More On Anton Clarkson to Oregon State

Anton Clarkson, 6-2.5, 210 pound quarterback from Los Angeles (Calif.) Venice has signed with Oregon State. Clarkson completed his high school eligibility after the 2000 football season but didn't have the grades to qualify and spent this past year at Mt. San Antonio JC (Calif.) as a greyshirt.

As a senior, Clarkson was the Western League Offensive Player of the Year after completing 155-235 passes (66.0 %) for 2,935 yards and 28 touchdowns with just four interceptions. As a two year starter, the signal caller threw for 5,497 yards and 55 touchdowns in 21 games while running for an additional 13 scores.

Anton's father Steve Clarkson is regarded as one of the nation's finest quarterback tutors and has worked with several Div I signal callers including Casey Clausen (Tennessee), Chris Rix (Florida State) and Matt Leinart (USC). He's also the Director of the CaliFlorida Bowl game. Ironically, Steve is the god son of Beaver head coach Dennis Erickson.

"Dennis knew about him obviously and had seen his tape from high school but Anton is a different player now," Steve said. "In high school, he was 6-0, 230 pounds. Now he's almost 6-3 and about 210 pounds and a lot stronger. Oregon State had already taken a commitment from a quarterback (Kellen Bradley) and told him they would not take another one. Then when that quarterback de-committed, he decided to look around a bit.

"He went to a Mt. Sac practice to look at a kicker and saw Anton throwing and was impressed. After Dennis saw him he called me up and asked why I didn't tell him about Anton. I said I didn't want to seem like I was throwing my son at him and plus he had some grade issues that weren't worked out yet.

"This was back in December. Once all of his class work checked out which happened recently, he decided to go ahead and offer him. Anton is excited and so am I. I played for Dennis at San Jose State so I know what a great coach he is and I think he'll be great for Anton."