SB Nation - Kevin Frahm

Statistical Recap: OSU/UNLV

Jake Bertalotto — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Daniel Gluskoter - AP

2 months ago: Oregon State quarterback Sean Canfield looks to throw during an NCAA college football game against UNLV on Saturday Sept. 12, 2009, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Daniel Gluskoter)

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Oregon State snuck out of Las Vegas with a win on Saturday night, clinching the victory with a 33-yard Justin Kahut field goal after 14 unanswered UNLV points in the fourth quarter.

First, some miscellaneous game notes via Oregon State:

· Attendance for the game was 25,967.
· The 8 p.m. start is the latest currently on OSU's schedule for 2009.
· Captains for OSU at the start of the game were Lyle Moevao, Keaton Kristick, Stephen Paea and Dwight Roberson. OSU won the coin toss and elected to defer.
· The game was the 20th straight game that the Beavers had a game televised, which is a school record. It dates back to Nov. 3, 2007 at USC.
· The Beavers started the game with three safeties ... Cameron Collins got the first start of his career.
· The Beavers won their 29th game in their last 41 contests, the second-best mark in the Pac-10 behind only USC.
· The Beavers improved to 27-3 in their last 63 games when committing less than turnovers than their opponents.
· Head coach Mike Riley improved to 57-42 at Oregon State.
· Redshirt freshman Jordan Bishop made the first reception of his career on a first quarter grab.
· Sophomore safety Lance Mitchell created the first turnovers of his career ... first an interception and first forced fumble.
· Sophomore defensive end Kevin Frahm turned in the first quarterback sack of his career.
· Sophomore tailback Jacquizz Rodgers got loose twice recording career-long runs on two occasions. First he had a 45-yard run in the first half ... he then beat that on the first drive of the second half going 47 yards.
· Jacquizz Rodgers went over 100 yards rushing for the ninth time in his career and the second week in a row.

Linescore:

Final - 9.12.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
Oregon St. Beavers	0	6	14	3	23
UNLV Rebels	0	0	7	14	21

Complete Coverage >

Scoring Summary:

2nd 01:04 OSU - Camp, Brady 1 yd pass from Canfield, Sean (Kahut, Justin kick failed)
13 plays, 70 yards, TOP 5:51, OSU 6 - LV 0
3rd 13:07 OSU - Rodgers, Jacquizz 2 yd run (Kahut, Justin kick)
5 plays, 60 yards, TOP 1:53, OSU 13 - LV 0
10:42 LV - ANTHONY, R. 19 yd pass from CLAYTON, Omar (WATSON, Kyle kick)
5 plays, 36 yards, TOP 2:14, OSU 13 - LV 7
07:17 OSU - Rodgers, James 4 yd pass from Canfield, Sean (Kahut, Justin kick)
7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:21, OSU 20 - LV 7
4th 10:53 LV - ANTHONY, R. 13 yd pass from CLAUSEN, Mike (WATSON, Kyle kick)
7 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:44, OSU 20 - LV 14
04:16 LV - PAYNE, Phillip 10 yd pass from CLAUSEN, Mike (WATSON, Kyle kick)
6 plays, 51 yards, TOP 2:40, OSU 20 - LV 21
00:07 OSU - Kahut, Justin 33 yd field goal
12 plays, 64 yards, TOP 4:09, OSU 23 - LV 21

Rushing:

Jacquizz Rodgers 26-166 1 TD, 6.4 ypc

Jovan Stevenson 2-28

James Rodgers 3-16

Sean Canfield 4- -26

Team: 186 yards

Passing:

Sean Canfield: 25-31, 198 yards, 2 TD

Receiving

Jacquizz Rodgers: 10-65

James Rodgers: 6-48, 1 TD

Jordan Bishop: 5-43

Casey Kjos: 1-15

Brady Camp: 1-1, 1 TD

Team: 198 yards

Drive Chart:

[Complete stats at OSUBeavers.com]

So what we have here is a good day for the Rodgers brothers, and another solid start for Sean Canfield. The coaches did open the playbook more than they did against Portland State in terms of spreading the ball around with passes to Bishop, Kjos, and Camp, but the Beavers were still Rodgers-dimensional. But why not be? A heavy dose of James and Jacquizz was obviously working, especially down the stretch in the second half. But the Beavers did show that they can rely on other players under pressure. Adeniji and Bishop both had key grabs on the final drive, and Jacquizz burrowed his way into Rebel territory on his longest reception of the game to set Kahut's field goal at 33 yards.

I mentioned this earlier today, but I felt that the Beavers were really conservative in their play-calling, especially in the passing game. You'll see that other than Jacquizz, who was mostly making short receptions and picking up tough yards after the catch, the Beavers leading receiver was James Rodgers with 48 yards. He almost had twice as many yards after the first play of the Portland State game. Canfield's longest completion was a 21-yarder to Jordan Bishop.

We can question play-calling all we want, but with 382 offensive yards and a 5.8 yard-per-play average, it's tough to complain about coaching decisions made on Saturday night.

But that's just me. What's your take?

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Portland State Media Roundup

Jake Bertalotto — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:05:27 -0000

Are you ready for some football?

