Will Clayton York receive a scholarship before the season?
Fans love the walkons, so here’s the list for the Oregon State football.
At least two, maybe three, of the seniors are going to be awarded scholarships before the season begins, coach Mike Riley said.
One that has been reported to get on is RB Clayton York. At the moment he’s listed as a walk-on.
So here are the 22 walkons. Another interesting change this year is that OSU will not take on any walk0ns after the first games like teams are allowed to do.
33 Anderson, Tyler FB 5-10 215 SO* 1V Walnut Creek, CA (De La Salle)
37 Audiss, Micah S 6-1 207 FR* RS Roseburg, OR (Roseburg)
43 Balfour, Michael FB 5-8 234 FR* RS Sherwood, OR (Sherwood)
20 Cavanaugh, Blair WR 5-7 168 FR HS Corvallis, OR (Corvallis)
53 Gardner, Kyle LB 5-10 225 FR* RS Corvallis, OR (Crescent Valley)
51 Gilmur, Charlie LB 6-1 228 JR* TM University Place, WA (Curtis)
85 Grim, J.C. WR 6-1 181 FR HS Bend, OR (Bend)
68 Hansen, Nolan OL 6-6 250 FR HS Corvallis, OR (Corvallis)
1 Harper, Riley PK 5-11 179 SO TR Holladay, UT (Cottonwood/Utah State)
12 Harrington, Richie QB 6-1 228 FR* RS Westlake Village, CA (Oaks Christian)
31 Hedgecock, A.J. S 6-0 191 FR HS Dayton, OR (Dayton)
94 Kell, Devon DE 6-4 250 JR* 2V Hilo, HI (Hilo)
48 Kostol, Keith P 6-3 189 SO* TM Tigard, OR (Tigard)
79 Lopez, Joe DT 6-0 273 SO* 1V Portland, OR (Central Catholic)
58 Morovick, Michael LS 6-0 223 SO* TM Mission Viejo, CA (Trabuco Hills)
75 Nielsen, Derek OL 6-4 286 SO* 1V Eugene, OR (Sheldon)
87 Ortiz, Ricky TE 6-0 230 FR HS Corona, CA (Mater Dei)
27 Patrick, Naji CB 5-8 190 FR* RS Vallejo, CA (St. Patrick-St. Vincent)
21 Singler, Mitch WR 6-2 208 JR* TM Medford, OR (South Medford)
38 Watkins, Brian CB 5-9 185 SR* 2V Burien, WA (Highline)
67 Welch, Jake OL 6-2 320 FR* RS Longview, WA (Mark Morris)
42 York, Clayton FB 6-0 238 SR* 3V Redmond, OR (Redmond)
26 comments
floridabeav says:
Aug 2, 2012
Cliff: Fans only love walk-ons when they grow into and perform like 4 and 5 star recruits. Otherwise, we prefer 4 and 5 star recruits who commit and actually enroll and play. Too often walk-ons at OSU have performed like… well… walk-ons. YOU like walk-ons. It gives you something to write about.
maffu72 says:
Aug 2, 2012
Count the 4 and 5 star recruits who’ve come to OSU and actually played…
Now count the 3 star, 2 star, 1 star, and NO STAR Beaver recruits who’ve come here & lit it up.
Now reread what you wrote & post any observations you note.
floridabeav says:
Aug 2, 2012
maffu72: That’s the problem, we don’t recruit enough 4 and 5 star althetes. Now you count the number of Rose Bowls the Beaver’s walk-ons (and 1,2,3, star athletes) have led the school to in the last fifty years while “lighting it up.” When you get done counting Rose Bowls, you start counting any victories in the last two years. Everybody saw and loved the movie “Rudy,” it makes for a great human interest story (and Cliff would make a career writing about it), but I’ll take some better athletes, thank you.
bbb says:
Aug 3, 2012
game, set, and match. floridabeav wins!
OsuBrenden says:
Aug 13, 2012
Maybe when the fans start selling out games and supporting the beav’s more regularly we can get “4 and 5 star recruits” . Even when we were bowl eligible USC and Oregon were the only sellouts. WE ARE PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DECLINE!!
Stan McGehee says:
Aug 17, 2012
Cliff: Mike Hass!!! I’d take more walk-ons like him.
Mark says:
Aug 2, 2012
Jonathon Smith, Mike Hass. What’s not to like.
floridabeav says:
Aug 2, 2012
Come on Mike, you are smarter than that. Did you just read my post or did you actually understand it. The exceptions you use prove the rule; and how long ago were the examples you quoted? Finally, how did you like the performance of the predominently walk-on o-line last year?
maffu72 says:
Aug 2, 2012
You deride his argument by claiming he didn’t read your post… and then you call him MIKE?
(Pssst… his name is MARK)
Pot, meet kettle.
floridabeav says:
Aug 2, 2012
Good catch! maffu02 meet Mark. Fans who love mediocrity (or less).
maffu72 says:
Aug 2, 2012
floridabeav,
Your expectations are unrealistic & are unhealthy to the OSU Beaver football program. I win championships when I play the XBox360, too, but it ain’t gonna translate into reality. You want the Beavers to play like the school down south? You know, that’d be pretty cool. Now find me a multi-billion dollar alumnus who’s going to fund the program.
