Cliff: Football news, in the community

category: OSU Sports

Cliff: Football news, in the community 3362Comments2010-03-09+15%3A01%3A54Cliff+Kirkpatrick

I caught up with Oregon State football coach Mike Riley on Monday about the latest on the roster. Check out the story in Tuesday’s GT. Comment on the blog if wish.

The Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis and the Beavers will conduct the fifth annual free OSU Youth Football Clinic to enable interested young people to learn football from some of the Beavers.

Boys and girls in grades three through eight are eligible. The event is planned from 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday in the Truax Indoor Center. Riley, his coaching staff and players will be there to teach football skills and running drills.

Registration is not required, but a $5 donation to help support the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis athletic scholarship fund is suggested. All participants should wear warm indoor/outdoor clothes and football or gym shoes. Approximately 350 youth from all around the Willamette Valley participate in the event every year.

On the wrestling front, here’s the lastest on the Beavers as they prepare for the NCAA tournament. The brackets come out Wednesday with the at-large entrants.

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3362Comments2010-03-09+15%3A01%3A54Cliff+Kirkpatrick

angrybeaver says:

March 9, 2010 at 3:44 pm

Regarding Ryan Allen:
"They have been looked at and talked to, to go someplace else," Riley said. "I don't know where. But they won't be with us in the spring. They have the ability to play, but were behind some people. I think they saw that."

What bothers me most about mainstream media is the failure to ask obvious follow up questions. Why is Hekker ahead of Allen if Allen can kick a ball better? Maybe there is a good reason, but "Hekker was here first" isn't one of them.

http://angrybeavers.wordpress.com

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- Ted0 says:
  
  March 9, 2010 at 4:18 pm
  
  Or maybe it's because Allen can't kick the ball better and/or is as consistent. Unless you went to the practices on a daily basis you probably wouldn't be able to tell that. Also there was nothing in RIley's explanation of Barker or Allen leaving just because other got there first.
  
  Reply
ckirkpatrick says:

March 9, 2010 at 4:17 pm

He said it there, and said it many times before, Hekker in his opinion is the better kicker and that's why he plays him. You want to know the answer, and that's it. Riley may be wrong or right, but his name is on the $1 million contract to make the decision. If he's wrong too many times, he's removed.

As for being critical of Riley on the punter, the media was in Hekker's freshman year with his painful growing pains. Since the 2008 Sun Bowl, he has been mostly solid. Yes, the Vegas Bowl was a disaster in high winds. It was bad for everyone. And I ripped on everyone down the line for that one.

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- angrybeaver says:
  
  March 9, 2010 at 4:20 pm
  
  He also punted to a 32 yard average in the Civil War which cost us.
  
  Cliff, surely you have seen Allen kick in practice and pregame. Do YOU think Hekker is better?
  
  I don't, and based on what I've seen I have a hard time seeing how someone could, which is why I think this is a really important question to ask.
  
  Reply
  - Ted0 says:
    
    March 9, 2010 at 4:25 pm
    
    Pregame preparation aren't the best way to judge a kicker/puinter considering the calmness and absolute no pressure at that time.
    
    Reply
    - angrybeaver says:
      
      March 9, 2010 at 4:34 pm
      
      It's "pressure" comments like this that make me realize I need to keep a spreadsheet with date/time/down/wind/weather/etc for each game in order to point out to fellow fans how many times their heroes mess up. I can't remember which games it was, but there were several over the past two seasons where the telecasters where essentially laughing at our punting game (pretty sure BYU was one of them, but there were others).
      
      As far as calm winds: In the Vegas Bowl, Hekker went for 26 yard average. Incidentally, the BYU's kicker went for a 37.5 avg in the same wind.
      
      As far as pressure: In the CW, Hekker kicked a 50 yarder–the average of his other two punts was 21.5 yards.
      
      These are just two fresh incidents in my head. There are a handful of others. Open your eyes.
      
      Reply
      - ckirkpatrick says:
        
        March 9, 2010 at 4:43 pm
        
        I thought both had good legs. Consistency is a big deal for punting. Riley/Read feel Hekker is more consistent, has been getting better and will be very good.
        
        Have I made a chart comparison of their practice punts? No, but I bet Read has.
      - Ted0 says:
        
        March 9, 2010 at 4:48 pm
        
        The BYU game had in part to do with coaching. The BYU punter didn't try to kick straight in to the wind with Hekker, probably because the coach told him to and because he had practiced more than just one way of punting.
        
        Hekker hasn't been living on just the Sun bowl and it definetley wasn't his ifrst good game. He did really well in the UCLA game that year, which was what pretty much kept him as the starter that year.
        
        So you think Allen would've done better with the pressure when he's had to deal with absolutley none in the past at that time? That makes total sense.
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March 9, 2010 at 8:47 am

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JuneauJim says:

March 9, 2010 at 7:58 pm

Hey Cliff,

Thanks for all the good info. Here's a non-punter question for you. When a player has surgery, who pays for the medical bills not covered by insurance? Is it the University or the player? And does it make a difference if a guy is a walk-on or a scholarship athlete?

Thanks.

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- ckirkpatrick says:
  
  March 9, 2010 at 8:54 pm
  
  That's a good question. I don't have all the specifics. I'll follow up on that.
  