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Here are some stories of interest as we head into tomorrow's game with Portland State:

One of the more interesting and heart-warming story lines is what's going on regarding the Kavanaugh family this weekend. Taylor, the senior wide receiver/holder/punt returner will suit up for the Beavers tomorrow, while brother Connor will be on the visiting sidelines as Portland State's back-up quarterback. Parents Dan and Jenifer Kavanaugh have made a spreadsheet in order to catch as many games as possible this season, but this weekend, their location is an easy one.--Saturday's game marks the first time that Taylor and Connor will play for opposing teams. Lindsay Schnell has the full story in the Oregonian:

"It would have been great to play with my brother, but the whole time he kept telling me, 'Do what's best for you,'" Connor said.

That turned out to be Portland State, where Connor backs up starting quarterback Drew Hubel.

When he signed, Connor said he never imaged matching up against Taylor. "It never really crossed my mind," Connor said. "When I first heard about us scheduling them, I can't even describe it, what it's like playing against your brother."

Taylor, who is now on scholarship at Oregon State, has published his first diary on OregonLive for the upcoming season. If you haven't read the first installment already ("Of Building Blocks and Brotherhood"), it's definitely worth the read. An excerpt:

Ask anybody on this team, and they will honestly reply that there are always opportunities to take the short cut and "come down" from our hill. But I know I speak for many when I say it has simply become the culture of this team to ignore those many distractions and continue to do great work every day. (And sometimes twice a day, but thankfully those are over!)

Carl Sommer, the Wilsonville High School graduate, also has ties to both programs. Sommer signed his letter of intent to play for Oregon State, then left the program a day before the Beavers upset USC last season after developing a poor relationship with defensive line coach Joe Seumalo. Sommer was expected to be a difference-maker on the defensive line, but as Jim Beseda notes , his NFL aspirations are still alive at Portland State, despite his potential to have played at OSU:

"When you lose a guy like that, it's always like a failure," coach Riley said. "He was a redshirt freshman at the time, and we were looking at him just like we do with all our guys' development. To me, there was no doubt he was going to find his way in this program."

With Darrell Catchings still nursing a hand injury, Damola Adeniji will start at split end for the Beavers in the opener, completing a journey from walk-on to starter. Cliff Kirkpatrick has more on Damola, as well as another player who could make a difference: Brandin Hardin.

Hardin will likely play in the secondary in Saturday's game behind cornerbacks Tim Clark and James Dockery. Clark, who is the leader of the secondary, expressed on Tuesday that he fully expects to be tested by Drew Hubel and Portland State's offense.

PSU will come right after the Beavers' secondary, Clark predicts.

"We have the most inexperienced group on the defense, so we expect to get attacked a lot,'' said Clark. "I hope we respond to that.''

Keaton Kristick, the leader of the linebackers, is nervous yet excited for Saturday's game, but also knows it will be no cakewalk:

Said Kristick, "it's football. Anything can happen on any given day.'' Kristick is nervous. Expects major butterflies Saturday as he begins his senior year and what he hopes is the launching pad to an NFL career. "Reser's gonna be rocking,'' he said.

Quotes like these from the Beaver defense were the norm at Tuesday's press conference, as the Beavers said all the right things heading into Saturday's game.

Also, take the time to check out Paul Buker's profiles on some prominent OSU players... Jacquizz Rodgers, Kevin Frahm, and James Rodgers.

Feel free to share some of your other favorite links in the thread below.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Fall Camp Questions - Offensive Line

Jake Bertalotto — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:31:14 -0000

Coach Cavanaugh's offensive line may be young, but as head coach Mike Riley has said, "they look good coming off the bus." Now, the question remains, will they look good in games? (Photo by Ethan Erickson)

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Fall Camp has concluded at Oregon State, as the team will now move into preparing for their home and season opener against Portland State this Saturday. The Vikings-- who are rumored to be installing more "run" in their "run-and-shoot" this season-- will provide a legitimate test to the Oregon State defense. We'll dive more into that later, but as the old saying goes, "if they don't score, we don't lose." BUT, if they do score, that means that the Oregon State offense will need to be putting points on the board, which likely means that the rebuilt offensive line is doing a good job of opening holes for the likes of Jacquizz Rodgers and Jovann Stevenson.

(This, by the way, is the final installment of our "Fall Camp Questions" series that has been going on throughout the month of August. Don't be surprised if this post feels more like a position-by-position look at this year's O-Line,. as the starters have practically been named at each position. Check out links to the six other posts at the bottom of this entry.)

For the first time in a long time, the Beavers will likely go to battle with the 6-3, 320 pound true freshman giant Michael Philipp as their starting left tackle. Philipp has been worked over in practice several times by Oregon State's speedy defensive linemen--Kevin Frahm especially--but overall, has adapted well to the change of pace. He'll step in as the heir-apparent to Andy Levitre at the left tackle position, and has big shoes to fill-- but the San Bernardino native has the the size, speed, and smarts to pull it off.

OH, AND BY THE WAY... the countdown clock at the left of this page has been properly re-adjusted and is now accurate.

