Oregon St. Recruiting Recovering Nicely

One of the inevitable affects of the coaching transition at Oregon St. from the Mike Riley to Gary Andersen, and the change of most of the staff, was the reconsideration by several commits, but that happens everywhere when such changes in leadership occur. It just hadn't happened in Corvallis in the modern era.

What matters is the quality of recruits that the new staff can attract to refill the recruiting class, and Anderson, and especially Defensive Coordinator/Grandstand Dancer Kalani Sitakie, and RB coach Telly Lockette.

Jamie had a great breakdown of the 3 new faces from Florida from a week ago, 3 star recruits RB Taylor Thomas and Jay Irvine from Jacksonville, and, DE Keivonnis Davis, a Miami Central product originally committed to Syracuse.

Then in conjunction with last week's visitation (big thanks to the men's basketball team for playing a great, and more importantly, exciting game to beat USC, and to Beaver Nation that made Gill Coliseum seem like a loud and fun place), Oregon St. has gotten another pair.

Elu Aydon was in the stands Saturday to see the game, and the 6'3", 310 DT from American Samoa who had previously committed to Wisconsin, and also had standing offers from Colorado, Nevada, and Hawaii, announced his decision to make Corvallis his permanent destination.

The Beavers also picked up a running back with a combination of some size and speed, 6'1", 200 lb. Zachary Lopini Katoa, from American Fork, UT.

Lopini Katoa had an offer from Utah St. and was originally targeted by BYU & Utah as well. The timing of his arrival is undecided, as he is also considering going on a mission.

Jamie has more insight on both Aydon and Lopini Katoa as well.

The Beavers are still last in the Pac-12 in overall rating of their 2015 recruiting class, but have moved up into the 80's nationwide, after sinking well below #100, and it will only rise with additional commits still to come, before National Letter of Intent Day next Wednesday, Feb. 4.

A commit that would really help would be Simi Moala, from Cathedral High in Los Angeles, who was also in the stands last Saturday.

Moala, a 6'7", 240 lb. DE that reminded me of Washington All-American Hau'oli Kikaha, is a 3-star rush threat that was leaning hard to Utah before the relocation of assistant coach Ilaisa Tuiaki, who originally recruited Moala as the Utes' defensive line coach, before becoming the Oregon St. linebackers coach.

Moala appeared to be seriously leaning toward flipping to Oregon St., but is visiting Miami this weekend before making a decision, one that also includes offers from Washington St. and Fresno St.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com