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Bunch of Stuff and Portland State Pregame

By
angry
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76

Ryan Nall will be a RB eventually, H-back this year if he doesn’t redshirt.

“Ryan will eventually be a running back, but with our depth, it’s going to be hard to find him time there this season,” Riley said. “The most likely place for him to play this year is H-back. I told our coaches to practice him there but to also keep him up to speed at running back. As the season goes, we’ll decide whether to play him or redshirt him.”

OSU coaches envision the 6-2, 240-pound Central Catholic grad as a bruising, fast back, perhaps along the lines of ex-Beaver great Steven Jackson or former Stanford standout Toby Gerhart.

“Ryan is powerful, with good feet and a knack for running,” Riley said. “He has the heart for it. He wants to do it, and we’ve liked what we’ve seen.”

I’m okay with that. I felt LB was the best fit, but I had TE and RB right behind that. I don’t see why they can’t play him on both sides of the ball? I’d do LB primarily and then RB for short yardage and goal line.

Some huges basketball recruits visiting this weekend, and the Beavs have a legitimate shot at every one. I’d rank the likelihood of committing in this order: Tinkle, Thompson, Bruce. Drew Eubanks will be visiting, but he already committed. Great offer sheet for him.

Their profiles:Stephen Thompson, Tinkle, Bruce. Wayne Tinkle is doing a great job so far. Apparently all you need in order to recruit to Corvallis is….to actually try recruiting to Corvallis. Shame on Riley and all the fans who fall for that crap excuse.

No pre-game thread for Portland State since we know the Beavs should clobber them but likely won’t, with the outside shot of National embarrassment. What else is there to say about that game?

 

76 COMMENTS

  2. Nall had a knack for finding the endzone last year when running the ball. Had 19 rushing touchdowns and averaged 13.2 yards per carry on 112 attempts. I’m glad to hear he’ll eventually be competing for time at that position.

    Regarding hoops recruiting, we can’t deny Tinkle and Thompson being related to the top 2 targets in the class makes it easier to recruit other top talent. Does Drew Eubanks come here if we don’t stand a good chance to get those other 2 guys? (ok, maybe because of the baseball team he still would have)

    Riley has been able to bring in some pretty good talent through personal relationships such as the Seumalus and bringing in Quizz to play with his brother. But you can’t build an entire football team around 1 or 2 players as you can in basketball.

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  4. I don’t like Nall at RB. I think there’s enough talent there in the near term, and it’s not a position that is difficult to recruit for effective players.

    Even Riley said Nall’s best position may be at LB. Why not just put him there and redshirt him? I could understand if the concern is that at MLB he comes off the field too much against the PAC offenses OSU faces these days. But isn’t he fast enough to play OLB and stay on the field? And then get the occasional RB rep?

    I think a program like TCU would turn him into an effective OLB and pass rusher, but I can’t see Riley optimizing him. See Angry’s chess-analogy thread that talks about how Riley uses (or doesn’t use) players…consider that Riley’s biggest and most diverse adjustment has been the addition of the fly sweep, borrowed from Linfield, but “simplified because Linfield ran three versions of it.” Hell, BSU was running it before OSU went up to Linfield to get creative.

    For Saturday, I’m starting to think Riley throws the ball a ton, and we see the same pattern as last year. The rationale will probably be that the receivers have been unsettled due to nagging injuries in camp, and “they and Sean needed to get on the same page. Plus our Oline had a number of nagging injuries and never had time to gel to get good at run blocking; we’ll work on the run game as they get healthier…” yadda yadda yadda.

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  5. There’s only 3 available scholarships if Oliver ends up enrolling (he’s not on the roster), so the only way I think this works is if Tinkle pays for his son out of pocket. Luckily, even out of state tuition isn’t too bad at OSU. It would make sense, since Tres Tinkle hasn’t actually gotten an offer.

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    • Interesting theory. Is that even allowed by the NCAA? Seems like it could be considered pay for play. Tinkle could be getting a bump in salary to offset tuition costs in a sort of wink wink nudge nudge deal. I’m guessing it wouldnt be allowed.
      Anybody hearing anything about Chai Baker’s status and if his condition will affect his ability to play ball going forward? If doctors decide it’s not safe, there’d be another spot.

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      • Don’t people on staff at OSU get free or drastically reduced tuition for their family? I know other schools do this. Seumalo, Perry, Cav, and maybe others have kids in school.

