Mike Riley Leads The Uphill Fight For Oregon State.

By HD.

Oregon State coach Mike Riley is looking to rebound from a 5-7 season, the Beavers' first losing record in five years. Here's how it's gone for him since the end of last season. We like to call it, You Think You've Had It Tough:

All-American defensive tackle Stephen Paea graduated. Three-time All-Pac-10 tailback Jacquizz Rodgers left after his junior season for this weekend's NFL draft. Quizz's brother, former all-conference wideout and kick returner James Rodgers -- who had two knee surgeries to repair the MCL and ACL he tore last season -- has yet to begin to run.

Wide receiver Jordan Bishop tore a ligament in his ankle playing basketball in January. Quarterback Ryan Katz missed all live work during spring practice as he recuperated from wrist surgery. H-back Joe Halahuni, who actually made it to spring ball, injured his left shoulder and may not be ready until mid-September.

Just to top it off, it's been a cold, wet, miserable April. Spring practice, which concludes Saturday, can't conclude fast enough.

Of course, when you're Riley, every down is third-and-long. Oregon State is a little guy in a conference that keeps getting bigger. Disadvantage is as commonplace as raingear around here.

Oregon State football is the guy who lives down the street from the guy who won the lottery. Oregon used to be a regular Joe, too. The two schools used to never stray too far from one another in the basement of the league.

The University of Oregon, just a half-hour or so from Corvallis, has become the heartthrob of college football. America can't wait to see what it wears every Saturday, much less how it plays. The Ducks have benefited from the largesse of former Ducks track athlete Phil Knight, who has lavished his swooshed millions on his alma mater.

Take last summer, when the Pac-10 season preview for the media concluded after a dinner in Los Angeles. Riley booked a commercial flight for the following morning.

"Why don't you just come back with me in the private plane?" Oregon coach Chip Kelly said.

As he told the story, Riley's lean, angular face broke into a grin.

"The people who unloaded the stuff at the Eugene airport did a double take when I got off the plane after Chip," Riley said. "It was kind of funny. I like him. He's a good guy."

Riley doesn't lay awake at night, wondering why Knight couldn't have run for the Beavers.

"Thirty miles' difference," Riley said. "And back in those days, we had pretty good track, too. In the [era] Phil was competing, we had Dick Fosbury."

Oregon got the gazillionaire. Oregon State got the inventor of the Fosbury Flop.

Riley calls himself "a silver-lining guy." The only proven playmaker who has made it with all body parts intact to the spring game is wide receive Markus Wheaton. Riley's take: "The backups have gotten a lot of good work. They're better players for it."

George Schroeder, a columnist for the Eugene Register-Guard, refers to Corvallis as Mayberry and Riley as Sheriff Taylor, which is just about perfect. Riley grew up in Corvallis, "a five-minute town."

"I know this place," Riley said. "I love it and I can recruit to it with a passion."

Oregon state Head Football Coach Annouces 2011 Signing Class.

By Hunter Hendrickson

Oregon State football head coach Mike Riley announced the team’s 2011 signing class on Wednesday afternoon.

The Beavers announced that 24 players have signed with the Beavers for the 2011 season.

A full list of signees can be found by clicking here. Please see below for a sampling of what Coach Riley had to say about the class.

Head Coach Mike Riley

Opening statement…
“Signing day is always an exciting day, and obviously a very positive and optimistic day. We are excited about this group. This is the culmination of at least a year’s work, and sometimes, for some individuals that we’ve known longer than that, it stretches into a year-and-a-half or two years. To get to this day is a major deal. From the start of this term, with the grayshirts, right up to today, we’ve added 31 names to our roster.

“We have to get through everybody getting their applications, getting accepted and being certified. We have to get through all of that in the next little while, but that’s a normal process and we feel like we have hit the mark in some areas where we really needed to address. You want to get good football players and you want to balance it out with the right number of guys, if you can, at each position where you’re trying to go. If you look at our deal, we’re going to be heavy in the defensive line and there are a lot of names here. I wish I could have them here right now and line them up; it’s a great looking group of guys. I’m very excited about that.

“We wanted to find some guys, some playmakers that would impact our program, perhaps immediately, at the wide receiver area. I’m very excited about that. Running back for the Beavers is always important, particularly now with Quizz coming out early for the NFL draft. Now it’s very important that we add some great competition there, and some good depth.

“We didn’t want as many numbers, but we wanted to get a couple of offensive linemen, which we did. We wanted to get a tight end, which we did. We got our place kicker who came in as a grayshirt and waited until Justin Kahut graduated to start his eligibility process.

