Owa donning an orange polo.
Is this some variant of the hat switch/trick?
He would be the cruelest man alive if he takes it off and there’s powder blue or red underneath. He doesn’t strike me as that type of guy, so this is looking surprisingly optimistic.
This kid is either the biggest troll ever or a Beaver…
UCLA. What a disappointment.
Punch in the gut. That orange shirt had me big time. Drat
Yep, UCLA.
Proves two things:
1. I was correct in saying Owa is a dick after his “I can’t see myself playing there” comment. Now the orange shirt? Come on, dude.
2. Academics have become huge in recruiting. See my writeup here: http://angrybeavers.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/academics-and-recruiting/
Without improving academic reputation we’re going to continue to lose a lot of these battles. That is exactly what this one came down to. Not Slick Rick, but academics.
2. Why didn’t he continue to pursue Cal further then?
Well, he’s gonna have to face the Beavs 4 times, and the Huskers twice. Hopefully the Beavs offense sustains and the Huskers Offense keeps improving…being in Huskerland, it will be forgotten for a couple years, then it will be brought back up, and it will be a point the Huskers and their faithful to shut him down. Huskers have done a pretty good job recently of getting after those that dissed them…though at least the kid didn’t really reneg.
Because Cal does not have a commitment to education within their football program. There are self-starting types who garner national academic accolades within the program, but the majority of kids barely get by if they manage to graduate at all. Those self-starters could make the grade anywhere they chose to school though. When you see people like Myron Rolle receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Florida State this should be pretty apparent.
And yeah… Owa has six games in the nest four years he probably won’t like being in… add Cal, UO and USC to that list… plus there’s no guarantee that Weasel will be there for his whole college career.
That aside, UCLA is a very good school. Unless you’re considering one of a dozen scientific endeavors I would say they outpace OSU in academics. And they have a very good support structure for athletes. At least they did 40 years ago when my father graduated from there. But even he knew OSU was where to go for his graduate degree.
I can’t argue with the decision, but the orange shirt and no official visit just kinda made me feel like a token.
Graduation success doesn’t equal quality of faculty and classes I know, but UCLA trails Oregon State and Nebraska for GSR (2009) which would mean to me that the latter schools do help their footballers just as well.
UCLA – 51
OSU – 57
Nebraska – 72
I’d say if he is a self motivator not needed help, then he could just go to Cal and get that Berkely Ed….if he’s looking for support…his other choices don’t look to bad. Wonder if any cultural differences had a play too. Oh well. Later Owa. I just hate NuWeasel too. He’s scorned the Pac 10 (UW) and the Big 12 (Colorado), my two teams most hated rivals!
Again, none of this matter. The only thing that matters is the first word that comes to mind when someone mentions a school. That is it’s reputation. And when someone says Cal, UCLA, Stanford, or USC I think “education” first. Sorry. If I had offers from OSU and UCLA I would have chosen UCLA, too.
USC?
Law school… yeah.
But… USC?
Jack, I’m not sure what to tell you, but I think of higher academics coming from USC. They do have a more difficult admittance process and market what academics they do have. The California school system does well in that regard. Living in SB, I know so many idiots who go to UCSB, but it has an amazing academic reputation. Are the students smart? No. Definitely not.
Jack, it doesn’t matter who has a better graduate program. All that matters is national perception, also known as reputation. The Beavers have an average to bad academic reputation by those who are not Beavers. You can argue all you want about engineering programs and such. If you ask the average man what he thinks about OSU he’ll likely tell you it’s middle of the road. Same guy will be in awe of UCLA. The failure to land Owa falls on the institution and it’s failure to raise the school’s reputation. Riley did all he could. Owa wanted academic reputation should his football career not pan out. That is valid. What isn’t valid is wearing an orange shirt. It makes the man an eternal dick.
Actually, graduate studies are what drive a scientific university. Those with highly rated peer reviews are targeted for new funding. And the people driving the studies are the same ones teaching the undergrads.
But I know what you mean by reputation.
When you think of the really big money coming into schools, you have to look at the business, law and political science departments. There’s no coincidence that professions driven by sales (or a like mentality) are the same ones selling their alma maters.
And business is the most common degree pursued by athletes.
I was definitely not expecting him to come to OSU but that shirt definitely started to give me (apparently false) hope.
I really don’t want to dump on this kid since I don’t know anything about him but it seems like wearing an orange shirt was a pretty classless move. I’m new to this whole recruiting thing though so perhaps that type of thing is the norm. Maybe he didn’t think it would be a big deal but it just seemed like an unnecessary jab to us Beaver fans.
At least Akuna didn’t bail on us and Mannion seems like he will be good. Overall this is pretty disappointing though. I’m a fairly new Beaver fan so maybe my expectations are out of line.
The more I think about it the more it seems like I was just reading too much into it and it’s just my frustration that we can’t land big players playing out.
OT: Anyone going to the men’s basketball game this weekend? How cool would it be to sweep the Ducks?
I’m going to the game this weekend. I want to walk around campus and see what’s going on as well… see if I can see the facilities upgrades and catch a glimpse of future construction.
