Where is the furthest any season ticket holder travels to Beaver football home games?

I got an interesting comment yesterday asking about Beaver football season ticket holders. What's the furthest season ticket holder by distance? I've certainly heard of Central Oregon season ticket holders and maybe even some from Washington. Southern Oregon could be a bit of a haul.

So if you are or know of a season ticket holder who travels a looong way for each home game, leave a comment and I'll make a cool Google map widget to show where people are from and calculate the furthest season ticket holder.


On a side not: OSU Basketball is slipping further and further from relevance for Beaver nation this year. The G-T has way more articles on the 2-time national champion OSU Baseball team than the hoops team these days. I find myself watching more NBA games than I have in the last 10 years. Hmm, I wonder how many new Blazer fans are also Beavers fans?

OSU Beavers Recruits: Tony Wilson

Since we just looked at Jordan Bishop, lets take a look at another new Beaver from the Salem area, Tony Wilson.

Tony is a linebacker from Sprague.who is one of the better players to come out of the state. He's projected to be a middle linebacker with decent speed.

Area football players commit to universities - Statesman Journal

Wilson, a second-team all-state linebacker as a senior and former Central Valley Conference defensive player of the year, picked Oregon State over an offer from Portland State and interest from Washington and Oregon.

Oregon State's reputation as the west coast Linebacker U helped draw Wilson's interest to Corvallis.

"That's one of the reasons why I committed is just their defense and last year they were probably one of the best in the Pac-10 or the best," said Wilson, who plans on majoring in business.

I love to hear about OSU being linebacker U. Especially when recruits talk about it.

Tony Wilson Profile - OSUBeavers.com

Chris Fetters on Wilson - "Wilson brings a lot of things that other big linebackers may not have - and that's athleticism. He’s big, strong, tough, physical - but he's also really athletic for his size and moves extremely well, a very fluid runner. On top of that, he's a very smart player"

Tony Wilson Flip... - Tony Wilson LOI signing ceremony

Scout Profile
Rivals Profile - Highlight Video 1 - Video 2

Recruiting Spotlight: Jordan Bishop

WR Jordan Bishop was a good in-state get for the Beavers out of Salem. He joins Tony Wilson, a LB, as two of the top in state recruits for OSU.

Jordan played DB and WR in High School, but looks to use his size (6-3, 195), speed (49.56 in the 400), and athleticism (23' 6 in long jump) to dominate at wide receiver in the coming years.

Jordan was lured partially by the expected return of Track and Field at OSU. That's great that its already happening. I figured to return of track would be good to help increase the overall team speed on the football team.

Area football players commit to universities - Statesman Journal

Bishop also had to weigh offers to compete in track and field, a sport in which he also excels.

But after getting into football this fall, he decided the lure of the sport was too much to pass up.

"Oregon State is also getting a track team in 2010, which is my sophomore year, if I'm still into it, I'm going to probably do track then, too," said Bishop, who likely will greyshirt or redshirt next year.

One note in the Statesman Journal, it appears that Jordan will greyshirt and look to start playing on 2009.
Football: Here’s a look at which local players are going where - Statesman Journal

West Salem’s Jordan Bishop has verbally committed to play at Oregon State as well. Bishop, according to West Salem coach Shawn Stanley, will greyshirt next year and delay enrollment until January of 2009.

Here's his profile on OSUBeavers.com:
Jordan Bishop, WR, 6-3, 195, Salem, Ore. (West Salem) - OSUBeavers.com

...head coach Shawn Stanley on Bishop – “If he is not a Division I receiver than I will never coach one because he is the best I will ever get -- I have never seen anyone catch him from behind.”

Other Links:


Jordan Bishop Football Highlights Part I - Part II - Part III

Scout Profile
Rivals Profile


Jordan Bishop Track and Field Athlete Profile

One more signee?

Looks like we will be getting one more commitment coming is soon:

Several from isles mainland-bound - Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Si'ilata (6-2, 285), who excelled on both sides of the ball, named Oregon State as his choice. However, he did not submit his letter to Kahuku coach Reggie Torres to be faxed.

Kemoeatu and Si'ilata are not NCAA qualifiers yet, but Torres said both are on track academically to clear that hurdle.

He's a 6'1", 325 lbs. offensive lineman out of Kahuku High in Hawai'i.

Scout Profile

Rivals Profile

OSU Beavers Recruits are in - Simi Kuli Spotlight

The Beavers signing day is over and they have done well. I think there are still a couple of players who may sign late (including a punter), but this is the class!

Signing Day - Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 - OSUBeavers.com

I thought I'd see what I could find out there about Simi Kuli. He was the #1 rated JC player and a 5 star player for both Scout and Rivals. At defensive end, he looks big and fast. He's going to be a good one.