UO was struggling to maintain a winning record when Uncle Phil decided to make the program his pet… and look at how the program has blossomed. What do you think Oregon State University can offer these 4 and 5 star recruits that’s going to bring them here? The Peacock Tavern? It’s Cor-FREAKING-Vallis! We’ve got pretty nice facilities (that is to say, they don’t suck) but we do not have a draw for these kids!
The only thing we can do is be a consistent, competitive program… and we’ve had a crappy last couple of years. I’m disappointed in that, just as you are, but I’m not about to slit my wrists over it.
Speaking of the above metaphor, wrist-slitting is EXACTLY what the Beavers would do by firing Mike Riley. Who do you think we’d get to come in here? Jon Gruden? Dennis Erickson? Tony Dungy? Or Justin Wilcox? What do you foresee that could turn OSU into anything other than a stepping stone for a head football coach? You need to find a coach who connects well with the kids, holds them accountable, molds them into better people, helps them transform into better football players, and wins football games.
The last two years Riley has done all but the last on that list… and that’s not acceptable in the long-term. But it’s a two-year blip. It’s not the end of the world. But it sure could be if we maintain unhealthy expectations.
Seriously… what would you, as head coach, say to successfully woo a 4 or 5 star recruit to come to Corvallis, Oregon to play football?
BakerBeaver says:
Aug 2, 2012
maffu72 You are right on. We offer and go after 4 and 5 star recruits hard; they just don’t come to OSU. We don’t have the financial backing or facilities to make our program as attractive to these kids. We have to win with the 3, 2, and 1 star athletes which Riley has a track record of doing. We have to look for diamonds in the rough and take chances on kids and sometimes you miss. That is the reality of the last few seasons some kids did not work out and some got injured. If anyone has millions please give it to OSU so we all can enjoy winning seasons.
floridabeav says:
Aug 2, 2012
After spending a while in the military and a career in business, I have come to the conclusion that leadership matters. Making excuses for poor performance only begets more poor performance. If you can’t win with the way things are, change. Oregon did it with Chip Kelly (and yes, the bucks and panache of Nike), but they changed. Do you think for a minute that Chip Kelly would not have come to Corvallis, if given a chance, when he was in New Hampshire? Bellotti got tired of getting beaten up on by USC, because they always had better athletes, so he became creative and guess what, now Oregon gets it share of cream. If it were just a matter of money, Texas would be great every year. They have not been. Money matters, but having a creative vision matters more. Look at Boise State. Kelly was as important as Phil was in bringing success to Oregon. Your low expectations are defeatist and unhealthy for the OSU football program. I guess that’s what happens when a you graduate in ’72, your program view has been set by years of losing… it seems natural. I graduated in ’69 and believe winning is possible.
maffu72 says:
Aug 2, 2012
I don’t mean to dismiss the points in your post, but we’ve got something that’s incomplete…
You’ve never addressed how YOU would entice top-tier talent to play football in Corvallis, Oregon.
That was the crux of your original post, if I remember correctly, wasn’t it? We don’t want to hear about walk-ons, but about 4 and 5 star recruits who come to Corvallis, actually enroll (yes, this means you, Simi Kuli), and play meaningful football at OSU.
So… what would you say or do to get these recruits to be Beavers?
Blah. says:
Aug 3, 2012
And Stan Hasiak… Oh and you too Dominic Glover…
maffu72 says:
Aug 2, 2012
Look what they’ve endured in Pullman since Mike Price left… it seems likely Leach will change that, but day-um… that was some awful football they’ve been playing ever since. Price established a consistent program in one of the armpits of the football universe… he even got to a pair of Rose Bowls (something we’d all love, I know).
I bring up Mr. Price because that’s a parallel to what COULD PLAUSIBLY HAPPEN if Mike Riley left the program.
And beyond that, look what they’ve had to deal with in Tempe, Tucson, Westwood, and in Seattle after dumping successful coaches. Sometimes the grass isn’t what’s greener on the other side of the fence (it’s really, stanky, smelly $%!^).
Just sayin’ you should be careful what you wish for (but then you’ll pass it off by blaming the AD).
Go Beavers!
floridabeav says:
Aug 2, 2012
Go Beavers, indeed! And thanks for making my argument for me. Leadership matters, location maybe less so. For years, the best athletes were not going to Tempe, Tucson, Westwood or Seattle. Was Cor-FREAKING-vallis so much better than those places five years ago? I think not. Riley was on his game then and arguably an innovator (James Rogers and the fly sweep). Even if he was not winning the recruiting wars, he was identifying those gems in the rough, coaching them up, creating schemes for his athletes and calling plays that put his players in a position to win. But that is beginning to look like a long time ago and now OSU is in very different place: Stale, predictable, running an offense that requires top notch athletes at every position (which OSU does not have). Oregon took a different path and it paid off. Boise State developed a program that emphasized risk taking and won. And yes, I will blame the AD and the coaching staff for the decline of the program over the last four years, not the undersized, under-skilled, and slow kids that have been recruited into that program. You can blame a player for a missed play, a dropped ball or a missed tackle, but you can’t blame them for the decline of the program, leadership takes the blame for that.
