Rivals is hinting that the Beavers have landed 4-star DE Davon Moreland.
They're notorious for this type of bluff just to gain memberships, so don't get too excited until it's official. To be fair, we've been hearing about Moreland for almost two months now so this is somewhat expected and probably true. After the Harrah debacle we need good news and fast.
Update: Yep, the hints were incorrect yet again. It’s Jabral Johnson, who actually committed to the Beavers over three months ago.
Good one, Rivals…lol.
If this is true (I’m not sold), then I shall say: “One ‘M’ down, three to go!”
The source is good, but yeah, don’t hold your breath until it’s official.
I forgot Moreland was a DE/LB–for some reason I thought he was a DT. Still need a monster DT or two even if this is true.
We also need some real offensive linemen.
Also, if true I’ll have to admit I’ve been proven wrong about Keith Heyward. He’s become a solid recruiter. landing Cooks, Jackson, and Moreland…
You guys hear that Justin Wilcox may be trying to take Tosh Lupoi to Texas? God I Hope this happens!!! We would pretty much have Moala cause Lupoi is his primary recruiter for Cal.
That’s quite the leap, Warren. USC is in the mix for Moala as well. And Cal isn’t out of the picture just because Lupoi leaves.
The Grant situation is strange. I feel the Beavers probably could have had all four if they were able to make it for the Civil War–that was a great atmosphere. I have a hard time believing they’re going to commit after visiting in mid-January with nothing going on. These are city kids.
Rumors are still flying that the Beavs are right in the mix for all of them, but personally I feel they missed that chance. It’s strange how something like a HS team advancing in their playoffs could possibly change the history of OSU football.
Yep, the hints were incorrect yet again. It’s Jabral Johnson, who actually committed to the Beavers three months ago.
Good one, Rivals…lol.
More disappointment? I’d say so.
At least Johnson has one other Pac-10 offer, though.
I heard that Moreland still might commit before New Years. We can hope, right?
So no Moreland?
At least not yet.
Correct.
They hinted it was Moreland only to have it be Johnson, a commit since August. Go Rivals!
Do you guys see this as a sign the Beavers are striking out with more high profile recruits? The announcement of Johnson now seems strategic in that regard.
I think everyone who bad-mouthed him at the time needs to apologize to Kerry Eggers. Once again, he was dead on.
I asked my LA friend about Moreland, and there is still little to no chance that he goes anywhere besides SMU. He and Connor Preston have been recruiting SoCal kids hard for June Jones, and they are pulling them in left and right.
Meh. This class is already a wash- no real offensive linemen and defensive linemen = losses next year.
angry,
Putting all this aside, what do you think of Johnson?
I think he’s a serious player.
1. Great angles, pursuit, speed, and a solid tackler. Also has the prototypical frame for OLB, just needs to add about 10lbs without losing a step.
2. I’ll take any LB stoops offers–the guy knows how to recruit defense.
I like this LB much more than Desmond Collins.
Lol, sad attempt at knocking rivals. I read the same thing as you and none of the staff hinted the commit was Moreland, that was merely speculation of the subscribers.
Still three months late on something Eggers was right about from the beginning. I read a lot of comments aimed at Eggers that were just mean-spirited coming from what sounded like Blitz stalkers.
Sure, it looks like Eggers was right that early, but if you followed Johnson’s recruitment you would now he publicly confirmed his commitment to Arizona a month ago after his official. Riley didn’t give up though and they eventually got their guy. I highly doubt Riley and Johnson worked together to create an elaborate cover in which Johnson lied to Stoops and Co. only to reveil the truth a month and a half before signing day.
JJ Arrington… I’m just sayin’
what about that kid Jaswha James heard he’s picked up in the recruiting with Cal,U-Dub, and Arizona close to from his film i think he is a Beaver steal and possibly a MLB
Do you think Pete Carroll could bring a top 20 recruiting class to Corvallis?
A duffel bag full of cash is still a duffel bag full of cash in Corvallis or LA. (Just kidding…kinda)
I’m kinda liking the future O-line if OSU lands Torian White, call me crazy. Do we have any shot at Nowicki or Teofilo? They are visiting at least.
I would love Nowicki on Cav’s line. He just has that something that says, “Big hoss coming through!”
