MLB Rueben Robinson is building to the future as a young starter. PHOTO/Scobel Wiggins
Check out my Friday story in the GT taking a look at the middle linebackers for the Oregon State football team. The position is crucial for the defense scheme.
The MLB is the the RB of the defense. That means he has to be at the point of attack of every running play. Rookie MLBs have usually mean bad run defense for the Beavers.
That’s the overall case this year, but it’s not specifically because of these guys: Tony Wilson and Rueben Robinson. They have played pretty well.
Here are some more thoughts from key defenders:
OLB Dwight Roberson on the senior leadership.
“The seniors talked about (the situation), and gotten together to try and figure this out. We want to go out with a blast. We’ll work on it this week.”
Is there any fight left in the team?
“I think we still have a heartbeat,” Roberson said. “Nothing has gone away. We have to execute what we are doing. We just have to play our game. We have to play a whole four quarters. We’ve seen what we can do.”
Is it good to face a more conventional offense instead of the spread?
“It will be good to get away from the spread a little bit,” Roberson said. “USC and Stanford are different from the spread. It will be good to see something different.”
How bad is the situation for the team?
“It’s not that bad. We still have three games and still have a chance to be bowl eligible. We can still have a winning record. No one has their heads down. We know what to do. We just have to do it. Until then we’ll keep our heads up and keep on grinding.”
CB James Dockery on what’s wrong:
“It’s a bunch of little things adding up. You can get away with them in Pop Warner and high school, but not in the Pac-10.”
4 comments
beaverteeth says:
May 18, 2012
Unless the offensive line steps up today against USC and I just do not think they are capable of doing that it will be a long day for the beavers. Protecting Katz is imperative. Resent loses point to the offensive line being really bad…. I mean really bad this year. They just cannot protect Ryan and I fear he is going to get hurt. He has been sacked so many times and Quizz has been stuffed so many times this year it just infuriates me to no end.
73GradMike says:
May 18, 2012
Sorry, folks. I can't buy the "company line" here. I LOVE the Beavs, but all I see here is a 4-8 team (I hope I'm wrong!).
Anyone who has coached knows that there are times when the coach needs to adjust to the players. All I see here is the repeated message that "if our players played better, we would win".
PLEASE, at least once show me that the coaching staff is smart (and humble) enough to make adjustments to help their guys succeed.
aaron_ says:
May 18, 2012
i agree mike. I think this mess falls on the coaches. The players are not playing their best but that is the coaches job to get them to play that way. The talent is there, the coachs just need to find a way to motivate and get through to these guys.
Hey mike we will be looking for you on the blog this weekend, but you have to refresh you page, bro. If you refresh the page, i promise to give you a thumbs up on one of your posts and help you get your rating up!
GoBeavs64 says:
May 18, 2012
I am going to try and keep the faith that once again the defense and offensive line will rise to the occasion like they did against Arizona and Cal . I think this game is so big that big games just seem to inspire , fire up this team so maybe …and if there is bad weather maybe that will play into our hands too. I know it's hard people but keep the faith , for now .