Breaking Down the Latest Class

1. Shaydon Akuna: A long-time silent verbal, Akuna is the prize of this class. That he’s been a Beaver commit since October made his signing somewhat anticlimactic. Ideal frame and speed for a LB.

2. Thomas Molesi: Second best player in this class. The two questions are (a) whether or not he takes his mission, and (b) if he does, will he return to see the field for the Beavers? Already has the size to be in the mix come spring. Wish this player weren’t LDS because he’s special.

3. Fred Thomspon: Another kid who already has the size to play at this level. It’s great to see the Beavers recruiting some athletes who look the part right out of high school. When you don’t have to spend 3 years developing a guy, that’s when you know you’re on to something. Thompson will be all-conference sooner rather than later. And donning the sweater vest, major style points.

4. Sean Mannion: Great height, great arm, great accuracy, and a coach’s son. Reminds me of Tom Brady. If he has moxie, poise, and other intangibles…watch out.

5. Donnell Welch: This guy has an NFL body and great speed. Only drawback is he tackles somewhat upright–a correctable problem.  My major concern is that ~20 schools had a look and passed–usually a sure sign of (uncorrectable) academic issues. If he enrolls and maintains his grades, we’re looking at a guy who will play on Sundays. He’d be higher on my list were it not for the uncertainty and my gut feeling that he won’t see the field.

6. Scott Crichton: I don’t know what it is about this guy…I want to dislike him since he only had 1 offer (from WSU no less) and a lukewarm rating, but 6″4, 225 with 4.6 speed sounds pretty good. Gut tells me he will wind up being a very good player.

7. Trevor Romaine: I’ve been vocal about recruiting special teams players. Needless to say, I am beyond stoked that we landed the best kicker in the country. This is a scholarship extremely well spent and will single-handedly win us games.

8. Ryan Murphy: Versatile player, great speed. If he has good hands, maybe he moves to WR since we have a logjam at safety and signed two other RBs in this class.

9. Tyler Perry: When we signed this guy I thought he might be a cornerstone. Now I have him as the 9th best player in the class. It’s not a knock on him, but a testament to the quality above.

10. Mana Tuivailala: Let’s be honest, do we know anything about this guy? All I know is he has the exact same background as Stephen Paea, rumored to be just as strong, and he’s bigger. Intriguing to say the least…

11. Michael Bibbee: I envision Bibbee as a jack of all trades, chipping in on special teams, back up LB, and even running the ball in a pinch. Good, versatile pickup that adds depth to several positions.

12. Roman Sapulo: We’re told to be excited about the Sapulo pedigree, but I just can’t get over this guy’s lack of size and explosion. Obviously he’ll move to center where his height will not be as disconcerting, but where do the explosion and power come from? Major project. Will need to be carefully groomed to take over the Center job by his Junior year. Potential to be serviceable to good if he overcomes his current drawbacks.

13. Malcolm Marable:  ESPN lists Marable’s 40 time at 4.66. And I thought his Rivals time of 4.52 was slow. Saw this kid in-person. Not an every down DI back, probably more of a change of pace guy.  So many people are high on him that I continue to watch game film and in an attempt to discover something to get excited about. Just don’t see it. Even at CB, for which I think he’s better suited, he is just too slow. Runs like Jovan Stevenson in that he’s somewhat upright and lacks the breakaway speed. Small, but not shifty like Quiz. Maybe a punt returner if he has good hands?

14. Dominic Glover: A 4 star Duck recruit out of HS, so he has the talent. Juco players are always crap shoots, though. Everything I’ve read says that the guy is in terrible shape. He was also highly unproductive at the JC ranks. It’s players like this who help define whether you’re an optimist or pessimist. Funny story is how excited Beaver fans were when he didn’t qualify for the Ducks…now the same fans are excited he’s a Beaver.

15. Will Story: Good player who will add depth at LB or safety.  These local kids always seem to have heart and play with a chip on their shoulder. Those two intangibles make up for the lack of talent and usually lead to success when said player does see the field. For those reasons, I can see this guy having an impact on special teams and other minor roles.

16. Connor Hamlett: One word comes to mind…SLOW. Possibly the slowest offensive player I’ve ever seen recruited. Even for an OL he’d be slow. I guess the idea here is to have a huge/tall target in the redzone, but…no. This is a huge waste of a scholarship. This guy will get blown up at the next level.

Not yet signed

Happy Iona: Will never don the orange and black.

Terron Ward: Intriguing prospect. Excellent speed. Does he have much else? Does he have the right attitude? A lot of valid questions and uncertainty. Good gamble in offering a greyshirt.

#333, Saturday, Feb.6, 3 pm (FSN)

If there was a stat for missing point-blank shots, we would be leading the country –Craig Robinson

That guy’s just too negative.  Let’s get some Rah! Rah! going people.  I need someone to tell me that we’re going to make some shots on Saturday.  I want to hear how our boys will overcome all their demons during an afternoon of showtime.

Ok… I’ll just take someone telling me that 333 ends up like 332 did.

The Ducks probably figure that they can come out and trap in the front court like they tried in the second half at Mac Court.  And let’s hope they do.  It’s one thing to control the tempo.  It’s another altogether to give up easy transition points.  There’s nothing more satisfying for a ball-control team than to make passes all the way down the court for an easy lay-up to finish it off.

