At least four Pac-10 teams are sitting on a top 20 recruiting class. Stanford might end up with the league’s top group. You know USC will close hard, UCLA will pick a few gems, and Washington could have its best class in years.
The Bruins and Trojans are in on the country’s No. 1 recruit according to Scout.com, offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson. USC already has verbal commitments from the country’s top rated wide receiver and tight end.
There is going to be no shortage of high impact Pac-10 newcomers in 2010.
But the Pac-10’s biggest offseason get of all? It’s not a running back who is dashing for seven touchdowns in a state championship game, or a defensive tackle on everyone college coach’s wish list.
No. He’s a greybeard quarterback by college standards who looks like a fire hydrant. And someone who could turn his team into next season’s Pac-10 preseason favorite.
Lyle Moevao.
Mike Riley can turn over rocks and find the usual recruits others don’t want but later wish they had all he wants in months to come. But if he and Oregon State are able to convince the NCAA that Moevao is worthy of a sixth-year medical redshirt, it would be among Riley’s biggest offseason wins.
Ever.
If Oregon State has Moevao at quarterback next season, it is a preseason top 10 team, at a minimum.
Consider next year’s OSU roster. Ten of the team’s 11 top receivers from 2009 return. Quizz is back, along with four of the five starting offensive linemen. The entire front defensive front four returns, if Stephen Paea doesn’t leave early for the NFL. The secondary loses one cornerback, and Tim Clark is easily replaced by Brandon Hardin.
Then consider OSU’s schedule: the big boys come to Corvallis in 2010. USC, Oregon, California and Arizona State are all home games next season. The only knock on Oregon State’s schedule is a September non-conference game at Boise State. Maybe the Beavers will come to their senses and, a) find a way to get out of that game, or b) move it to Dec. 4, when they’re usually playing their best.
I know, Oregon has 17 returning starters, but the Ducks have plenty of troublesome road games. USC is USC, but finally, the Trojans look vulnerable. Arizona has a good cast returning, but until the Wildcats show they can win nine or 10 games, they’re a pretender.
Quarterback is the only ingredient missing from Oregon State’s 2010 team. Ryan Katz or Peter Lalich might do a fine job, but then again, they might not. A good team is not a good team without a good quarterback. Moevao won’t screw it up.
He’s 11-4 as a starter, playing on teams that weren’t as good as next year’s team looks on paper. Moevao is like Oregon’s Jeremiah Masoli, a quarterback who lacks the physical measurables but delivers the numbers that matter: wins.
The odds are decidedly against Moevao and his return in 2010. But if Oregon State is able to pull it off, next week’s Civil War in Eugene doesn’t have to be the end of a Rose Bowl run for the Beavers.
You can pencil in Oregon State for roses in 2011.
Nick Daschel covers the Pacific-10 Conference for Buster Sports, and can be reached at ndaschel@bustersports.com
You can also follow Nick on Twitter
Comments
With the standard though, it's really hard to see him coming back, since he has missed really the majority of one season. As a Duck, I of course think of the long list of players who lost their senior seasons to injury. Colvin, whose career ended just when he started living up to his potential. Paysinger before him, who waited for his time and then had it cut short. WTII and Willie Glasper this year. Our backup, Costa, already lost a full year and a majority of another to injury, more than Moevao will have, and coaches ruled out a medical redshirt as impossible. None of these injuries were fair, but life's not fair and these were all part of the game. It's hard to see, especially if Costa can't get one, how Moevao could. Which is all unfortunate.
I still think the Ducks look a bit better on paper next year, though as you mentioned the schedules will be an equalizer. I've been nervous about that all year looking to next, with an arguably stronger team running into a harder Pac-10 slate, with it hard to see them sweeping on the road. That said, with teams like Arizona and Stanford on the road the Beavers will be road-tested too. This might be the year USC finally decides to break its Oregon funk, and the Civil War is what it is.
Lastly, after a moment of thought, Go Beavs against BSU. While it might be bad for the Ducks longterm prospects of topping the Beavs if they get out fast and are contending from the start, someone needs to beat BSU on their home field, and knock them out of yet another undefeated WAC run. There would be jealousy for the Beavs doing what the Ducks couldn't, but someone needs to knock those Broncos down a peg and if it has to be the Beavs, so be it.