The Beavers have had a great deal of success at linebacker over the past decade.
In fact, two linebacker alumni, Nick Barnett and Keith
Ellison are starting in the NFL. After a run of of two years with
starters Alan Darlin, Joey LaRocque, and Derrick Doggett, who have all completed
their Oregon State careers, the time has come for the next crop of linebackers
to make their mark.

Because of great depth at linebacker, the Beavers opted to recruit one linebacker
to add to a greyshirt from last year's class. Tony Wilson and Anthony Watkins
will enter a program with a strong tradition and great athletes to show them
the ropes. Upperclassmen, Keaton Kristick, Bryant Cornell, Dennis Christopher,
and Isaiah Cook and young up and comers, Dwight Roberson, David Pa'aluhi, Will Darkins, and Keith Pankey will tutor the new comers and get them ready for action
in a year or two.

The defensive backfield is another fairly deep area for the Beavers and greyshirt
safety Josh LaGrone looks to come in this spring and get his feet wet in Coach
Banker's system. With Al Afalava, Brian Payton and Greg Laybourn all returning
to the mix, LaGrone has some great talent to learn from.

The BeaverBlitz Scouting Reports are based on the experience we've had
at the Nike and College Camps in addition to first hand accounts from high school
and junior college coaches that have worked with these players. We take into
consideration information from the player, the physical attributes of each athlete,
and information from other evaluators. We have taken the time to do film evaluation
of each recruit. We've also tracked many of the in-state athletes through out
their high school careers. The following comments are strictly our observations
and opinions and do not reflect those of the Oregon State coaching staff.