NOTE:
To be eligible for the BF.C All-Decade Team the players must have played at
least 50-percent of their careers this decade (2000-2009) at Oregon State. For
the all-time letter winners visit OSUBeavers.com.
Discuss our selections
on the BF.C message boards
with your Beaver brethren. For the released articles so far, click
here.
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KR
#8 | 5-7, 185 |
JAMES RODGERS |
| Lettered at
OSU: 2007-current |
| High school:
Lamar Cons HS | Rosenberg, TX |
| Awards/All-conference:
2008 first team All-Pac-10 kick returner What others say:
Oregon State coach Mike Riley - “Leading receiver in the
conference by a lot, leading all-purpose player by a lot, runs our fly sweep
for almost 300 yards, returns punts and kickoffs. We’re getting about
four players in one person.”
Career synopsis: The great kickoff
returners get the ball and head straight up the field and that's exactly
what James Rodgers does.
The 5-foot-6 dynamo doesn't dance around
and he doesn't shy away from hits. He explodes through the hole and punishes
any player that is in his way.
With one more year to go Rodgers has 1,780
career kickoff return yards which is 380 yards less than Ray Taroli
who holds the career kickoff return yards record.
Career statistics: 74 returns for
1,780 yards (24.0 ypr), one touchdown
|
Runner up: Gerard Lawson
(2004-07) - Another north-south runner with good speed Lawson averaged 23.1
yards every time he returned a kickoff. His 100-yard sprint against Hawaii in
2006 tied the school record for the longest return in school history.