New Era Begins Friday; Beavs Host Weber St.
August 31, 2015 | Football
IN CASE YOU'VE MISSED IT:
8/29/15 - Leadership Training Camp: Part 1
8/29/15 - Leadership Training Camp: Part 2
8/29/15 - Leadership Training Camp: Part 3
8/28/15 - A Close Fraternity
8/19/15 - Student-Athlete Profile: Shane Wallen
8/17/15 - Student-Athlete Profile: Drew Clarkson
8/13/15 - Student-Athlete Profile: Bright Ugwoegbu
8/11/15 - Student-Athlete Profile: Datrin Guyton
RED, WHITE AND BLUE: As part of the popular BeaverSalute promotion, Oregon State's Beaver logo on the helmets will be red, white and blue in tribute to active personnel and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. In addition, the Beaver logo at midfield will be painted red, white and blue and the goal posts will be wrapped in red, white and blue pads. For more information on BeaverSalute click here.
THE SERIES/GAME FACTS
- First meeting between the two programs.
- 119th football season in Oregon State history.
- Third straight year opening the season vs. a Big Sky Conference team and fourth in the last five years.
- Big Sky Conference teams appear on future Beaver schedules – Idaho State in 2016, Portland State in '17 and Southern Utah in '18.
- Weber State head coach Jay Hill and Beaver mentor Gary Andersen served together as assistant coaches at Utah from 2005-08. Hill began his playing career at then Ricks JC in Idaho, where he was recruited by then offensive line coach Gary Andersen.
- Beaver QB coach Kevin McGiven served as Weber State's offensive coordinator/quarterback coach from 2006-2008 – the Wildcats won the Big Sky Conference title in '08. Wildcat QB Cameron Higgins set the school record with 4,477 yards passing in McGiven's last season.
- Weber State passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Fesi Sitake is the brother of OSU assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake.
- Wildcat defensive tackles coach Kite Afeaki was the director of operations at Wisconsin in 2013 for current Beaver head coach Gary Andersen.
- Weber State secondary coach Cory Hall was briefly a graduate assistant coach at OSU earlier this year.
- Wildcat linebackers coach Lance Hunsaker was in the same position under defensive coordinator Gary Andersen at Utah from 2006-08.
- Weber State defensive ends coach Jason Kaufusi played DE for then assistant head coach Gary Andersen at Utah.
THE NEW ERA: For the first time since 2003 Oregon State will have a new head lead the team out of the tunnel Friday at Reser Stadium. Gary Andersen was introduced to Beaver Nation Dec 10, 2014 following successful stints at Wisconsin and Utah State (for more on Andersen look for the box in these notes). Friday also marks the first game since 2002 that OSU has a first-year director of athletics – Todd Stansbury was appointed to the position in June.
FIRST GAME: Oregon State head football coaches have been for the most part successful in their debuts. Overall the Beavers are 20-7-5 under a first-year mentor. Recent debuts include Mike Riley in 1997 (W 33-7 vs. North Texas) and 2003 (w 40-7 vs. Sacramento State), Dennis Erickson in 1999 (W 28-13 at Nevada).
2x1: Senior tailback Storm Barrs-Woods is on the verge of becoming the second player in Oregon State history to achieve 2,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving during his career. Barrs-Woods, who has already rushed for 2,183 career yards, needs 68 yards via the pass to reach that lofty accomplishment joining Jacquizz Rodgers (2008-10) as the only other 2,000 x 1,000 players in OSU history. Further, Barrs-Woods will become just the fourth player with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards joining Pat Chaffey (1986, 88-89) and James Rodgers (2007-11).
3-4: During the spring practice session, head coach Gary Andersen, assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake and staff made the decision to shift to a primary defensive alignment with three down linemen and four linebackers. It will mark the first time the Beavers have lined up in a primary 3-4 since the Jerry Pettibone era when Bronco Mendenhall, current BYU head coach, directed the defense in 1996.
NEW LEGION OF LINEBACKERS: While it is widely known the Oregon State defense replaces nine starters from 2014, the entire starting linebacker corps will undergo a wholesale replacement. The Beavers return two players with starting experience, Rommel Mageo and Caleb Saulo, who combined to start 10 games in 2013. According to a recent survey those 10 returning starts ranks as the sixth-fewest in the nation. It can be noted that Jaswha James has moved to linebacker this fall, but all seven of his career starts are at defensive end.
