Oregon State (2009 Statistics)
- Oregon State Head Coach Mike Riley is in his 10th year.
- The Rodgers brothers, Jacquizz and James, are the identity of this team as 2009’s leading rusher and receiver, respectively.
- Running Back Jacquizz puts up huge numbers on the ground. Last year he rushed for 1440 yards and 21 touchdowns. He first gained national attention in 2008 when he had 186 yards against USC, who’s defense was allowing just 87 yards per game on the ground. Oregon State was USC’s only loss that year.
- Wide Receiver James not only had over 1000 yards receiving, but he also added 586 yards rushing on FLY SWEEPS in 2009. What is a fly sweep? It’s an offensive play in which the Wide Receiver comes in motion, takes a direct handoff from the Quarterback and travels around the opposing end. Willamette football coach Mark Speckman is college football’s leading authority on the fly sweep and gave Oregon State a crash course on it during James Rodgers’ freshman year (2007) and told them how to refine it to best suit Rodgers. (Btw Speckman is an amazing motivational speaker and person having overcome being born without hands to start as linebacker in high school and play college football at Azusa Pacific).
- Oregon State silently led the Pac-10 is passing yards last year. Sean Canfield was the Quarterback, but he is gone this year. His replacement Ryan Katz has just 27 career attempts (basically none) and could easily struggle in his first year as a starter given: a) it’s his first year and b) the starters in this system seem to struggle in their first year. What might help? The Offensive Line has 9 of their top 10 back and even though they gave up 29 sacks last year, Canfield wasn’t very mobile.
