The purpose of this post is to let you guys inside the mind of Mike Singer. These are my (mostly) unfiltered thoughts about Oregon State football recruiting. As I type this little intro, I don't know how the rest of this post will go, but I hope you enjoy.
- This is my sixth recruiting class I've covered and the third Oregon State class. I can say that every year, information is harder to come by. Sources get a little bit quieter, I guess, but it's mainly that the recruits get much quieter. There are just so many more outlets covering recruiting these days, and kids get contacted for interviews so often. By this time of the year, they're just over it. Heck, there's a couple Oregon State commits that very, very rarely do interviews with anyone. I've never seen anything like it this year in terms of recruits in general doing less and less interviews... Typically, a two star kid would be much easier to get on the phone than a five star kid, but these days, it's about the same. Lol.
- With all of that being said, it can be a little hard to gauge exactly where some of these kids are leaning when I don't get to talk to them directly. Yes, my sources can offer up some thoughts but they're not always right on the money, and recruits these days are even more private to coaches too, not just reporters.
But let's look at the top targets as the early NSD is just six days away.
DE Ray Vohasek: Officially visited OSU in late-October. Also OV'ed to UNC late in November and their new staff is recruiting him hard. Seems like a coin flip between OSU and UNC. He's a big target for Oregon State. Beavers need to lock him up.
OG Siale Liku: Oregon State, Cal, UCLA are the top schools here. I feel like the Beavers are the team to beat here, but my gut is unsure. Liku's recruitment has been all over the place for the past few months, IMO. Not really sure what he's thinking right now.
DE Simon Sandberg: No doubt he's more of a plan B type guy. A few weeks ago, the vibe here was that OSU moved on but I believe they've kept him warm.. We'll see on this one.
OL Jason Rodriguez: Believe he's sticking with USC. Officially visited OSU in October but should end up with the Trojans.
DT Myles Tapusoa: Officially visited OSU last weekend. Oregon offered last week and early indications are that he is not visiting there, but he may try to silently visit the Ducks... Which brings me to my next point. You can't silently visit a place these days. That's just ridiculous. But I'm not going to get into that rant anymore.... Back to Tapusoa, if he does not visit Oregon this weekend, then it's an Arizona (where he's committed to right now) and OSU battle. Toss up.
OL Nathan Eldridge: Haven't heard much here on the Arizona grad transfer center. Nemec tweeted that Eldridge is looking to visit other schools before his decision. Not exactly sure when Eldridge plans on choosing a school. He's not in a rush as a grad transfer.
OL Sataoa Laumea: Source says OSU is not a favorite here. Likely UCLA, Utah, or Cal.
TE Kyle Patterson: Beavers are on the outside looking in here. Don't believe they pushed hard for him, as they feel good with their TE situation. Likely headed to Washington.
OL Jacob Ferenczi: Look for him to sign in February. Obviously, gotta like OSU's chances here..
DE James Rawls: Will also sign in February. Rawls will officially visit OSU in January.
- December has been pretty quiet for Oregon State. Just two official visitors last weekend and right now, it doesn't look like OSU will have any this weekend. At first glance, that seems a bit concerning, but I'd argue the opposite. What I've said about this OSU staff under Jonathan Smith (remember, this is his first full class) is that they have a plan of what prospects they want and have a plan in place for various domino effects. They don't overreact and start recruiting various recruits that come open on the market; instead, they focus on the recruits they've invested in for months. So they've already had their top guys on campus. Just need to close the deal.
- So with 14 commits, 4 transfers, and 2 others in Josh Bowcut (coming off LDS mission) and Josh Gray (gray shirt) that are coming in January, the thought here is that OSU will bring in 4-5 more. Maybe OSU adds just one more guy next week, then two more in February, and one grad transfer in the spring. They don't need to overreact and just add a bunch of guys next week. There will be good recruits out there in January that fall through the cracks.
- Here's a projection of what OSU's class would look like in a perfect but also realistic world.. Obviously, subject to change
(In bold are guys not currently committed to OSU)
QB
Tristan Gebbia
RB
Taron Madison
WR
Tyjon Lindsey
Anthony Gould
TE
Luke Musgrave
OL
Josh Bowcut
Josh Gray
Rob Vanderlaan
Siale Liku
Nathan Eldridge
Jacob Ferenczi
DL
Kelsen Hennessy
Cory Stover
Evan Bennett
Jordan Whittley
Ray Vohasek
James Rawls
LB
Omar Speights
Michael Erhart
Ryan Franke
Addison Gumbs
Avery Roberts
DB
Wynston Russell
Jojo Forest
Alex Austin
11 offense
14 defense
25 total
12 lineman, 13 everywhere else
Got questions for me? Fire away.