And I think Akuna was a huge get even if it was a bit anti-climactic. He and Bibbee are two of the strongest kids I’ve ever seen for their size. Add to that Akuna’s ability to pursue the ball and shrug off blocks, and we’re gonna need a suitable nickname for this kid probably next year.
Although I can see the stadium rock with chants of A-KUUUUUUU-NA.
DICK MOVE OWA. Anyways this mana kid sounds eerily similar to Stephen Paea, was a rugby player that switched to football and hes super strong. (“guys run into him, and he just tosses them.’’-Quote from his coach)
It’s hard to say that. What if the guys running into him are 5’5 and 120lbs?
Ok lets not get carried away…he isnt playing in middle school…
Still… he does sound promising. From the Monterey paper’s write-up it sounds like our coaches were all over him early. 6’7″, 280# is nothing to sneeze at… especially with scrum skills.
Soma Vainuku is still out there. Apparently he likes USC, ASU and OSU… maybe in that order. But the other two haven’t offered yet. He has good enough grades and I believe I read that his SAT was at least D-I qualifying if not good enough for certain schools. The problem with his grades are his core courses. He needs A’s and B’s to end HS qualified. Late February is a key time for him since mid-terms will give everyone an idea of how he’ll finish. His sister defends the hell out of him on blogs, and it sounds like his grades are stellar thus far. Since he’s scheduled to visit this weekend, I wonder how he’s leaning. It has to sting a bit since USC and ASU don’t trust the kid on academics.
I should say the current USC staff… without Rocky Seto and maybe not caring about the kid now.
Owa will get what’s coming to him. Inevitable sanctions, a coach who is fired in 2 years, a struggle up the depth chart, and 4 loses to the Beavers. Here’s to hoping this guy has a career ending injury day 1. New public enemy #1 of this angrybeaver. Hey, remove the orange shirt and I’d be rooting for the guy.
Angry, you know I read your stuff because you say it well, but I will often disagree with you. And as upsetting as it was to see and hear Owa say UCLA, to put in print that you want a career ending injury on day 1 is JUST WRONG. Come on man, he is a kid who did not think his attire properly. And if you are joking I did not get it from your post. Everyone reading your stuff loves the Beavs and hates it when things don’t go our way, but don’t hate on a kid period. And worse (if possible) to do it in print.
And for the record, if he went down on day 1 I’d probably feel bad for the guy. Part of being able to make that type of comment is knowing it’s likely not going to happen. It’s a good way to let out aggression at a grade-A scumbag. If anyone deserves to be paired with slick Rick it’s this clown.
Paul, I think you’re underestimating. You’re telling me that wearing orange on a day based around school colors was an honest mistake? That is so naive I don’t know where to start. He lives in Oregon; he had OSU in his top 3; he knows Orange is the school color. Come on, man! It was a new play on the old hat trick, only with a shirt. So if a player demands that type of disrespect then I’ll give it to him.
That is why you are the cynic and I am the fanatic. You are likely right that he was making a point, I just don’t want to see injury associated with it. And yeah, I hope we kick the living crap out of “his” team and him when we play.
Cliff is reporting Molesi won’t go on a mission.
“DT Thomas Molesi will join the Beavers in July and not go on a Mormon mission, Riley said.” http://cliffkirkpatrick.mvourtown.com/
I know some were speculating he would RS a year and then go. Does this mean he won’t go on one ever or just isn’t going on one this year (meaning he might still go on a mission after this year)..?
I saw that. I don’t think anyone knows. Someone should ask, though. Log in over there and tell Cliffy to ask.
His plan was to play his 1st year then go to his LDS mission. By play his 1st year I actualy mean play and not RS and I think the coaches think he’s good enough to do that.
Kind of like Nomani, and he never came back. I wish these guys would do their missions later in life. That is what retirement is for!
Yeah Nomani didn’t come back, but there are players who have done these missions and did. LB Vave and both the Unga brothers and OT Garner.
It’s all really up to him once he’s done with the mission.
I wonder how much Seantrell Henderson will enjoy playing against him at USC.
But the best news of the day which will directly affect next year’s team…
http://www.idahopress.com/news/?id=29741
That’s one less Duck to worry about. I wonder how much Tennessee’s schedule had to do with the hire… a lot of spread options on that list.
Makes the BSU game easier and UOs harder when they play UT the next 2 years. Wilcox I think was probably the best coach they had other than of course Peterson or at lteast that’s wha I always read when BSU coaching is mentioned.
Wilcox was on my short list of hires if Riley left. He is great.
Great write up by Eggers:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=126525330711243100
Riley is a nut.
lol he had to have known. jerk.
I did not like the orange shirt letdown either. Also, he should have atleast had 3 hats out so some kids in the country could have seen OSU in the mix for one of the most coveted recruits. We will have to just beat them on the field like we usually do.
“I choose, University…” well we’re out.
It was a double whammy because I saw “Owa Wearing Orange”, got giddy, skipped down to the video link to watch the video as opposed to read the posts first, and watched most of it up to where he started talking…. ugh.
Glad we got Akuna though. This press conference was still even in true Beaver fashion, you almost want to write something off as reality, but then ‘something’ happens to get your hopes up… can’t help but observe that.