With one month until kickoff and only a few days until camp, it's a good time to set expectations for each squad.

Quarterbacks:

Clearly Katz is next in line for the job. Arriving on campus early and getting the extra seasoning (coupled with his solid performance) locked him in. I'm comfortable with Vaz as a backup. Lomax is interesting. The only news you ever hear about the guy is how well he's performing. People who judge QBs on the eye test always say that he must add weight. Well, if the line does their job, not really. Lomax is someone I think we'll enjoy watching by his senior season. Consistent, heady play trumps athleticism.

Grades:

Starter: B

Depth: B-

Running Backs:

The backup RB situation is uncomfortable. Neither McCants nor Stevenson strike me as guys who can step in and keep the offense churning. Both have shown glimpses of decent play in non-pressure situations, but pretend Quiz goes down game 1. Can these guys carry the Beavs through a season? No.

Grades:

Starter: A+

Depth: C

Wide Receivers

Like most pundits, I like this bunch.
The top four are, in order: Rodgers, Wheaton, Nichols, and Bishop. I'm curious to see what Kevan Walker can do. Munoz appears to be a good possession receiver in the making but probably won't see the field until next year when Nichols graduates. Mitch Singler is a walk-on to keep an eye on.

Grades:

Starters: A

Depth: B
 

Tight Ends

Halahuni is a prize down the seam who will make life easy for the WRs and RBs. This is a luxury the team has lacked since Newton graduated. Jonathan Reese red-shirted last year, so if Halahuni goes down I imagine he'd step in as the pass-catching TE/H-Back. The other guys are solid blockers.

Grades:

Starter: B+

Depth: B-

Offensive Line

This is where I expect the most shifting during fall camp. Most media reports list Philipp, Johnson, Linnenkohl, Ellis, and Remmers as the starters. Phillip and Linnenkohl are future pros. The other three guys are walk-ons. It's a top-heavy line. Johnson and Remmers had nightmare series and games last season, the worst of which cost the Beavers a victory versus Arizona. I actually like Ellis better than both of them. Watch for Grant Enger. He is not even being mentioned anywhere at this point, but I expect him to be a surprise, much like Linnenkohl came on at this point in his career a few years back. Remmers and Johnson are weak links, and if someone plays well enough to surpass either the line will be better for it. The three players poised to make a push are Ryan Pohl, Grant  Enger, and Josh Andrews.

Grades:

Starters: B+

Depth: C+

Special Teams

Johnny Hekker drags this unit down quite a bit, and I still have no idea which field goals Kahut is going to make or miss. Additionally, Justin cannot sniff a touch back. Good coaching will mask some problems but not all. Tackling (with the plethora of safeties on the roster) and the return game should be excellent.

Starters: B

Depth: C

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It's interesting, because when thinking about the upcoming season I figured offensive firepower would be a given, but when I objectively grade out the units I realize that might not be the case. Of course there's a synergy in football, and an A+ RB could boost the on-paper-value of a B+ line. That's what great players do. It's clear to me, more than ever, that Quiz needs to put this team on his back the first four weeks while the greenhorns acclimate.

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. -Plato

And so here we are, late July, 2010, on the verge of a new epoch in college football: the era of "TV markets", stadium attendance, and recruiting violations. And the questions must be asked: who is to blame and who wins and who loses?

Many in PAC-10 land are embracing Larry Scott as a boy wonder. A marketing genius from Harvard who has come west to save the pariah conference from…gasp…irrelevance. As if the conference would ever be irrelevant to an Oregon State alum, or a Stanford grad, or a Condom driving daddy's Hummer to a Lindsay Lohan intervention. In other words, to the people who matter (i.e. actual fans of the conference) it is and always will be relevant. The story should end there. But it doesn't.

In humanity's perpetual desire to expand until we explode, Scott is pushing sacred boundaries in the name of good capitalism. "But each school will receive x-million more!" a happy Beaver cries. "Larry Scott has saved Washington State!" dreams a Cougar on his Palouse farm. "Eureka!" shrikes a Ute, so loud Archimedies furrows his brow before croaking a second time. In their new-found worship of the money god, what fans fail to ponder is the cost.

When I was studying at OSU, we learned of something called "existence value" of open spaces. In short, it was the value gained by, let's call him "human being xyz", in simply knowing something exists. For example, I may never go to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but the pleasure gained in my knowing it is there (and I could go) is enough to justify preserving its purity.

I know I can't be the only person who, despite the millions of dollars gained, feels something more valuable has been lost. Larry Scott has puddled with a prideful conference's history, rivalries, and essence. Larry Scott has chipped away yet another piece of my youth, innocence, and ideals. What is the tipping point where the product is so sterile and contrived that I cannot watch at all? How many years off is it? And all for what? Ego? Larry Scott pasted his face on the new PAC-10 website. Larry Scott got his name out there. "He's doing what he was hired to do", some will argue. Sure. And that goes back to my original question: who is to blame? Fans cried for Tom Hansen's head. Now we have Larry Scott's face…everywhere…and Larry Scott's hands…meddling in…everything. Might we not look back, as people often do, and regret what we wished for? Utah and Colorado. Is that what we wanted? Much like Midas and gold, everything smart, middle-aged, white men touch turns to shit. They've now infected College Football in unprecedented numbers, and the outcome will be no different. How long before student athletes are paid salaries? You're already hearing rumblings, fellows.

And one final thought: where will all these executive decisions leave the Beavers? If you've been on this earth longer than fifteen years, you know executive decisions always favor the rich and oppress the poor. Right off the bat you can see the conference will have the same number of D1 recruits to select from, only split 12 ways. Just look to MLB pitching staffs to see the detrimental effects of watering down a product. The Beavers will not be able to compete in this conference. And don't think the conference is done at 12. Just like Karl Marx wrote, capitalism will thrive until there are no markets into which it can expand. I foresee a day, in the next fifteen years, when the Beavers seriously consider an invite to the Mountain West Conference. Due to the academic reputation of the PAC-10 and OSU's priority on research, they'd never leave (though it would be a wise football move). Which answers my final question: who are the losers? The losers, of course, are the Cougars and the Beavers. In other words, when the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Cheers to a job…done, Larry Scott.

The Bridge Program begins next week. I went through the directory to see who isn't yet enrolled. It's a long list, one that includes 5 of the best prospects from the 2010 class.

1. Shaydon Akuna

2. Thomas Molesi

3. Fred Thompson

4. Scott Crichton

5. DJ Welch

6. Mana Tuivailala

7. Malcolm Marable

8. Dominic Glover

I have it on good authority that Molesi and Tuivailala never make it to Corvallis. Akuna's odds are 50-50. Considering Akuna and Molesi were arguably the top 2 recruits last year, their inability to qualify could be devastating to the program. If all the players on the list above fail to quality (which won't happen), that would be a class of 8 recruits. To take some chances makes sense, but to take this many chances when there were only 17 scholarships available is football suicide. In Riley you trust? Cross your fingers, Beavlettes.