MrChainsaw says:
Aug 2, 2012
R-o-d-g-e-r-s.
Toolbox.
blackorangetrue says:
Aug 2, 2012
Have some of you Riley-haters forgotten the massive wave of injuries and other hard breaks the last season or two? Things can snowball pretty quickly. Let’s put out some positive vibes and see what the Beavs can do this season. If they suck, I may pile on the “Riley’s over the hill” bandwagon. I think they’ll surprise some folks and go bowling, and next year contend for P12 title.
And guess what, this is a purely win/lose sport, so not every team can win all the time. Do you expect the Beavs to always win almost all their games, and should a program fire somebody as soon as they hit a down cycle? It would be a revolving door around the league all the time. If the Ducks tanked this season and missed a bowl, for whatever reasons, should Kelly suddenly be despised and fired? I think OSU has been very fortunate to have Riley, two hard luck seasons doesn’t make me ready to fair-weather fan dump on him. Three, maybe. So let’s enjoy the Beavers “resurgence” this year. GO BEAVS!!
bbb says:
Aug 3, 2012
that is why your recruit better instead of being an injury away from disaster at almost every position.
bone says:
Aug 2, 2012
I think that Floridabeav and Maffu bring up good points, I also think that your difference in opinions illustrates that recruits don’t all want the same thing, they have different agendas so there may be aspects you or I may want in a program may be different for each recruit. We do go after the 4 and 5 star recruits, but other schools are able to flex the guns that OSU doesn’t have. Which is why Oregon State has to develop players who are playing their best ball by their junior and senior seasons.
In the past this is why I think Oregon State has been successful because they were upperclassmen heavy, sure there were a few underclassmen, but the bulk was upperclassmen. And when seniors graduated they were replaced by players who have been in the system and were able to come in and succeed. An example of this was in 2007 we lost our entire front 7 and in 2008 our defense was just as good. Floridabeav has mentioned here many a times that the downfall of OSU started 4 years ago, it may not be in the W-L column, but in the recruiting/development area. Whether it be recruiting the wrong players, or players not developing, getting injured, not taking care of business in the class, or whatever. There has been a gap that we have had to fill with players who aren’t ready and walk-ons. We have had walk-ons who have played at a very high level (Smith, Hass, Serna, Norris, Adeniji) but we can’t have them make up most of our team, they are walkons for a reason.
I kind of disagree in your last sentence about leadership being to blame for the decline. I am a pretty big believer that a coach can only take you so far, and what separates good from great teams is player leadership and player accountability. A while ago there was an article that about how players came back from winter break underweight and out of shape and majority of them were not able to work out with the team that day. I am encouraged by what I have read regarding players putting in work during the off-season.
Anyways less than a month away fellas, can’t wait, and GO BEAVS!
maffu72 says:
Aug 2, 2012
OSU has a small margin for error. Big-time schools with big money & stables of highly touted recruits don’t automatically translate to BCS wins (see the likes of Texas & Oklahoma… or Ohio State, for that matter), but they do have a much greater margin of error.
You take a star out of the mix at Oregon, or USC, and they’re going to be okay. You take a star or leader like James Rodgers out at OSU… and they’re going to be hurting.
We all want the same thing. We want the Beavers to win on Saturday. That is what we should focus on. This business of accusing fans of “settling for mediocrity” gets nowhere. We should ALL be asking ourselves what we can do to better support the team.
I believe that the GREATEST thing we could all do is to commit to making the game day experience electric. Be there early, be loud, rush back to your seat after halftime & be even louder in the second half. Scream on first down, roar on second down, split ear drums on third down… and if it ever comes to fourth down… God have mercy on our opponents souls. End this crap of waiting for the chainsaw sound effect & finally making a peep when the enemy is at the line of scrimmage. Make him sorry every time he has the ball… because he knows his ears are going to bleed.
THAT, friends, is something every Beaver fan can help accomplish. Even the old ladies
Oh, and if the Beavers lose, feel free to bitch on the post-game call in show… but don’t even think of bitching during the game. You are a fan. You have a job to do. Don’t fumble away your responsibility to make the opponent miserable.
That’s what I want at Reser.
Who’s game?
bone says:
Aug 2, 2012
Il be ther following those guidelines.
floridabeav says:
Aug 3, 2012
I can only make one game a year; this year it’s Wisconsin. I’ll be one of the fans trying to do my part. You’ll recognize me, I’ll be the one with the tan.
bone says:
Aug 3, 2012
hopefully it is not one of those fake orange tan, I think that might be an over-commitment to the orange and black.
Curt says:
Aug 3, 2012
Michael Balfour appears to have shrunk from his 6′ – 0″ height in High School. What happened? How did he get “demoted” to 5′ – 8″?