Oregon State Football: Most Valuable Player Countdown - #46 Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson

#46: Shemia Unutoa-Whitson - Outside Linebacker

Do you remember last season when Oregon State ran through outside linebackers like Pez Candy? Oh no, you blocked it out from your memory? Well good for you on erasing that curse from last year. Because of those injuries, several true freshman, including Shemiah Unutoa “Cool” Whitson (emphasis on the ‘h’) received vital playing time.

Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson (how about we shorten that to SUW?) ended up totaling 13 tackles last year after being thrust into action alongside another true freshman, Andrzej Hughes-Murray. His best game was at UCLA where he garnered six of those tackles.

While OSU hit the reset button this offseason to get everyone healthy again at the outside linebacker position, SUW will have the benefit of all the playing time over classmates Shemar Smith, Hamilcar Rashed Jr., and Kee Whetzel. Another advantage SUW has is his size. Weighing in at 240 pounds, he’s one of the bigger OLBs on the team, bulking up from 226 when he first arrived at OSU. But don’t let that size full you, though he did not record a sack last, he showed enough speed and athleticism to get his hands on the quarterback multiple times last year. Look for SUW’s development to become a quality pass rusher and tackling machine in the 2017 season.

The List So Far:

#46: Shemiah Unutoa-Whitson - OLB

#47: Kolby Taylor - WR

#48: Darell Garretson - QB

#49: Jordan Choukair & Adley Rutschman - K

#50: Thor Katoa - DT/OLB