Oregon State Wide Receiver Hunter Jarmon Quits Football, Signs With San Diego Padres

With the start of his senior football season for the Beavers only months away, wide receiver Hunter Jarmon was expected to be a steadily-relied upon piece within Oregon State’s offense. Instead, Jarmon will be nowhere in the mix, as he’s decided to forgo his final year of college football eligibility to sign a professional baseball contract with the San Diego Padres. Jarmon made the news public via a post on his Twitter account.

The news came as a stunning surprise to most of those in Beaver Nation, since Jarmon hasn’t pursued much of a baseball career at all since playing sparingly for Oregon State’s baseball team over the course of a four-game span during the 2014 season. However, on the football depth chart, Jarmon was believed to be a contending with Timmy Hernandez, Trevon Bradford and a laundry list of incoming recruits for the potential number-two receiver spot behind NFL-sized target Jordan Villamin. Recently, Jarmon had impressed in the Beavers “Spring Game” catching five passes for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Head coach Gary Andersen was quick to comment on Jarmon’s decision, stating that, "We 100% support Hunter's decision to pursue this tremendous opportunity of a baseball career at this time in his life. He is a quality young man and we wish him the very best in pursuing this course." Yet despite Andersen’s support, the departure of Jarmon does leave more questions than answers for the football team at the wide receiver spot.

With the aforementioned Villamin coming off a disappointing 2016 campaign, Andersen will need more out of both Hernandez and Bradford next season, as fellow receiver Seth Collins may possibly redshirt the year due to lingering health problems. The hole in the depth chart would also likely put more pressure on early enrollee Isaiah Hodgins, a consensus four-star recruit, undersized target Xavier Hawkins and tight end Noah Togiai, to all perform at a higher-level than originally expected.

The Beavers kick-off their season on Saturday, August 26th at 11:30 AM PT at the brand new Colorado State Stadium in Fort Collins. To learn more about Oregon State’s first 2017 opponent in the Rams, check out our “Opponent Spring Preview” on Colorado State.