Off-season Musts

1. Recruiting strategy (and results) must improve. We've been witnessing, on the field, the failure of the hidden gem approach. For example, a DE can't come into the program at 224 pounds and be asked to gain 60lbs and move to DT. Too much can go wrong (bad weight, can't keep weight on, loses agility, etc). We as fans get on the player when he stinks, but really too much is being asked of him. A perfect example of this is Kevin Frahm. I said this earlier in the year, but the fact that most of these "gems" don't see the field until their junior or senior year is a sign the approach is flawed. Fans need to realize that any coach in the conference could find gems if he was willing to invest five years of development. Most coaches realize the strategy is flawed, and most coaches go to better bowl games than Mike Riley. Does Mike finally address the elephant in the room? According to some rumors, he is making headway on the recruiting trail (with the help of Gundy), but I haven't really seen it come to fruition. In fact, this week we've seen the head-scratching recruitments of Blake Harrah and Desmond Collins, so it looks like rumors are just that, and it's more of the same.

2. Will the current batch of offensive linemen have their starting roles challenged, or will they be handed the starting jobs based on experience? It is a must that, based on on-the-field performance, they have their starting jobs yanked. Riley is extremely frustrating in this regard, starting experienced garbage over unproven talent time and time again. By the halfway mark sometimes he figures it out, but this year he did not. And then fans wonder why we have slow starts. Depth is one reason, but not having the right players on the field until game five is another. My fear is that next year the walk-ons (who are all juniors) will go into camp as the favorites to win their positions, and that is simply inexcusable. I do not want to waste another season sifting through garbage players from lazy recruiting classes. We did this with Pankey, and we're doing it with the basketball team. That is not fair; we are all getting older and wasting seasons begging for seniors to graduate does nobody any good.

3. Image crisis, new uniforms, cohesive logo. I wrote about this over a year ago. You can read it here and here. Sadly, image is important (almost everything). These things matter. How would you feel going on a job interview or a date in a t-shirt and shorts? The reality is that if you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you play better. A marketable, thought out, cohesive identity is a must. An all black matte and/or glossy helmet without the cartoon beaver would go a long way towards that. Remove the cartoon beaver from the center of the field. And finally, Benny Beaver needs an extreme make over. I suggest everyone write Bobby D on their own and express concern. I'm going to do my part and draft a petition to get ride of that cartoon beaver. Look for it in the coming days.

4. Game day atmosphere must improve. Saturdays at Reser…suck. The chainsaw, the bad PA announcer, the fact you can't bring noise into the stadium, the septuagenarians who prefer quiet sitting to raucous cheering or booing, that our mascot is boring and looks more like a rat than a beaver, that our mascot doesn't crowd surf, do anything interesting, or have any identity, that the ads on the Dam Cam show Dairy Farmers of America ads, etc etc etc. These are all major problems. The Civil War had an amazing, palpable atmosphere, but OSU fans have a deep-seated belief that the Civil War is the only game that matters. This isn't 1935. Fans need to get creative and create their tradition–heck, I suggest we start brainstorming right here. How can we make the experience as Reser better? Where is the creativity in this fan base? This problem is mostly on us.

5. Riley must play Quizz, Wheaton, etc in spring and fall ball. Stop pampering these players and coaching scared. If they get hurt so be it, but a major reason the Beavers come out of the gate slow is the players are unprepared in spring and fall ball. Can you expect a LB to tackle when he hasn't done so in almost a year? Riley rarely allows tackling and pampers his stars because of depth chart concerns, which as always goes back to his poor recruiting. He has an extra month or so to recruit this year. Get depth, Mike, and either have confidence in the backup or don't give him a free education.

6. The university must hire a sports psychologist. These players have their heads screwed on backwards because of all the illogical coaching mistakes; compound this with their bad offer sheets when being recruited and you have fragile players. I call this USC reject syndrome. It's a real thing.

A few other points I consider important, but not absolute musts at this point are getting more players involved in games, specifically at the RB position. Quizz receiving 99% of the carries is an absolute joke. Also, did the Beavers start conditioning themselves for the Ducks in week 12? Why weren't they conditioned to the max earlier? I saw them run out of steam at  TCU, Washington, etc. Yet, they waited months to do anything about it?

There are so many problems, but these are the ones I'd like to see addressed and with conviction. Next year we call for heads if the lunacy continues. Deal?