Isaac Seumalo signed with the Beavers on Wednesday.
There was plenty of talk about the Oregon State football team’s signing class. Let’s start with Corvallis High OL Isaac Seumalo in the above video.
He’s the top recruit in the 2012 class. Coach Mike Riley said he can compete for a starting job in the fall. Check out the GT story on him in Thursday’s GT on the whole class.
Seumalo is close friends with OL coach Mike Cavanaugh‘s son, Blair, who is walking on at OSU. Seumalo will have plenty of opportunity to learn the system hanging out with a family friend.
He’s even hung out with the team at practice at the end of last season. So, expect to see him on the field soon. Here’s the GT story on Seumalo.
The above video is coach Riley and his opening comments from his press conference Wednesday.
The below video is another of Riley talking about Seumalo and Bend LB Joel Skotte.
The next video below of Riley reviewing the OL and DB recruits, and more.
The final one is on Skotte specifically.
16 comments
RenoNVbeavr says:
Feb 2, 2012
Cliff – I was a little troubled at Riley’s response regarding that the DT position “was not a high priority” this year. Am I missing something??? Beavs DT were below average last season, both in collaspsing the pocket and stopping the run (particularly the run). Is Mana Tuivaila being counted on in the rotation? Thomas Molesi? Happy Iona (if he is even still on the roster)? How critical was F. Thompson to the Beavs depth, let alone a starting position possibly? Is there any thought of shifting any of his now fruitful depth at OL over to the DL? For Riley to blow off his second most glaring area of weakness (behind the OL) and feel comfortable about what he has…well I am troubled, sir.
Cliff Kirkpatrick says:
Feb 2, 2012
I asked Riley about DTs, DL going into recruiting and he said it wasn’t a priority. People were up in arms over it.
So, I looked at the numbers. OSU has three and four deep of DTs and DEs who are in development.
Thompson was going to be a starter. That was a big blow. That’s why OSU went after Calvin Tonga. But to change his mind to Colorado State? Huh?
Iona and Molesi never made it in due to grades. Tuivaila will be in the rotation.
So, numbers-wise, he is right. We have to wait and see if they are impact guys after their development.
RenoNVbeavr says:
Feb 2, 2012
Interesting recap, Cliff, on Riley stating the DL wasnt a priority. Masiani certainly cant be counted on, even healthly, for a legit # of snaps. The late F. Thompson was the only other notable DT of any girth. Resting hopes on Masiani staying healthy and the “development” of Semualo and Tuivaila seems like wishful thinking. There were several legit DT prospects on Rivals still waiting for an offer. Any one of these 2-3 guys (I get back to Kenny Mack but Zaheer Webb looked imposing, too) left without an offer would have added more size/depth to a unit that I feel is a major question mark. Kenny Mack at 6’3, 315 lbs and runs a 4.95 40 is likely better than any DT prospect we have! He could fall over on the Center and create more bull rush than Semualo.
Looking forward to seeing your revised depth chart, Cliff.
beaverteeth says:
Feb 2, 2012
Another lame recruiting finish in the pac ten. One four star recruit. How on earth are you going to win a pac twelve championship finishing 10th in the conference in recruiting. With the right coaching these other 4 star recruits wouldn’t have got away so easy. Check out the Ducks recruiting finish and count the 4 star players? I counted 8 .Unbelievable…….. why? they are a national power house. Where is OSU ? Maybe a division II contender.
mike says:
Feb 2, 2012
I don’t know that it was lame. Disappointing that our coaching staff couldn’t finish strong but there are some real studs on the o line, at linebacker, TE, and our db’s have size and pretty decent speed. I don’t know how on earth you can lose a kid to Colorado State, and frankly Lawler is a doof if he thinks he’s going to have anybody decent throwing him the ball.
Three and Four stars are in my book (and I think history on the playing field shows as well) are basically interchangeable (although 5 stars sometime have beast potential). I think Isaac S was a 5 star.
This staff needs to start punching people in the mouth, whether in recruiting or on the field, yelling at the refs, or being aggressive with their playbook. The meek will inherit the earth, but that’s going to be well after the game is over.
Football is a competitive sport, not a gentlemen’s club. I want our kids to have a family atmosphere, but when they’re being recruited, playing or after their time here is done I want them to know that OS is a place where kids come to win.
Time to win. Go beavs.
RICK BRILL says:
Feb 2, 2012
GET A GRIP. THIS WAS A GREAT COACHING DECISION TO GO AFTER A STRONG OFFENSIVE LINE. THEY KNOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR DT’S A LOT BETTER THAN YOU DO. BEAVER FANS HAVE TO STOP WHINING AND WAIT FOR THE RESULTS. GREAT RECEIVERS ALREADY HERE, AND LAWLER KNEW THAT. THESE GUYS THAT SWITCH ON LOI DAY HAVE NO CHARACTER AND ARE LOOKING FOR SOMEWHERE ELSE WHERE THEY CAN PLAY. WE WILL EXTREMELY STRONG, GREAT QB, RUNNING BACKS LOOK STRONG AND TWO STRONG LOOKING TE’S ONE A 4 STAR AND THE OTHER STILL GROWING INTO HIS BODY. DEFENSIVELY WE LOOK GOOD, ALSO. GIVE THIS TEAM SOME SPACE AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS. THEN ALL THE CRY BABIES WILL COME OUT OF THE WOODWORK AND SAY WHAT GREAT FANS THEY ARE.