Some highlights from his college career:

* Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 for the Mission Conference
* 2007 Stats: 68 tackles; 7 sacks; 29 quarterback hurries
* 2006 Stats: 12 TFL for 44 yards; 3.5 sacks for 24 yards; 10 QB hurries; 2 fumble recoveries; 50 tackles

Simi Kuli Profile - OSUBeavers.com

Simi Kuli Highlight Videos - Rivals.com

News Articles:

Defensive end leads solid class - Gazette-Times

“I think what gave us an edge there was he had enough wisdom to see what we do defensively and he fits into that,” Riley said. “He looked at us where we are nationally as a defensive team. He liked that. Probably bigger than that was how he connected with our team, the players on the team and the former teammates he had at El Camino.”

National letter of intent day - OregonLive.com

"If I were a defensive tackle, I wouldn't want to face him for 60 minutes. . . . He's going to beat you a half-dozen times. He's going to get some sacks. He's going to get some hurries." -- El Camino coach John Featherstone

This concerns me a bit:
Kaveinga decides on USC, where he will join Baucham - DailyBreeze (LA)

Among the El Camino highlights are two Florida State players (RB Tavares Pressley and WR Corey Surrency), a Miami-bound player (FB Patrick Hill) and five Pac-10 players - WR Verran Tucker (Cal), DT Justin Thompson (Oregon), RB Jeremy Francis (Oregon State), OL Brent McNeil (Oregon State) and DE Simi Kuli (Oregon State).

Kuli, a five-star defensive end, needs to complete about 20 units by Aug. 1 before he can join the Beavers.

Hit the books my man! We want to see you in orange and black!

It's Super Wednesday (or LOI signing day)

Huge day for college football programs across the nation. The Beavers are reportedly signing 16 players in addition to the 3 JC guys who have already signed.

This class looks to address a number of needs. First and foremost, the defensive line. 5 star Simi Kuli looks to continue the tradition of great defensive ends at OSU. But also JCs Ben Terry (DE) and Stephen Paea (DT) should help with all the defensive line departures this year. We should have a good mix of new and returning guys up front.

Running back is clearly another area of concern. We recruited there hard last year and may be set with McCants and Mokhtar. However, JC RB Jeremy Francis and 2 HS RBs Jacquizz Rodgers and Jovan Stevenson should make the graduation of Yvenson easier to handle.

There's some very interesting guys in this class who are rated not so high but could turn into the next big thing at OSU. Especially at wide receiver. Keynan Parker is an athlete with 4.3 (!) speed. WR anyone? Also, Jordan Bishop is a big WR out of Salem who looks like he could be very good. WR Kevin Walker out of Cali is our highest rated HS player according to ESPN. He could get some serious playing time next year as a true freshman.

Walker is a thickly built, sturdy wide out that looks great on the hoof. He is a polished wide receiver and it is easy to see he is a coaches kid-- takes pride in the little things.

I like that we're getting another QB and 3 more offensive lineman. Got to keep that pipeline going. We're a bit light on LBs, but the one we got looks pretty good. We're stacked at LB right now anyways.


To get the up to the minute signing day action, go to OSUBeavers.com. Pure-Orange is bound to be hopping too: Recruiting.


NOTE: I heard Mike Parker on the national Fox Sports Morning Radio show talking about Bobby Knight. That would be a big hire for OSU. But would it be a good hire?

Congrats Derek and Chad!

Derek Anderson and Chad Johnson are going to the Pro Bowl. Great reward for a huge year by Derek!

They join T.J. Houshmandzadeh who was already invited.

Oregon State gets no love from recruiting rankings...does it matter?

Signing day is nearing and that means a new hope for the future and a chance to see how everyone stacks up for the next 4 years.

Unfortunately, other than a few stats and opinions by "experts" there's really no way to know how any of these kids will pan out. The ratings are a bit of a joke. They take into account some NFL-esque stats, if they will have a chance to have an impact as a freshman, and maybe one look from someone who knows football, then throws a star ranking on them. But what it doesn't take into account is potential. I.E. a safety who is really fast, but maybe slow for a safety, who puts on 30 pounds and becomes a stud LB who is hard hitting and fast (Doggett, Barnett, Ellison). Or a short, slightly slow RB who is very shifty, tough, and does all the little things right (Simonton, Bernard, Rodgers).

What I'm saying is it doesn't measure potential at all. But coaches like Riley, Banker, Langsdorf, Cav, etc all do. They can build players into something that Rivals, Scout, and ESPN didn't expect and mold a collection of individuals into something greater when they are on the field.

So I cringe when I see another article like this one on ESPN:

Class of 2008 Pac-10 recruiting overview, part one

Saying we're going to be in the bottom half of the Pac-10 for recruiting. Part of that is pure numbers. We had a ton of Greyshirts from last year's class that will add to this current year.

I agree with this assessment:

Underrated Class: Skeptics continue to overlook the Beavers


So stay tuned on February 6th and lets see what the future looks like!


Oregon State 2008 Football Commitments (15) - Rivals.com

Beavers Football Recruiting List - Scout.com