FOOTBALL
- With signing
day just a little over a week away the 2009 recruiting class continued to
fluctuate as WR Tramaine Thompson
switched to Kansas State while four
star OL Michael Philipp and three star WR Markus
Wheaton, the cousin of former UO cornerback Kenny
Wheaton, said they want to wear the Orange and Black.
- OL Joshua
Andrews is now a "soft verbal" as he decides between OSU and Washington
after tripping to Seattle last weekend. (Scout.com classifies a committed recruit who takes an official visit to another school as a soft verbal, until he reaffirms his commitment or makes the verbal commitment to another school.
- The Tacoma News
Tribune released its yearly Northwest
Nuggets article that highlights the publication's picks for top recruits in the Northwest. Several
recruits, including WR Gino Simone
and OT Charles Siddoway,
that Oregon State recruited but verbaled elsewhere, made the exclusive six
man list. OSU was not shutout though as OL Grant
Enger and DB Kyrell Hudson
were honorable mention picks. Siddoway (Sheldon), DE Taylor
Hart (Tualatin) and RB Malcom Johnson (Gresham)
were the only players from Oregon that made the 17 man list.
- OL Andy
Levitre participated in Senior Bowl practices all week long playing
left guard along with right and left tackle. He kept a diary (M/Tu
| Th | F
| Sa) of
his experiences. Levitre talked with a number of scouts with New England and
the New York Jets showing him the most interest.
For the next three weeks Levitre will be training in Denver for the NFL
Combine in February.
- Levitre's agent
Leo Goeas had this to say about his performance in the Senior
Bowl, "Andy got in late in the first quarter and other than a couple
of series played the rest of the game. He played the majority of his reps
at left guard, however he did play right tackle as he had been all week. He
had a very good performance, looking very strong in his run blocks. He had
no sacks or pressures in the passing game.''
- While Team Levitre
felt good about his performance, other observers (NFLDraftScout.com
and SI.com)
noted that Levitre had trouble keeping the quicker defensive ends in check.
He still appears one of the top two offensive guards in the draft, but may need
a strong performance at the combine to bump his stock back up, at least in the eyes of those noted above.
- The Santa
Cruz Sentinel had a
nice piece on Levitre and his journey from San Lorenzo Valley High star
to All-American to a potential first day draft pick. OSU offensive line coach
Mike Cavanaugh called No. 66 the, "the most complete player
I've ever coached" while adding, "He's a smart athlete and tough.
He's a finisher. He plays with power and balance. He has all the tools to
be a great one."
- CB Keenan
Lewis participated in Senior Bowl practices until Wednesday when
he pulled a groin. He snagged a couple of interceptions before his injury, however,
and several reports had Lewis' stock has gone up.
- The Times-Picayune
featured
an article on Lewis saying that he had 60 friends and family coming to
watch him play. Other notables are he was the biggest of the nine cornerbacks
(6-1, 198 lbs) at the Senior Bowl and he had the longest reach (32 3/4 inches).
- Lewis, a New
Orleans native, made headlines after he stated he wanted to play for the New
Orleans Saints, "I definitely hope that one day I'll be able to come
back and play for New Orleans. I hope they bring me home."
- Two former Oregon
State stars and now NFL free agents were in the news this week. The Vikings
are reportedly interested in QB Derek
Anderson while the Seahawks are looking to ink WR T.J.
Houshmanzadeh.
- And speaking
of Houshmanzadeh, The Onion had this satirical piece on President Obama shutting down Gitmo and how that
is a relief to Houshmanzadeh who has "suffered through daily questioning
sessions at the hands of government interrogators since being detained last
December."
- Rumors were
rampant in the newspapers, blogs and on the message boards that Oregon State offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf was
a finalist for the vacant Miami Hurricanes
offensive coordinator position. The rumors turned out to be false as coach
Mike Riley told The
Oregonian, "I've been with Danny since Monday, driving around Texas
and Oklahoma. Danny doesn't know (UM coach) Randy Shannon, he's never been
contacted by anyone from the school."
- Five former
Oregon State players - Brandon Hughes,
Keenan Lewis, Victor
Butler, Andy Levitre and Sammie
Stroughter - will participate in the NFL Combine from Feb. 20-26
at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Hughes and Lewis will be working out
with the cornerbacks, Stroughter with the receivers while Butler will be with
the outside linebackers and Levitre will be with the offensive guards. Those
without a social life can catch drill after drill on the NFL Network.
- For the second
straight year the College Football Live blog has named Oregon State as the
program with the
best family atmosphere stating, "Whether the offense is growing beards
as a sign of solidarity or the athletes are raising money and awareness for
underprivileged children, head coach Mike Riley is the person setting the
foundation. Coaches around the league send transfer players to Riley because
of the person he is."
MEN'S
BASKETBALL
- It was a a big
week for the Oregon State basketball program. First, the inauguration of Barak
Obama, Craig Robinson's
brother-in-law, brought
national media coverage to the Oregon State basketball program. Robinson
did his part sporting an orange and black scarf during the ceremony.
Second, not surprisingly he received a standing ovation from the Berkeley
faithful when he stepped on the court for warm ups. Then his team promptly
dispatched the Bears 69-65 who were 15-3 and receiving votes for the Top 25
before the loss to the Beavers.
The team followed up their win in Haas Pavilion by defeating Stanford
77-62 Saturday on the Farm for the their first sweep of the Bay Area schools
in 16 years.
The Beavers never trailed as they jumped out to a 16-2 lead while shooting
68 percent in the second half.
- ESPN.com named
the Oregon State basketball team its
Team of the Week saying, "Quite frankly, this has been one phenomenal
week for Robinson's family, the Beavers and the ultimate direction of the
program."
- Forward Roeland
Schaftenaar was in the "starting rotation" for ESPN.com's
Player of the Week honors stating that Schaftenaar is the perfect fit for
Robinson's Princeton-style system while adding, "If he can continue this
performance, the Beavers might not be out of tournament contention yet."
- The CBS This
Morning show will be in Corvallis Monday to do a feature on Robinson. The
Beavers play Cal State Bakersfield at 7 PM that night before squaring off
against the Oregon Ducks, who are winless (0-8) in the Pac-10, Saturday.
- If you haven't
seen it already take a look at Oregon State bound Jared
Cunningham taking off along the baseline, outside the key, and dunking on an unfortunate
individual. Cunningham is a three star recruit by Scout.com. On Thursday he
played his first game in front of Robinson scoring
24-points, unfortunately O'Dowd lost.
MISCELLANEOUS
- If you need
a quick distraction or a break from work try out the NCAA
College Team name quiz. At 7:40 in the morning I got 60 of 73, eh, pretty
decent and it shows I am not a complete sports nerd.
- ESPN's SportsCenter
is putting together a "Mt. Rushmore of Sports" for each state and
needs your help determining Oregon's. Visit ESPN.com
to nominate your favorite(s).
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