate the quote about us being one play away from a holiday bowl in 2010. That is total bullshit and he thinks it somehow rationalizes the two year decline. He has more quotes with the same sentiment, almost making it seem like he is trying to convince himself and the fanbase that it is nobodys fault were terrible, just some bad luck. I am not surprised nothing has or will change with this attitude.

      • I hate that phrase “they didn’t get stupid overnight”….CORRECT, it wasn’t overnight, they got stupid in ways discussed ad naseum on this blog over the course of several years and now a 3-9 season is the end result.

        • Another phrase I wasn’t too impressed with “We want to win every game we play,”.
          That “want” doesn’t show up on the field with any consistency under MR’s calm (comatose?) manner.

      • Notice how BDC says “one play away from the Holiday Bowl”, not one play away from a 6-6 season. Much different perception, clever way to mask mediocrity.

    • I agree with everyone’s sentiments, BDC has to go, he is simply a bean counter. He has been decent for balancing the budget within the department but he is not talented enough to be a good AD.

      It is interesting to read his comments on the Penn St. situation. He talked about black eyes for football and that student-athletes should tell someone and let the “adults” handle the situation. Not only is it condescending to the athletes, he is ignoring that the “adults” haven’t handled the situation at OSU in the past. Is he forgetting his botched handling of the women’s basketball program? That was the exact moment I started to hate the man.

  11. BDC is now on record that he won’t ask Riley to make significant changes this off-season. Riley has already said that he has no plans to make big changes.

    That means the only chance for real change this off-season is if Banker is chosen as the next head coach at Hawaii.

    If anyone from Hawaii is reading this blog — YOU GUYS SHOULD HIRE BANKER ASAP. HE’S FANTASTIC!

    • I really don’t think Banker leaving will ignite any change. Won’t Riley just promote from within? I mean does anyone think BDC is cunning enough to use the opportunity should it present itself to force Riley’s hand and make him hire someone with new ideas outside of the “family”? Count me as a skeptic.

  12. I guess the quacks will have to pull
    another horse out of their talented stable. We on the other hand can try to get our mules to act like horses.

  13. I was pretty disgusted when I first read the BDC article, but now I’m wondering if there might be a silver lining. This got me thinking:

    “Having De Carolis step in and looking for an evaluation is new. Riley developed a way of doing things that worked from 2003-2009, so it wasn’t necessary.”

    So in other words, expectations and accountability were not present 2003-2009. Shame on BDC, but let’s move on. If you have Riley signed for a lifetime contract that would be very onerous for the school to buy out, what do you suppose would be most effective to motivate him to perform?

    A: “Get your act together next year or your buddies are gone”
    B: “Your buddies are gone. Now get your act together next year.”

    We’ve said it a million times. Our coordinators aren’t that great, but Riley’s the root cause. Our coordinators with high expectations will vastly outperform our coordinators now. We’ve seen innovative playcalling; we just need to see it for more than 3 games a year. Similar situation with defense.

    Given that Riley’s sticking around, is a looming threat to the coordinators the way to infuse some passion?

    • BDC did have a good point…AD forcing coordinators to retire against the will of the HC puts the HC in a weird spot. That, coupled with a lifetime contract, could create a true lame duck coach who might legitimately lose what motivation he has remaining.

      • Irrelevant football programs put AD’s in weird spots! It’s a good point, but it shouldn’t have to come to that. HC’s should be the first agents for change when measurements/results indicate performance is not meeting expectation.

    • In regards to the evaluation stuff, I thought it was interesting that Cliff Kirkpatrick (Gazette Times) put greater emphasis on that BDC comment than Paul Buker at The Oregonian. Is Buker a Riley apologist?

      As noted by Alex above, Cliff points out that being “evaluated” by BDC is a first for Riley whereas Buker glosses over it and if I am reading it correctly and even makes it sound like MR is coming up with the process himself, so which is it?

      Is Riley evaluating himself or is BDC in his role as AD doing the evaluating of the prgram? I think it’s just half baked comments from BDC and nothing concrete has even been put into place or will be. Both MR and BDC are hoping to squeak out a 6-6 next year, minor bowl bid and shut us up.

  14. DT is a real issue. Can’t believe automatic playing time couldn’t lure a significant JC recruit to man the middle. Even if we do go to a 3-4 (which I doubt) we need some girth & force up there. Can’t win without it. This is really disapointing.

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