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        • Employee dependent tuition benefits are allowed by the NCAA for employees/staff who have been employed full time for five-plus years. Otherwise that benefit would count as a ship toward the sport the dependent plays. He can still walk-on and pay full rate. And his tuition would be in-state after his father lives and works in Oregon for a full six months. Doug McDermott was a walk-on for his senior year so they could make room for another kid who got a sixth year due to injury. Or maybe he was a walk-on his junior year. I can’t remember now.

          Point is… Isaac Seumalo can walk-on and his father can get him reduced or zero tuition without using a ship on the football team. They would still need to pay room and board on their own. Tinkle (or Thompson) can’t do that until five years from now.

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          • I did google it… last year or the year before when McDermott was reported as a walk-on. I think I found the info on John Infante’s blog.

            You got me.

            And… once again you also DIDN’T successfully navigate the google machine to seem less intelligent than I really am?

            Oh snap?

            Heh heh… humor logic is fun.

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          • It seems there were parts I forgot about this situation and the rules:
            http://www.athleticscholarships.net/2013/07/02/sorting-through-creightons-waivers-and-scholarships-2.htm

            Tres is being recruited like any other kid, or so everyone has said thus far. And he’s met coaches other than his father face to face. So there is no way around the rule that says an “unrecruited” walk-on who is also an employee dependent can receive those tuition benefits. And I don’t think he’ll redshirt, so that rule is gone too. It would be disingenuous anyway, despite it being compliant… at least now that we’re this far into the process. If they had been planning all along that Tres was going to play for his father come hell or high water, then I’m sure they would have known of these rules and planned accordingly by actually being compliant. But then you get stuck without the benefit of someone like Tres getting involved with assistants and helping to recruit other kids.

            There still is no rule which prohibits him walking on and paying full attendance. That’s certainly more viable for a head coach than it is for an assistant, not that assistants are paid poorly.

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  8. Agree regarding the recruiting points made here. Adding to Casey, Tinkle provides another example that one can recruit to Corvallis in a competitive men’s sport. I think its due to Tinkle’s vision, ability to articulate it, and his enthusiasm; players respond to that. However, I think the recruiting points are actually under-emphasized. Need to keep the pressure on and try to get people to stop letting Riley off the hook.

    Additionally, I’m interested in how BDC manages the coaching staffs of different sports. Is anyone aware if there much interaction between them? I suspect they are all extremely busy, but there should be effort to create time and place where Casey and Tinkle’s examples are right in front of Riley and hopefully influencing him in a positive way.

    It will be great to see an enthused, competitive, probably well-coached team in Gill again with a supportive, enthusiastic crowd. Looking forward to that and hoping the recruits enjoy a great weekend on campus. Responsibly of course….

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    • “Agree regarding the recruiting points made here. Adding to Casey, Tinkle provides another example that one can recruit to Corvallis in a competitive men’s sport. I think its due to Tinkle’s vision, ability to articulate it, and his enthusiasm; players respond to that. However, I think the recruiting points are actually under-emphasized. Need to keep the pressure on and try to get people to stop letting Riley off the hook.”

      I think this was the kind of statements made when Robinson was hired. CR did recruit much better than the prior coaches, he just wasn’t able get them to play well together. Nelson and Collier were top 100 recruits. Tinkle will have to prove he can get these top recruits to play well with each other.

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        • Agree with you both. The point remains that recruiting to Corvallis is not only possible, its demonstrably achievable. Robinson could recruit. Casey can. Tinkle apparently can. I don’t recall excuses from them.

          The attendance will take some time, but I Tinkle provides justifiable optimism that it will happen. He’s also making a concerted effort to be visible on campus and be part of the OSU community, and I think that will help.

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          • You don’t recall excuses from any of them because:
            1. None of them make/made excuses for recruiting.
            2. None of them open their sales pitch with said excuses, thus planting that seed in a recruit’s mind from the outset.

            While it seems we’re most frustrated with #1 most of the time, that’s only because pollyannas are all over the place parroting this nauseating theme. But it’s really #2 that we’re most upset about when it comes to football.

            If you’re selling me a product and overstate its value I’m going to call you on it after I do my research. But I will still consider your product because I can see at least you have a passion for it. If you straight up lie to me, I’m out. If the first thing you say to me is, “My product isn’t as good as every other product out there, but I think you would find it’s a really good fit for you…”

            … what am I supposed to say?

            Call me when you find your identity?

