Nicebeaver, pinch hitting while Angry is out for a bit.

Wanted to take a few minutes to talk about a conversation I had yesterday with a current S/A being recruited by OSU and his family.  I was at a family Christmas party over the weekend and the S/A and his family are close friends of the group. They come every year.  This year he is a highschool senior who has been testing the waters at various programs.  He is also a bright kid, who doesn’t need football to get into school, but he loves playing the game and is interested in playing at the collegiate level.  I only mention this to set up the context of our conversation.

During our chat, the recruit’s dad talked about a trip they had taken down to OSU over the summer/fall, while touring various local colleges.  Oregon State was almost an afterthought, but they wanted to check out what OSU’s engineering college had to offer. They toured the campus and instantly fell in love with the school.  Then, they spent the next few days at the coast.  On their way back, they decided to visit campus one more time to see if they could peek around at the athletic facilities.  I suggested they reach out to a couple of the recruiting coaches and see about getting a tour possibly.  They reached out and were quickly replied to with an offer to visit for the game that day (Idaho St). Unfortunatley, due to work obligations they couldn’t, but they were invited back for several games later in the season.

Before leaving town, the family also decided to take a look at the basketball facilities (their freshman daughter is also a talented athlete who may be a college hoops player in a few years)

The coaches told them to go look around. Doors should be open if they want to have a peek inside.  The family walked over to the practuce facility and were greated by one of the wbb assistant coaches.  They also met a track and field coach.  Quickly, their daughter fell in love with OSU too.

The common theme throughout our conversation was how accomodating, friendly and outgoing the entire athletic department was at OSU.  They had been to WSU recently as well, for a recruiting visit.  They described the WSU visit as more of a cattle call, where you were rounded up and herded from place to place on your visit, and rarely received any face time with any coaches.

At OSU, they received nothing but respect and great treatment from everybody.  It really made an impression.

Later, on another OSU unofficial visit(Civil War game), they talked to position coaches, academic advisors, the recruiting coordinators and Gary Andersen himself even took the time to chat with them prior to the game. (They never even saw coach Leach at WSU) Again, reinforcing their positive feelings about the OSU program. They have come away from the experience thouroughly impressed with the culture being built around Oregon State athletics. Top to bottom, they love what they are seeing at Oregon State (and not just in football)

I know this is only one family’s experience, but I think it helps paint the picture of what is currently being built at OSU.  Yes, we are going to lose some recruiting battles.  That is to be expected when, on the surface, you see a program that is struggling to win more than a few games per year.  But, for those of us a little closer, we are starting to see a solid foundation being built. With time, as 3-4 win seasons turn into 6-8 win seasons, I believe you will start to see more of those recruiting battles swing in our favor just like the games.

Just wanted to share with you all, because I found this all very reassuring that Oregon State is doing things the right way, in the eyes of those who take the time to look.

Also we’re heading into the stretch run with recruiting soon. Dead period ends in mid January. From there, we are likely to see a flurry of activity as desperate teams will host their final rounds of visitors and teams will try to poach recruits.  I have no doubt OSU will lose 1 or 2 guys, but I also think we will see some new names pop up that haven’t beem mentioned much before.  Hopefully we can close strong. Fortunately, our first 5 guys are already signed and make up a solid core to build the class around.

Talk about recruiting or whatever floats your boat. Things should be fairly quiet for the next two weeks and then really pick up.