I like the sound of that. No doubt there is some potential on the bench, hopefully they will get an opportunity to produce.
BTW did anyone read this article? It was posted over on Pure Orange. It’s all hearsay, but still pretty interesting. The take home message of the article (for a beaver fan) is that Chip Kelly’s former player at New Hampshire is now a street agent working primarily in the South. He has “represented” Lance Seastrunk and Anthony Wallace who have now ended up at Oregon. Overall an interesting read if not the most reliable source, although I must say the author put in the work to write this article. Does Riley have any street agents on his speed dial?
http://recruitocosm.fantake.com/2010/12/10/street-agents-in-texas-some-new-competition-for-will-lyles/
Seastrunk’s recruitment was so shady. Remember his last second change of mind…to Oregon, out of the blue? Something happened. Hopefully sanctions are in their future.
Seastrunk was a lock to USC til Carroll left for the NFL. Maybe the success of another undersized Texas RB in Oregon’s offense had something to do with it?
His recruitment was real shady, no way he just liked them and out of the blue commits without something going down. I personally feel it’s just a matter of time before their program gets some big time sanctions. It may take a couple years but it will happen and I can’t lie I will enjoy every second of it.
I also think that NCAA violations and sanctions are coming for uo! It is only a matter of time, one thing that is true is they are definately NOT running a clean program! It is shaddy.
I noticed we’re in Cyrus Hobbi’s top 5, if we manage to get Nowicki, Torian White and Hobbi that would be quite the pull.
I’m surprised the Beavers made his top 5, I didn’t think they had much 0f a shot. Honestly, I think it’s down to OSU, ASU and Nebraska. I hope he commits to OSU and the Beavers can get Torian White as well. This class wouldn’t be half bad.
i think arizona st. is gonna get all the grant kids and arizona and ucla are gonna get one of osu’s commits torian white is either ucla or usc and Hobbi is nebraska all the way. the beavs top 5 players according to espn are dylan wynn, brandin cooks, jaswha james, storm woods, and daryl jackson which is not so bad maybe a late push for top 5 in conference if we can land Nowicki.
The Beavs have no shot with Hobbi unless they start dumping those piles of cash someone mentioned above.
That would never happen. Riley doesn’t have it in him to allow that to happen.
I get bad vibes from Hobbi. I have no basis whatsoever to dislike the kid. I just think ‘Tony Mandarich’ every time I look at a pic of him. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling he thinks he’s a PLAYA… and I don’t mean a beach.
Seriously, same here.
I don’t want to get into phrenology and all, but I feel ya.
Tony Mandarich was a First Team All American so if Hobbi is like Tony Mandarich I’ll take it. But just from looking at his picture he did look a little “off” but I just wasn’t sure exactly what it was.
There was an article on ESPN this morning about Christian Westerman showing interest in us… I think we have about a .075% chance but still nice to see your name in lights I guess.
More on Westerman: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/Richardobert/110903
And here’s an impressive video from a USC summer camp, where Westerman holds his own against USC defensive linemen: http://rivals.yahoo.com/video/recruiting-football/USC-Camp-Christian-Westerman-51247
Mike Riley — you should be in this guy’s living room, talking with his parents. NOW. You don’t have a bowl game, unlike many of the other coaches pursuing Westerman (including Chip Kelly). That gives you a big advantage. Bring Cav down with you. Have Andy Levitre give this guy a call. Bring Quizz, too! Full court press. Whatever it takes. Aim high. Go for it.
I think it’s a nice thought, but the contact period ended two days ago. It’s now a dead period for about two weeks. Arizona is Cav’s area, so I’m sure he has been talking to him in the last week.
I think it will be between Auburn and USC if he doesn’t stick with UT.
I don’t know why he would consider Oregon with their style of play. Westerman gives up all his leverage if he plays from a standing set. He needs to put his hand on the ground and drive to be who he’s gonna be.
All that said… wouldn’t it be nice to have an O-line of Westerman, Philipp, Andrews, Enger and Jackson? That line could make me an all-American RB.
if it makes no sense to go to oregon, it makes no sense to play for auburn (malzahn) either
I think his dad’s from Alabama, and his grandparents aren’t Tide fans come time for the Iron Bowl… if you know what I mean.
