All the prospects have been discussed previously, but its still always a special day when the actual paper work is processed, especially when top of the line recruits are involved.
Both of Oregon St.'s basketball programs pulled in everything they were hoping for, with Wayne Tinkle landing 4 recruits, a couple of them of the 4 star variety, for the mens' team, and Scott Rueck also landing a very solid 3 person class, including the program's first 5 star recruit.
Tinkle's class includes 6'3", 165 lb. guard Derrick Bruce from Orlando, Florida; 6'10" 225 lb. forward Drew Eubanks, from Troutdale, Oregon, both 3 star recruits, and 6'3", 165 lb. guard Stephen Thompson Jr.. from Torrance, California, the son of assistant coach Stephen Thompson; and 6'7", 215 lb. forward Tres Tinkle, the head coach's son, from Missoula, Montana, both of whom are 4 star guys.
Rivals ranks Oregon St.'s recruiting class as #17 in the nation.
"It's neat that they have a nice ranking and we'd rather have that than not," Tinkle said. "But what's more important is we are doing it with kids that are committed to the long haul. This is a group that's committed to being here four to five years, joining the people that we have here currently and adding to it down the road."
Rueck added 5'8" high school Adidas All-American guard Taylor Kalmer from Chandler, Arizona, continuing Rueck's success in the sunny southwest state, and a pair of top in-state recruits, 6'4" post Tarea Green from Hillsboro High in Hillsboro, Oregon, a 3 star center, and 6'2" 5-star shooting guard Katie McWilliams, who can also play some small forward, from South Salem High in Salem, Oregon.
"We are so excited to welcome this class to Oregon State," Rueck remarked. "They are outstanding individuals who come from incredible families. Each has impeccable character, excels academically, and will be outstanding ambassadors for OSU on the court and in our community. I am excited for Beaver Nation to get to know and fall in love with each of them. Collectively this class brings a wealth of talent to our roster and directly addresses our program needs."
And if that weren't exciting enough, baseball coach Pat Casey shared during practice (the baseball team was working on hitting 90 mph sliders from the machine in Truax today after the football team finished their days work in preparation for the visit from 6th ranked Arizona St. on Saturday night) that he had received the official word on several members of what will be the #7 baseball recruiting class in the country as well.
(Because of baseball's partial scholarships, the process of patching together other funding to complete the package some times takes a little longer to finalize.)
The future for all 3 programs definitely got brighter on this cold, but bright, November day!
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com