- This is my sixth recruiting class I've covered and the third Oregon State class. I can say that every year, information is harder to come by. Sources get a little bit quieter, I guess, but it's mainly that the recruits get much quieter. There are just so many more outlets covering recruiting these days, and kids get contacted for interviews so often. By this time of the year, they're just over it. Heck, there's a couple Oregon State commits that very, very rarely do interviews with anyone. I've never seen anything like it this year in terms of recruits in general doing less and less interviews... Typically, a two star kid would be much easier to get on the phone than a five star kid, but these days, it's about the same. Lol.
- With all of that being said, it can be a little hard to gauge exactly where some of these kids are leaning when I don't get to talk to them directly. Yes, my sources can offer up some thoughts but they're not always right on the money, and recruits these days are even more private to coaches too, not just reporters.
But let's look at the top targets as the early NSD is just six days away.
DE Ray Vohasek: Officially visited OSU in late-October. Also OV'ed to UNC late in November and their new staff is recruiting him hard. Seems like a coin flip between OSU and UNC. He's a big target for Oregon State. Beavers need to lock him up.
OG Siale Liku: Oregon State, Cal, UCLA are the top schools here. I feel like the Beavers are the team to beat here, but my gut is unsure. Liku's recruitment has been all over the place for the past few months, IMO. Not really sure what he's thinking right now.
DE Simon Sandberg: No doubt he's more of a plan B type guy. A few weeks ago, the vibe here was that OSU moved on but I believe they've kept him warm.. We'll see on this one.
OL Jason Rodriguez: Believe he's sticking with USC. Officially visited OSU in October but should end up with the Trojans.
DT Myles Tapusoa: Officially visited OSU last weekend. Oregon offered last week and early indications are that he is not visiting there, but he may try to silently visit the Ducks... Which brings me to my next point. You can't silently visit a place these days. That's just ridiculous. But I'm not going to get into that rant anymore.... Back to Tapusoa, if he does not visit Oregon this weekend, then it's an Arizona (where he's committed to right now) and OSU battle. Toss up.
OL Nathan Eldridge: Haven't heard much here on the Arizona grad transfer center. Nemec tweeted that Eldridge is looking to visit other schools before his decision. Not exactly sure when Eldridge plans on choosing a school. He's not in a rush as a grad transfer.
OL Sataoa Laumea: Source says OSU is not a favorite here. Likely UCLA, Utah, or Cal.
TE Kyle Patterson: Beavers are on the outside looking in here. Don't believe they pushed hard for him, as they feel good with their TE situation. Likely headed to Washington.
OL Jacob Ferenczi: Look for him to sign in February. Obviously, gotta like OSU's chances here..
DE James Rawls: Will also sign in February. Rawls will officially visit OSU in January.
- December has been pretty quiet for Oregon State. Just two official visitors last weekend and right now, it doesn't look like OSU will have any this weekend. At first glance, that seems a bit concerning, but I'd argue the opposite. What I've said about this OSU staff under Jonathan Smith (remember, this is his first full class) is that they have a plan of what prospects they want and have a plan in place for various domino effects. They don't overreact and start recruiting various recruits that come open on the market; instead, they focus on the recruits they've invested in for months. So they've already had their top guys on campus. Just need to close the deal.
- So with 14 commits, 4 transfers, and 2 others in Josh Bowcut (coming off LDS mission) and Josh Gray (gray shirt) that are coming in January, the thought here is that OSU will bring in 4-5 more. Maybe OSU adds just one more guy next week, then two more in February, and one grad transfer in the spring. They don't need to overreact and just add a bunch of guys next week. There will be good recruits out there in January that fall through the cracks.
- Here's a projection of what OSU's class would look like in a perfect but also realistic world.. Obviously, subject to change
(In bold are guys not currently committed to OSU)QB
Tristan Gebbia
RB
Taron Madison
WR
Tyjon Lindsey
Anthony Gould
TE
Luke Musgrave
OL
Josh Bowcut
Josh Gray
Rob Vanderlaan
Siale Liku
Nathan Eldridge
Jacob Ferenczi
DL
Kelsen Hennessy
Cory Stover
Evan Bennett
Jordan Whittley
Ray Vohasek
James Rawls
LB
Omar Speights
Michael Erhart
Ryan Franke
Addison Gumbs
Avery Roberts
DB
Wynston Russell
Jojo Forest
Alex Austin
11 offense
14 defense
25 total
12 lineman, 13 everywhere else
Got questions for me? Fire away.
