It’s no secret to football fans that Gary Andersen knows how to turn a program around. Even with his successful two-year stint at the helm of Wisconsin’s football machine, the signature mark on Andersen’s resume may be the work he did in his four seasons as head coach of Utah State.
After back to back 4-8 seasons (in 2009 and 2010), Andersen led Utah State to a 7-6 record in 2011 and capped his time there with an 11-2 season and a bowl win in 2012. Coinciding with this rise was the 2011 recruitment of Chuckie Keeton, the talented quarterback that saw his playing career derailed by injury after his sophomore run.
Why does this matter to the Beavers? Because now (after a 2-10 debut in 2015 with a young program, and the learning opportunities of a 4-8 season in 2016) Coach Andersen is actively recruiting another instant-impact signal caller, the nation’s ninth-ranked pro-style passer in the country: Lancaster, California’s Brevin White.
As reported by Andrew Nemec for OregonLive.com, White took an unofficial visit to Corvallis last week and was “pleasantly surprised” by what he heard from Coach Andersen. In Nemec’s article, he discusses a conversation that White had with Andersen that left the young quarterback impressed with Oregon State’s third-year coach. White left the conversation feeling that “it’s pretty clear how (Andersen) wants to run his team—he wants a disciplined team and a bond of individuals that excel on and off the field.”
(You can read Andrew Nemec’s full article here.)
Landing White won’t be easy, however, as 247sports.com shows that he currently holds offers from eight programs: Arizona State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Washington State. Still, the fact that the four-star recruit was so taken with the coaching staff should offer Beaver fans some hope that they might be lucky enough to witness Gary Andersen’s second “Chuckie Keeton moment”.
If the Utah State parallels continue, then season three is the one where Gary Andersen gets above .500 and leads his program to a bowl appearance—with a surprise quarterback recruit leading the way.