And Malzahn does two things differently. He doesn’t run the speed game, so his linemen plant most of the time. He also runs pro-sets about half the time… eh… maybe 30% of the time.
I heard he was a lock for USC before Carroll left, then he fell back on his relationship with the O-line coach at UT after that. Now that he’s been given the squeeze-ho, the boy is looking again.
I’m not saying he wouldn’t succeed at Oregon. I think Kelly is good enough to make any good or great athlete in his mold. The problem is that mold doesn’t work on the development of the player for anything but that mold.
Will Kelly be able to hold together a team that will suffer the same problems team after team has always suffered? When kids come for the glam and glitz, they expect the glam and glitz. That’s what they were sold, and they’re now entitled to it. Big names will come. The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
Can anyone explain to me why OSU is having OL issues? If Mike Cavanaugh likes to take 2 years to develop and mold OL recruits into what he likes…… Why didn’t OSU realize this 2 years ago? Basically, why does it seem they’re reacting, instead of being proactive? Another thing; Does it really take 2 years to develop OL recruits, or is that a Mike Cavanaugh preference?
Cliff Kirkpatrick at the G-T basically summarized it as this (paraphrasing):
OSU gets lineman that are large/effective where they are playing in High School, so they don’t necessarily have good technique;
However, they’re not large by Pac-10 (12) standards, so they need to both grow and learn proper technique.
I am beginning to think either Cav is overrated or has simply become ineffective. We hear more about his foul mouth and bear crawls than we do dominant run blocking or pancake blocks.
Nate McMillian said something interesting recently about the trailblazers: “They’re not responding to me.” I don’t think it was an indictment of their talent or his coaching ability, it was about the relationship. Implicit in the remark (to me) and the article was that if they’re not going to listen to him, a change will need to occur because the relationship is not effective for him, the players, or the organization.
I wonder if the same thing is happening to the OSU coaching staff. Sure, their laid back and the players like them, but are they responding to them? If players are responding and are ineffective (i.e. the offensive line), than its primarily a talent issue. However, if ineffective players are not benched, or are not replaced with more talented players, it becomes a coaching and recruiting issue as well. It was very disappointing to hear Riley say recently that the same O-lineman would return next year with the exception of the center.
“I wonder if the same thing is happening to the OSU coaching staff. ”
Nah…they were young and underskilled this year.
I might buy into your line of thinking if we hadn’t just come off a solid 3 year run and if we had had the same players for 15 years, like a professional team. Fortunately, the players cycle through in a period of about 4 or 5 years. That’s why coaches can stick around far longer than in the NBA or NFL.
It’s not that we didn’t see the problem coming.
Last year, we picked up just 1 OL commit, (though a couple more walked on and made the team.) But check the numbers before that…
2009 – 6 OL commits.
2008 – 3 OL commits.
2007 – 7 OL commits.
2006 – 5 OL commits.
The problem was, 2006 and 2007, we lost a bizarre amount of kids to injuries, junior college, position changes, mormon missions, lack of interest in playing football, etc…
We had 18 offensive linemen on the roster this year. Just 3 seniors.
I know I’m making excuses…but these kids were pretty young this year. Next year, we’ll be better and everybody will be calling our coaches a bunch of geniuses again.
What do you guys think of Vi Teofilo?
I like him a lot. He sustains his blocks well and is really physical, has a little nasty streak to him that I think Cavanaugh would like. It would be interesting to see what Cavanaugh could do with him. Says he visits the 14th of January isn’t that the same day as the Grant kids?
He was also a state champion wrestler too I believe. He’s the exact guy we need on the OL. If we could land him and Torian White, I’d be very satisfied.
I’m not buying the young o-line talk. With one exception, all of this year’s starters on the o-line played and/or started last year. However, all of them got worse, not better. It was so bad that by the end of the year we basically had to abandon the run game, which is pathetic. Its also why we looked so horrible on offense. We couldn’t run the ball and Katz was constantly under the gun. Unless we some changes to the starters next year, we’re in for more of the same.
angry,
If Christoph Bono doesn’t get any offers, would you be opposed to letting him walk-on? He has the intangibles, he is poised, and even though he’s not the fastest or the strongest, but he seems to make smart decisions. He also did great in the playoffs when they beat Centennial.