RenoNVbeavr says:
Feb 2, 2012
RICK – No question the team needed to address the OL and finally they received commits that are not only talented but adequately sized. This is a far cry from a year ago when the Beavs fielded 3/5 of their OL with walk on talent. However, to say that the DT area isnt a concern is suspect. Beavs didnt have much depth last year and played with guys 275, 280lbs at the DT position. Is it any wonder they were one of the worst teams in the conf vs the run? With F. Thompson gone there goes the only other prospect that had any size (not counting Masiani). For Riley to state that this is not a “priority” is about like Obama saying the housing market crisis is behind us.
fahlgren says:
Feb 2, 2012
Might have been able to keep Wallace if Riley had hired a new position coach.
http://www.mercurynews.com/high-school-sports/ci_19868563
“It was important that I knew who my coach was going to be at Washington,” Wallace said at a lunchtime ceremony for himself and San Jose State signee Eugene Taylor. “I talked to both (Oregon State and Washington) last night, but it was hard not knowing who my (position) coach would be at Oregon State.”
Obviously it might not have changed the outcome, but clearly having a position coach in place was important to at least Wallace, maybe some others. Seems like it was a mistake not to take care of this by now.
Will says:
Feb 2, 2012
Cliff,
I’m sure some of your audience likes the videos but I prefer reading your converge of the press conferences. Not much content out there on what was said in those videos/press conference.
Cliff Kirkpatrick says:
Feb 2, 2012
That’s why there’s links to stories on my blog, too.
You can pick how you get the info.
Will says:
Feb 2, 2012
The links to the gazette articles are great which I tend to read in the newspaper vs online but I was waiting for a blog post dedicated to the press conference where you tend to give additional insight and quotes beyond what made the press copy. Like you do with the press conference during the season. This time you seem to just posted videos. Don’t get me wrong, any content is better than none and you do a great job covering Beaver sports.
pos0x45 says:
Feb 2, 2012
Also hard to hear what Isaac is saying due to all the background noise. Most was unintelligible to me.
Bob says:
Feb 2, 2012
I would have enjoyed hearing what Isaac had to say but I too couldn’t make it out for the background noise.
Beav us says:
Feb 2, 2012
Whats more important, losing a couple of defensive backs or hiring the right coach? Enough said…..
73GradMike says:
Feb 2, 2012
What’s amazing (and disappointing) to me is that the Beavs hit #37 in the USA in recruiting, but that’s only # 10 in the Pac-12. # 37 feels pretty good. #10 in the Pac-12 feels like 6-7 losses in-conference.
Does this mean that Riley can again blame the talent-level of the players for the lack of originality and lack of adaptability from the coaching staff???
Please prove me wrong, COACHES!
I am 100% Orange and Black, and I am 100% behind the players. (I don’t ascribe to the impossible reality of 110%). The coaching staff has more to prove to us fans.
Get to a bowl game, and you’ll earn some credibility.
Lose to a Sac State again, and submit your resignations en masse!
heartofbeaver says:
Feb 3, 2012
for those of you who think Masiani is a mediocre DT when healthy, didn’t watch the D-line last year. When he played we were a decent run defense team, when he didn’t, we were terrible (statisically we gave up over 100 yards more a game when he didn’t play than when he did–think Wisconsin, a good run team that couldn’t move the ball on the ground against us at all until 4th qtr). Frahm was a team leader so deserved to be out on the field, but ability-wise we’ll have as good or better players out there this year.
When Riley said it wasn’t a priority, it means we didn’t need a lot of development kids (numbers). He did want and recruited someone to come in who could play right away for depth and in case of injury–we had a JC recruit who we thought would fill that bill, but he went away the last week of recruiting. I am sure we would have been happy to find a 4* freshman to come in a play in rotation right away–but many of the best DT come from south and near impossible to get them out of the SEC which means good DTs in the rest of the country are very highly recruited and thus hard to get. .
The other place we were looking for defensive depth was MLB, part of the 100+ yards worse per game was that Unga was hurt for much of that. The two JC LB we recruited look more like OLB to me (speed and able to cover, more than shed blocks get to the ball carrier), reports say the Bend kid has the body to play as a true freshman we’ll see.
Finally we were looking for development depth in defensive backfield. We got it at safety and not at CB–that’s why wallace hurts so much. We’ll be OK this year, but we’ll see the impact next year with Poyer gone. We’ve played freshman before at CB, but it’s a position that you benefit time in the system (at least a redshirt year), and if you recall many of our Freshman who’ve played, have had tough first years.
I always find it interesting that fans who don’t even know who we redshirted last year think they know more about what positions we should be recruiting than coaching staff who works the players every day.