RETURNING O-LINEMEN: Oregon State returns all five starters on the offensive line for the first time since 2003 when Matt Brock, Brian Kilkenny, David Lose, Doug Nienhuis and Kanan Sanchez manned the trenches. This season, the Beavers have a group of linemen that started the final four games of 2014 together – Sean Harlow (LT), Fred Lauina (LG), Josh Mitchell (C), Gavin Andrews (RG) and Dustin Stanton (RT). In addition, Isaac Seumalo, who has started 25 games for the Beavers returns from injury after missing the entire 2014 season and is expected to fill in at right guard while Andrews will redshirt this season due to injury.
SENIOR CLASS: The Beavers are one of the most inexperienced teams in the country entering the season. OSU possesses 13 seniors on the active roster, which ranks as the youngest team in the Pac-12 and is tied as the ninth-youngest team in the nation.
TRUE STUDENT-ATHLETES: Twelve of the Beavers' 13 seniors are on track to graduate this academic year: Gavin Andrews (June/economics), Lavonte Barnett (March/sociology), Storm Barrs-Woods (December/human development & family sciences), Kellen Clute (March/digital communications), Jalen Grimble (December/economics), Jaswha James (December/sociology), Josh Mitchell (December/sociology), Naji Patrick (December/human development family studies/public health), Ali'i Robins (December/sociology), Larry Scott (December/human development & family studies), Caleb Smith (March/liberal studies), Shane Wallen (March/exercise & sport science).
FRESHMEN QUARTERBACKS: Oregon State is the only team in the nation, per a recent survey, that has no quarterbacks with playing experience and has only eligible freshmen signal callers. The last Beaver freshman quarterback to start for the Beavers was David Moran in 1996. Moran started three games in then a wishbone system, switched to cornerback prior to 1997 and before that season transferred to Northern Arizona.
TWO QUARTERBACK SYSTEM: The last time Oregon State entered the season planning to utilize two quarterbacks was 2007 when the Beavers opened the year against Utah, where Gary Andersen was the defensive coordinator, with Sean Canfield and Lyle Moevao battling for the starting gig. Both signal callers played in each of the first three games with Canfield eventually seizing the job. However, Canfield suffered an injury late in the ninth game of the season at USC forcing Moevao back onto the field. Moevao led the Beavers to three straight victories, including OSU's last Civil War win, and a berth in the Emerald Bowl. In the bowl game it was Moevao who was knocked out of the game and Canfield came on in relief to lead the Beavers to the win.
THE DRIVE: The Oregon State and Utah football programs will be featured in the Pac-12 Networks' The Drive: Pac-12 Football this fall. The series begins in time for the Beavers' conference slate to get underway. Episode 1 airs Sept. 23 and covers training camp through the San Jose State game. Other episodes are scheduled for initial air dates as Sept. 30, Oct. 14, Oct. 21, Oct. 28, Nov. 4, Nov. 11, Nov. 18, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. There will not be a new episode on Oct. 7 due to OSU's bye week.
TENTH ANNIVERSARY: The 2015 season marks the 10th anniversary of Mike Hass and Alexis Serna winning national awards. Hass earned the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver after making a then school record 90 receptions for a then Pac-12 record 1,532 receiving yards. Hass also earned First Team All-America honors by several organizations, including the Associated Press and Walter Camp Foundation. Serna captured the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top kicker following a season where he made 23 of 28 field goal attempts and was perfect on 32 point-after-touchdown efforts. Both began their OSU careers as walkons.
15TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIESTA BOWL: The 2015 season also marks the 15th anniversary of the 2000 Beavers' football squad that won the Fiesta Bowl. After thrashing Notre Dame 41-9, Oregon State finished the season ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll. The 2000 team will be inducted into the State of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame this fall.
BEAVS AT 109: Oregon owns the most victories in the Pac-12 Conference this century with 147, followed by USC (143/119 with vacated wins), OSU (109), Arizona State (104), UCLA (104), Stanford (101), Cal (92), Washington (87), Arizona (86), WSU (75). Non-traditional Pac-12 teams Utah has 124 victories this century and Colorado has 73. The Beavers hit the 100-win plateau this century in the Sept, 21, 2013 win at San Diego State. The previous 100-win stretch started during the 1966 season, ending with 1999 – nearly 34 seasons (365 games). This century's 100 victories were achieved in just over 13 seasons (168 games).
ONE OF EIGHT: Fifth-year head football athletic trainer Ariko (uh-REE-ko) Iso (EE-so) is one of only eight females in the FBS in charge of the athletic training function of their football programs. Jennifer Brodeur (Massachusetts), Sally Nogle (Michigan State) and Kelli Pugh (Virginia) also head football athletic trainers while Jennifer Brown (Eastern Michigan), Brandy Clouse (Georgia Southern), Mary Vander Heiden (UCF) and Dawn Hearn (UTEP) are sports medicine department heads.
