Wasn't January 21st supposed to be the biggest recruiting weekend in Oregon State history, with a chance to land the vaunted "Grant 4"? That dream has been picked away at during the past two months. It began with Grant advancing in their playoffs and having to cancel their Civil War trip. Then Sample committed to Washington, and shortly after that Moala pledged Cal. Recruiting services began to subtly break the news to Beaver fans. There were no threads about it, no outward declaration, no definitive answers to inquiries. They want you to buy memberships, after all, and bad recruiting is bad for business. We've been lead on once again.

So, here we stand, three days before another supposed huge recruiting weekend, and without a peep from anyone Moala disappeared from the visitor list at both Rivals and Scout. Sample remains on the Rivals visit list, but he's missing from Scout. The visit list is much smaller than originally planned, and barring last minute changes, it's been whittled down to:

• Torian White (*possibly changed his visit to 1/28)
• Puka Lopa
• Darryl Paulo
• Jaswha James

The newcomer offensive guard from Hawaii, Samson Kaleikin, will also be in town, in addition to two committed athletes, Larry Scott and Kellen Klute.

The fact that we had a viable chance to get all four Grant preps in town the weekend of the Civil War and failed to do so brings up what I feel is a great point of discussion: do you agree with the staff's strategy to bring recruits in late in the year so they can spend more one on one time with them?

Evidence clearly shows that recruits, especially from urban settings, are swayed by game day atmospheres, bustling social opportunities, and weather. "What evidence?", you might ask. Well, read quotes from commits to other Pac-10 schools to see what won them over. That's better than my trying to pursued you. Sure, some guys love the "family atmosphere", but they're not the type of players who can get the program over the hump. They are the complements to the cornerstones.

The staff needs to recognize the trend. The bottom line is that they had a chance to get all four of these athletes to Corvallis and by all reports have struck out. How many other athletes have they missed out on because the staff scheduled visits after the Army All American game? I do not know, but I think we fans need to start paying more attention and keeping track. Maybe Moala is keeping his visit quite because Cal is hanging a scholarship over his head. It's ugly out there, so that is a possibility. Or maybe all four claim publicly that they are in fact visiting. It doesn't detract from the fact that this strategy of last minute shopping is nerve-wracking, flawed, and based on the results benefits the competition more than it benefits Oregon State.

If our model is to be the Minnesota Twins of college football, as I claim it should be, is this the wisest and most efficient way to go about recruiting?

The comment section in the thread below is becoming extraneous, so let's use this area to talk about what transpired over the weekend.

Jabral Johnson tripped to Texas Tech, didn't like it, and sured up his commitment to the Beavers. This is huge news.

Beavs reportedly made up a lot of ground with Marcus Peters and Vi Teofilo. There's a buzz that Peters will commit.

Byron Moore enjoyed this trip and made good friends with James Rodgers, but the weather seemed to be something he couldn't acclimate to.

Rudolf Fifita will likely be a Beaver. Someone from Southern Cal posted in the comment area that he thinks Fifita is a real sleeper. I don't see it, but the guy claims to have seen him in person. He's telling me his only offer is New Mexico State because of an injury issue. 

Lamar DeRego visited Arizona and loved it. Personally, I'd like him to go there so we can open a scholie at a position of need.

Those are my notes. If any of you have anything else let me know.

The 14th and 21st are being dubbed as the biggest recruiting weekends in school history. The list for the 14th is somewhat impressive.

These are the Grade A recruits:

• Vi Moala (scratch, reportedly visiting the next weekend)
  
• Byron Moore
• Juda Parker
• Todd Pete Jr.
• Richard Mullaney

Next level:

• Marvin Hall
• Earl Foster
• Marcus Peters
• Vi Teofilo
• Michael Thomas (scratch, reportedly not visiting at all)
  

Then the rest:

• Rudolf Fifita
• Peter Ashton
• Justin Addie

Ashton, Mullaney, and Addie are already committed, so that leaves just Rudolf Fifita as the one dog in this group (watch him be the one guy we land). Nowicki canceled his visit, and Akeem Gonzalez has reportedly called off his visit due to the Beavs wanting him to play defense.

We need to land some of these guys. I don't want to hear stories on Sunday night or Monday about a surprise 0-star recruit who was in town and committed. That's what seems to always happen on big recruiting weekends. Then the big fish cut off contact and sign elsewhere a month later. I want to see some real change.

Biggest need of the group is Vi Teofilo. He's a solid OL, and we definitely need at least one more, especially a guard. After that, the two monster DTs. If we could get one I'd be thrilled. If McClure is going to Colorado, then we need Peters. There isn't a single true corner in this class. Juda Parker and Byron Moore are both excellent prospects. While not at positions of need, I'd take either/both in a heartbeat.

On a side note, the commitment of Lavonte Barnett went relatively unnoticed two weeks ago. He is a major talent, landing 16 sacks last season and passing Angry's eyeball test. Barnett is a 4-star prospect in my opinion. On the flip side, the Jabral Johnson is once again wavering (Texas Tech). He's the best LB prospect in this class, so this would be a huge loss, and he might take Zimmerman with him.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if the staff made any progress in recruiting. In past seasons, a weekend like this would yield no results. Let's let them do their thing and see if it's more of the same ol' disappointment, or if they've actually learned how to pitch the program. I'm planning for the former, but hoping (ah, there is that word again) for the latter. The pressure is on.