But I don’t think Ernie Kent is that poorly prepared.  A look back at the last couple losses tells us that the Beavs have trouble against teams which reset quickly then sit in a zone.  That’s what I expect to see.

Watch for Kent’s version of Ralph Miller’s offense to get Malcolm Armstead into the lane for multiple assists and shots.  But don’t expect it to be easy for Armstead.  UCLA could not beat the 1-3-1 with dribble penetration because they just didn’t have anyone with that kind of athleticism.  But what they did have were confident shooters who were able to also see the cut to the low post open because someone in the middle was standing flat-footed and watching instead of flashing down to recover when the wing entry returned to the top of the key.

A pass is much faster than a dribble entry, and someone will have the opportunity to recover when Armstead puts it on the floor.

So, in the end, it comes down to how Tajuan Porter is feeling.  If he starts off hot it might be a long day.

I don’t know… I just have a good feeling about this one.  The Beavs are able to win the front end of the weekend most times.  They just don’t have the talent to turn around in one day to beat the second team.  The extra time benefits OSU much more than it does UO because when you ask a Duck how to spell preparation he just says ‘H’.

And there will be 10,000 plus in Gill for this one… including me.  I’ll be wearing my circa 1990 orange sweatshirt and yelling any number of four-letter words at the refs… you know… like WALK… or FOUL.

That reminds me of a joke involving a wok and some fowl… or maybe that was just a good meal.

Anyway, the place will be rocking, and I don’t expect our boys to let us down.  I also don’t expect it to be pretty either.  I think it’s going to come down to the wire, and we’ll probably have to come back to make it happen.  Look for someone unexpected to start contributing.

It’s just a good feeling… OSU on a lay-up of all things… 72-70.

Washington, The Big “Dawg” In Hawaii?

Ah, 1990. Seinfeld in, MC Hammer out.  Somewhere in the woods of the great Pacific Northwest, the word “nirvana” was muttered by an ugly, smelly, dying hippie who never quite attained it, while at a small club in Seattle, Washington, the word “Nirvana” was chanted by crowds of modern hippies, known as hipsters, in reverence of the most important rock band of my era. Seattle was on the map; grunge was king; I was rocking my flannel, and my 36 inch jeans lay on my 30 inch waist like Fogel’s “before” photo. That’s what size 32 belts are for, right? Thus began the great foray into The Emerald City.

What is the saying, every 20 years history repeats itself? Or is it every 30 years? Well, for the sake of this write up let’s say 20 and be historically inaccurate historians. Who doesn’t like irony!?  Ladies and gents, Seattle is once again relevant. Not only were the Huskies 41.666666% improved from the year prior, but according to recruiting services (I would disagree), they raked in one of the better classes in the conference. What is more disturbing is that the Dawgs seem to be hijacking our Hawaiian pipeline. Hawaiian recruits by team are as follows:

Washington-4

Arizona-1

Oregon State-1

UCLA-1

Arizona State-0

Cal-0

Oregon-0

Stanford-0

USC-0

Washington State-0

The Huskies with 300% more Hawaiian recruits than the Beavs? Hawaii was our lifeblood for a decade. Where do we regain that ground? The fertile mollisols of Oklahoma? Certainly not the cold gelisols of Alaska! Ah, nothing like soil references and blogging on a Wednesday night. Nevada dried up years ago. Maybe Texas. All I know is that the massive Pete Carroll creep tree is hanging over the conference…you either recruit dirty or you might as well not show up on Saturday. This conference is getting more and more competitive; what I don’t like to see is the Beavers losing ground in areas they historically dominate. And no, I don’t want to wait 30, or even 20 years, for history to repeat itself and the Beavs once again gain a stranglehold of The Aloha State.

Owa Wearing Orange on ESPNU

Owa donning an orange polo.

Is this some variant of the hat switch/trick?

He would be the cruelest man alive if he takes it off and there’s powder blue or red underneath. He doesn’t strike me as that type of guy, so this is looking surprisingly optimistic.

National Signing Day

This is where the Beavers need to start winning their battles. How high you’re able to perform on the field has a lot to do with who you sign on February 3rd. The Beavers consistently find themselves in the Sun Bowl and lower because their recruiting classes are consistently middle of the road.

This class has a chance to be special. Many pundits are already calling it the best class in school history, and this is without known verbals from Akuna or Owa. On the surface that sentiment appears valid, but circumstance will shave two 4-stars (i.e. Iona and Molesi) off the commit list and one high 3-star (i.e. Welch). Chances of seeing all three in Orange and Black are zero. If even one makes it onto the field be happy.

As far as the rest of the class, there are some nice players, but they are the same caliber that we’ve had until this point. There’s nothing about Fred Thompson that is better than say…Stephen Paea. Is Bibbee better than Roberson? Is Murphy better than Mitchell? You can see where I’m going with this. There’s no reason to believe any player in this class is more talented than the status quo. So while I like the class, unless it’s topped off with some elite talent (e.g. Akuna, Owa) I believe we’re looking at more Sun Bowls and below. I challenge you with these questions: where in this class is the player who stops Masoli on 4th down, and where is the player who covers a RB in the flat vs USC, or holds on to the ball vs Stanford? These eyes do not see him.

Here’s to hoping we can close on Owa and Akuna, because both (and more) are required to take the next step. As with any profession or talent (and much to the chagrin of Beaver fans everywhere), the greatest difference between being elite and middle-of-the-road lies in the measurables. Now let’s get out there and win the biggest game of the year, national signing day.