Oregon St. Adds Arizona TE Matt Pistone

It's been the hottest week of the year in Corvallis, and perhaps that helped Oregon St. in landing a TE from somewhere where its routinely even hotter.

The Beavers received a commitment for their 2015 class from Matt Pistone from Yuma Catholic in Yuma, AZ.

Pistone is a 6'4". 235 lb. 2 way player, and helped lead the Shamrocks to an Arizona St. Division III Championship last fall. He will play tight end for the Beavers, and is a 3 star recruit at that position according to both Rivals.com and Scout.com.

Here's his highlight video:

Pistone caught 27 passes for 374 yards and 8 touchdowns last year, including 3 scoring grabs in the state title winning 63-35 victory over Round Valley.

Pistone was also a defensive force as a defensive end, with 84 tackles, 14 1/2 sacks, and 4 fumble recoveries last fall. Pistone also stars for the Shamrock basketball team, and averaged 10.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists last year enroute to a state semi-final playoff berth.

Pistone also had offers from Pac-12 schools Washington and Colorado, other FBS schools including Boise St., Northwestern, New Mexico St., San Diego St., UTEP, Vanderbilt, and Wyoming, and also FBS power Montana, as well as Northern Arizona, Austin Peay, and South Dakota ST.

Oregon St. was the first school to offer Pistone, and that made a difference, according to Pistone.

"As soon as they offered, I knew they had confidence in me," Pistone said. "That translated into me believing that when I get there, they'll have confidence in me on the football field that I'll be able to make plays."

Pistone also becomes the first athlete from Yuma to go directly to a Division I school out of high school in 20 years.

When both Tyler Perry and Hayden Craig retired from football, and the TE position, due to multiple injuries, it left the position suddenly thin. And with Connor Hamlett graduating after this coming season, and graduated transfer Jacob Wark also only around for 1 year, only Caleb Smith and Kellen Clute from the current roster will be around when Pistone arrives, and they will both be seniors then.

Getting Pistone, who was primarily recruited by Tavita Thompson, is a significant recruiting win for coach Mike Riley when you consider that an offer was on Pistone's table from Washington, and former Boise St. turned Husky head coach Chris Peterson, and also one from Boise St., which was the other finalist Pistone had narrowed his list down to.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com