Oregon St. Adds A Transfer TE

Oregon St. has picked up another player for the coming season, as former California TE Jacob Wark will join the tight end group.

Wark, who has graduated from the Berkeley campus, becomes the latest in a long list of defections from the Bears after the 3-9 campaign that ended the Jeff Tedford era spiraled downward to a 1-11 season last fall under Sonny Dykes.

Wark, who is 6'4" & 250 lbs., is a local product, from Portland's Jesuit High, and will walk on at Oregon St., where he can use his 1 remaining year of eligibility due to having his degree in hand.

Wark's best season at Cal came in 2012, when he started 7 games and caught 7 balls for 74 yards, and was also the Bear's third-leading kick returner. But he saw his time dwindle when Dykes arrived, and had only 2 catches last season, notably in the "Bear Raid".

One of those catches went for a touchdown, and more Beaver fans will recall that than Bear fans, since Beaver fans were about the only ones left in Memorial Stadium besides the Cal band when Zach Kline, who also has left Berkeley early, for Butte College, a JC, and could become a Beaver down the line himself, found Wark for a 1 yard touchdown, at Steven Christian's expense, that was the last score of the game, making the final 49-17 in Oregon St's rout of California last Oct. 16.

Here's a look:

Wark joins an already deep group, which returns starters Connor Hamlett and Caleb Smith, as well as Tyler Perry and Kellen Klute.

But tight end is one of head coach Mike Riley's favorite positions, and what was a group that Riley had more depth and quality at than exists in some conferences took several hits this spring, when the Beavers moved sophomore to be Dustin Stanton in to offensive tackle, at least for the time being, and then Hayden Craig decided to retire medically due to multiple concussions, followed by signee Jake Knight, who was recruited as an OLB, but also was a TE possibility, deciding to focus on track and field in college, and not play football.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com