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    • The list of coaches who can’t recruit is …Riley. Scott Rueck is killing it, too. Beavs always have good wrestling, decent soccer, etc. I don’t know enough about the sports beyond that, but to me it seems it’s Riley who can’t recruit. Now granted he is competing for talent in the #1 college sport so that will be more cut throat. That should be the argument rather than it’s impossible to recruit to Corvallis. The more valid argument is: college football recruiting is cutthroat, and Riley has a tiny nutsack so he can’t compete.

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  9. I’m going to a game this year. What do you guys think, USC or Stanford? The USC game costs over twice as much. I’ve never been to that stadium. Is it worth it?

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    • I decided on Stanford b/c LA traffic blows, and my brother is up in Palo Alto area so free lodging. I hope the Beavs are doing well and the game means something. I haven’t been to a Beav game since ’09 up in Corvallis.

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      • I made the trip down to The Farm during the 2012 season and it was an extremely entertaining game, actually the past 3 games against Stanford have been pretty entertaining. I thought the atmosphere at Stanford was very subpar, for a game that featured two top-15 teams there was a ton of empty seats and did not really get loud until late in the fourth quarter. Get ready to ready to hear about all the olympians and all-americans that have attended Stanford, it’s a pretty long list.

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    • Being down here I go to one of the LA games each year. UCLA is waaaaay better in terms of location. The parking is I on a golf course so the tailgating experience is awesome. Plus SC ( the Colosseum is in a crap part of town. But were going anyways.. Just wont get there as early to Tailgate

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      • And Mizell says Haskins will have more TDs. With what sounds like an NFL mentality, Garrett has said we will find the opponent’s weaknesses and exploit them. That means to me we have four RBs with different skills who can run by committee. Brown is easily the most capable of scoring anywhere on the field. But Woods has the experience and skills to be that third down and goal line back who can also catch one and cross the line. Ward is our steady workman who will find a way to make everything positive. Haskins does have the skills to cover some of these, but he will be spared the heavy lifting for now.

        If we’re exploiting every weakness we’re running all four at the D at various times. And there should be nothing the D can do about it since what we’re doing is exploiting their weaknesses. So they can run anyone onto the field to counter whatever RB subs in because they think our RBBC is that specialized. But it shouldn’t matter because the play they think we’re running is happening because we’ve identified it as one they can’t stop.

        Of course, that means we would have to take running the ball seriously.

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  13. In case anyone was wondering what colors your supposed to wear tomorrow, it’s an #OrangeUnite game lol

    They’ve announced that the team will be wearing orange jersey and are asking fans to guess what the rest of the combo will be on Benny’s twitter. Seems a little too ducky to me

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    • My bad. I guess they switched it to #UniteOrange because #OrangeUnite has been used for other things too much already. Who hates hashtags…

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    • It’s very ducky, but you can win free tickets to the SDSU game for guessing, so i did. So far I’m going to 2 games this year for free because of giveaways. wouldn’t mind a 3rd.

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      • You might get to go to the same amount of games you would’ve with your season tickets, but for free. Good luck! Riley flashed up a picture of the White lids nicely hung up for the game with a shout out to the equipment managers. They gonna go White Orange White?

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    • Gimmick aside, if they wear white pants/orange jersey/white helmet it ought to look pretty good considering the options. The white helmet color schemes look pretty good on tv…still not sold on the logo itself though.

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  14. Another Oregonlive article about the OSU basketball recruits visiting this weekend. Calls them our “Fab Four”
    Not much new here since it’s mostly regurgitated from other recent articles, but Bruce is quoted as considering going here, and his ranking among other high school players have been steadily increasing in recent months, nearing top 100 level.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2014/08/could_oregon_state_land_its_ow.html

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  16. I’m just all warmed by Gwachum going DE. Aren’t you all? If only I would have had the foresight to proclaim this the best position for his skills… five years ago.

    I’m happy he’s finally there. But did it really take four years to figure out that was where he belonged?

    Cue the pollyannas who say the coaches just know better.

    Now I wonder about Nall. I don’t like him at LB. I think he would be good there. I like him at FB situationally. Play him like a Tom Rathman in the red zone. But I also like him most at DE.

    He is a rare, game-changing talent with size. And him at DE would be devastating.

    I’ll revisit this when he’s redshirting is junior year due to a knee injury he got as a RB.

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  17. Any chance we see reverse creamsicles tomorrow? White lids, orange tops, black pants? Moneyline has been swinging to white lids, orange tops, white pants. I prefer orange lids and tops with black pants.

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  18. 1) Why the talk of Nall? Nothing angsty, but am I missing something? Is he a game-changer?

    2) OT – Angry: If its not too intrusive, how have you been since the procedure?

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