  Reply
Cliff: Football news, in the community « Cliff Kirkpatrick | NFL Topics Blog says:

March 9, 2010 at 12:26 pm

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pdxnwfan says:

March 9, 2010 at 8:44 pm

I was born and raised in Southern Oregon and after some time at Michigan I graduated from SOC in Ashland. I have been an avid sports fan for Northwest teams and the Pac-8/10 all my life. Many years ago my friend Danny Miles gave me a lifetime pass to OIT Basketball. A member of my family was a coach at Oregon State for many years. One of my little league players was a starter for Rich Brooks and played in the Rose Bowl and my boyhood buddy from the time I could walk through High School was an All American at Washington. My allegiance might have waiver between schools accordingly, but I have always believed in my NW schools.
—see next post—

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pdxnwfan says:

March 9, 2010 at 8:45 pm

—see first post—
While in Ann Arbor a perk of my job was a couple of season passes for Big 10 Basketball at Crisler Arena so I got to experience Big 10 rivalries. I have also experienced the “biggest” rivalry of all, Ohio State vs. Michigan at the Big House.
Michigan and Ohio State hate each other, but they are civil. The Husky and Beaver fans have become vile and malicious and my allegiance to them has suffered because of it. I just read a story where an Oregon State fan found it sicking to be in the same terminal and plane as an Oregon fan. How could this fan write such a story? I found it sickening that he felt this was somehow proof that he was such a great fan. I don't care if you are a Duck or Husky or Beaver how could you be proud of such behavior.

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Ted0 says:

March 9, 2010 at 4:50 pm

*like Hekker

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angrybeaver says:

March 9, 2010 at 5:08 pm

I think if you have two equally raw punting projects and one kicks low punts with no hang time and average (30-35 yard) distance and the other kicks booming punts with hang time above the stadium, you spend your time grooming the 2nd player. What I don't understand is the time vested in Hekker…the only way I can explain it to myself is that Riley wants another feel good story/pat on the back once Hekker is a senior and all-conference, but any coach can groom a guy over 4 years–they don't b/c it's not worth the investment. And let's not act like Riley hasn't made errors. He insisted Serna was a good punter until the end.

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Ted0 says:

March 9, 2010 at 5:18 pm

Hekker actually does have pretty good habg time. It sounds like you're just basing most of this off of pregames, which again don't mean too much.

If you seriously think RIley just wants feel good stories then you really have no idea what you're talking about. Also I don't think Riley insisted that Serna was a good punter just the best one OSU had at the time.

I think if you spent time really thinking about it then there's really no need in this case to ask "Why?" because it's not that hard to understand.

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angrybeaver says:

March 9, 2010 at 5:50 pm

If practice and pregame don't mean anything, Hekker would never have an opportunity to win the job. That is, he won the job (as does every player) in practice and pregame. I just don't know that Riley plays the best player (e.g. Pankey over Roberson, #28 over Collins, whoever played before Olander got in there, etc). You need to accept Riley messes up all the time. I wrote about all these errors in my blog as they were happening, and people like you showed up saying I was an idiot. Keep that in mind.

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Ted0 says:

March 9, 2010 at 10:02 pm

I didn’t say practice didn’t matter I said pregame doesn’t. Pregame is pretty much the players just warming up.
I also didn’t say Riley doesn’t make mistakes, but saying that he makes them all the time is an exaggeration. Riley did put in Roberson over Pankey this past season because he didn’t perform as well in the games and knew he did make a mistake. Collins was still getting used to actually playing safety rather than just on special teams, which can take time to adjust to. Moala was performing better in fall practice therefore the starts and more playing time. I think you’re critics realize this and you didn’t really necessarily prove them wrong.

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angrybeaver says:

March 9, 2010 at 10:38 pm

"saying that he makes them all the time is an exaggeration"

Of course it is, but you have to exaggerate to get the attention of people who wear orange colored glasses. If Riley made more bad decisions than good, he'd be fired, as Cliff pointed out. That he makes mostly good decisions doesn't mean he's absolved of the bad ones he does make. Allen has a better leg, so why not groom him? That is my question to you (and Riley). Give me an answer that makes sense and I'll drop it.

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Ted0 says:

March 10, 2010 at 12:31 am

"Give me an answer that makes sense and I'll drop it."

Give me a question that makes sense. It's pretty clear that the answer is that either

1. He just doesn't have a better leg during practices and you're going to have to find some way to accept it on your own time.

2. Is not as consistent during practice as Hekker, which is also very important, therefore Hekker gets the spot.

It also sounds like Allen is leaving on his own and if he really fells like he can play then it makes sense that he'd leave somewhere that doesn't have a clear starter at punter. Punter isn't really a position where two players could get a lot of time.

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Ted0 says:

March 10, 2010 at 12:36 am

forgot option 3 which is just both 1. and 2.

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angrybeaver says:

March 10, 2010 at 12:51 am

1. He does have a better leg. We both agreed Riley is sometimes wrong.

2. To call Hekker inconsistent was a compliment on my end.

I'm not out to grill one player over another, but when one clearly has more potenential or raw ability he should be the one who is groomed. You've done nothing to answer the question and your responses amount to "in Riley I trust"…the cult mentality continues.

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Ted0 says:

March 10, 2010 at 2:52 am

1. Yes sometimes wrong, which doesn't mean he's wrong this time.

2. Then what does it say about Allen's possible consistency if he can't beat him out?

I have answered your question, which isn't even a very good one because the asnwer is pretty clear, you're just in denial which is your problem.

If Allen clearly had more potential then he probably would've had some sort of opportunity to show it in a game. Nothing I've said amount to the "In Riley I trust" sort of blind trust thing. All you've witnessed is stuff in warm-ups, which again isn't as good of an indication of how good a player is as practice is on a daily basis. I think you've made it clear that you don't attend practice on a daily basis, which heavily limits your credibility.

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Ted0 says:

March 10, 2010 at 2:54 am

Also I'm not trying to say Allen is bad, but I have doubts that he has a better leg and more consistency than Hekker.

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angrybeaver says:

March 10, 2010 at 4:26 am

I'm going to stop wasting my time with a glasses-wearer. Nothing I say will even get you to *see* my point, never mind agree with it. In Riley you trust.

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