“We got another guy, usually one a year - you go through all the process, all the names, and all the film to get to one quarterback, which we did. We got a corner in the process. We got a couple of really good, athletic speed linebackers. We got a smattering everywhere, but we really hit the mark with our numbers with what we wanted to do with the defensive line and wide receiver core.”

On Malcome Agnew and Storm Woods…
“We saw these guys a long time ago and recruited them hard for a long time, kind of selecting them out of all the guys we evaluated, and we really like both their versatility and their production. They’ve been really productive guys and I think that for us they’re going to be bona fide contenders early. A running back that can run the football - like Quizz came in as a true freshman and he just started playing - so we’re going to let this play out. These guys are guys who are used to carrying the loads for their teams; they’ve been very productive, and size-wise, they’re going to be absolutely fine when they come in here. They can both run and catch the ball, so the kind of versatility we need we’re getting in these two guys.”

On the wide receivers…
“He’s an overall exciting football player, whether it’s returning a kick or catching the ball and running with it, screen passes down the field. I think that he fits in as a natural flanker for the Beavers. He’s somebody who can run the fly sweep, somebody who can go deep and catch the ball.

“Richard Mullaney is just an outstanding football player. He looks great playing safety on defense; broke the California state record for catches in one year at 122. You talk about production and athleticism and competitiveness, and Mullaney brings that to us.

“Tyler Trosin is another guy who had been recruited by major schools as a safety. We really love him as a receiver, a playmaker, a tough guy, just a really good football player.

“Tyrequek Zimmerman is another big, strong, playmaker at receiver. He plays a heck of a safety. I love these guys who play receiver and that play both ways. I think you’re looking at overall football players. Trosin did that, Mullaney did that, Zimmerman did that, and Cooks could be used in that way.

“It’s a great group of receivers; I love that group.”

On the process of selecting quarterback Peter Ashton…
“It looks like he’s a spread quarterback; a runner. Frankly, if that was all we had on him, that’s probably where we would have left it. I don’t know that we would have recruited him, but he actually came to camp out here and threw for us. I really liked his athletic ability, his arm, and his accuracy. If you watch the guy play defense, watch him run the football, he has great feet. He’ll be a very versatile guy. If he weren’t going to play quarterback, which he is for us, he would be an outstanding prospect at safety. He can really run. I think he can easily run in the 4.5 category. ”

On Darryl Jackson…
“He is a very agile 330. I’m very excited about Darryl Jackson. Justin Addie is a good athlete coming in here as an offensive lineman we just signed out of Arizona. He was hurt for the year; we basically recruited and evaluated him off of last year, then he had a wrist problem all season. He’s playing basketball now, which is good, another multi-sport athlete. Darryl Jackson is a grayshirt who came in January and is a big athlete. I anticipate with Darryl being here, he’s a true freshman for this whole time and he’ll have the off-season program and spring practice and the summer workouts, I anticipate him having a chance to move right into the mix here for competition.”

Jacquizz Rodgers Declares for NFL Draft.

By Hunter Hendrickson

Oregon State University junior tailback Jacquizz Rodgers announced Monday that he will enter the 2011 NFL Draft.

"I've thought long and hard about this decision," Rodgers said. "I want to thank all of Beaver Nation for their support throughout my time here at Oregon State. Without all of that support I wouldn't be in this position."

No doubt that Jaquizz Helped Oregon state in the past 3 years. With his brother, James, going down with a injury this year, Jacquizz had to be the leader and he was. Despite No Blocking.

"We all at Oregon State wish Quizz the greatest success and look forward to watching his career continue in the NFL," head coach Mike Riley said from the American Football Coaches Association convention in Dallas, Texas. "He has certainly impacted both the football team and our lives at Oregon State. He has set a tremendous example as an Oregon State football player."

Rodgers, who is one of only three running backs in Pac-10 history to earn first team All-Pac-10 honors, and is sixth in conference history in rushing.

Rodgers' name is littered throughout the Oregon State record book. He finishes his career at Oregon State as the school's second all-time leading rusher with 3,877 yards, which also ranks sixth in Pac-10 Conference history. He is second with 46 rushing touchdowns and is tied for second with 19 games with 100-plus yards rushing. Rodgers is also the career leader in receptions by a running back with 151 and is third with 306 points scored in his career.

An ethnic studies major, Rodgers intends to return to Oregon State to finish his degree.

Rodgers has until 72 hours after the NFL's January 15 declaration deadline to withdraw his name.

The 2011 NFL Draft is scheduled for April 28-30 and will be televised by ESPN and the NFL Network.

And Jacquizz will of course have a Great NFL Career and I will most certainley watch him there.