Mike Remmers will play the right tackle position, He's a year removed from starting seven games in place of Tavita Thompson, after walking on. He's since earned a scholarship, and as a sophomore, is becoming a big part of what Oregon State is doing on the offensive line.

Grant Johnson, a Baker City native and also a former walk-on, has perhaps been the biggest surprise of fall camp. Listed on the Pre-Spring Camp depth chart as the back-up center to Alex Linnenkohl, he has won the competition at left guard, and will likely start alongside Michael Philipp when the Beavers take the field this Saturday. His story is a great one, and is told by Jeff Smith of the Oregonian. Basically, Johnson elected to walk-on to the Beavers after growing up a fan-- both his parents went to school in Corvallis-- and after two years in the program, has summited the depth chart, the old-fashioned way.

Alex Linnenkohl returns as a 13-game starter from 2008 and will anchor the offensive line at the center position. He's battled a knee injury throughout camp, but appears to have recovered and should be healthy for Saturday's opener.

Gregg Peat rounds out the group at right guard, and will start next to Remmers. Peat will be a senior this year and is a co-team captain. He also started all 13 games last year, all at right guard.

To review, here is how the group looks, from left to right:

Michael Philipp - Grant Jonson - Alex Linnenkohl - Gregg Peat - Mike Remmers

Overall, offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh is impressed with his young group heading into the season:

"I think we're going to be fine. I'm excited about these guys. We're a little bit young in some spots, but to be honest with you we've got more depth than we've ever had.''

While the Beavers don't have USC-type depth on their offensive line, there are several players who were expected to start on the offensive line before fall camp began who have either been surpassed or lost their spots. Ryan Pohl and Michael Lamb come to mind, and guys like Colin Kelly and Wilder McAndrews also have experience in the program.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Previous "Fall Camp Questions" posts: Quarterback - Running back - Wide receivers - Defensive line - Linebackers - Secondary

Fall Camp Questions - Defensive Line

Jake Bertalotto — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:18:16 -0000

The defensive line returns only one starter in DT Steven Paea, but there are players up and down the line who have been part of rotations in seasons past. (Photo by Ethan Erickson)

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Fall Camp opens today for the eighteen teams that open the season on September 3, but the majority of camps will open on the other side of the weekend, including at Oregon State, where get things underway at 2:00p.m. Monday in Corvallis.

We'll keep the Fall Camp questions series rolling today with a look at the defensive line, which returns just one guy from a year ago-- Steven Paea. Outstanding defensive ends Norris and Butler are gone, as well as Pernnell Booth at the right tackle position.

In the shadows of Norris and Butler rise two very capable replacements-- Ben Terry and Kevin Frahm. They're both small(ish) by defensive end standards, but they have the speed to come off the edge.

Terry doesn't possess the vocal leadership that Norris or Butler did, but he is highly respected for his play on the field. He had the skills to come straight out of high school and contribute on the Division 1 level, but he didn't have his acedemics in good enough shape to do so. He went to Arizona Western Community College his freshman year, then moved over to Saddleback CC his sophomore year, where he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, and was an all-conference defensive end with 42 tackles on the year. He entered the Oregon State program last season and served as an understudy to Norris and Butler, learning the system and improving his game.

Frahm, on the other hand, has been in the program for three years since coming out of Central Catholic in Portland. He played in every game last year as a redshirt freshman and recorded four tackles, and is expected to start this season. He's known for his weight room workouts, and could be the team's second strongest player behind defensive tackle Steven Paea.

A native of Tonga, Steven Paea may be one of the strongest players in college football. In a recent feature by Ted Miller, it was revealed that the man can bench "525 or 530 pounds". He squats 720. Paea will need to step up as the leader of the line, as the vocal leadership of Norris and Butler is gone. He quietly had a breakthrough season last year, recording 41 tackles and five sacks-- and was a big part of OSU's 3-0 Sun Bowl win, in which the OSU defense held Pitt's rushing attack to under 90 yards.

Of the players who will compete to play defensive line this season, the aforementioned three players have their starting spots seemingly firmed up heading into camp. That leaves a hole at Left Tackle, where Latu Moala seems like the frontrunner, but Mitchel Hunt is also in the mix. The simple fact that Oregon State and defensive line coach Joe Seumalo like to rotate bodies in and out in the line means at we'll see a lot of guys like Taylor Henry, Matt LaGrone, and converted TE Gabe Miller.

Taylor Henry has great speed off the edge, and will likely play on third downs. He grey-shirted last season, so he could still wait another year to save eligibility, but I'm not sure that the coaches are in favor of that idea with the line as inexperienced as it is. He was a sprinter back in high school, and checks in at 6-1, 228.

Gabe Miller is doing a nice job according to coaches in his switch from tight end to defensive lineman. Mike Riley even said that when they were recruiting Miller out of Lake Oswego, they saw him more as a defensive linemen than a tight end. As a junior, he'll probably be a situational substitute for Frahm and Terry, then slip into Terry's spot for next season.

The coaches are still excited to see what Matt LaGrone can do, since he was nursing a wrist injury in spring camp. The redshirt junior came to Oregon State from Nevada, where he was the sixth man off the bench for the Wolfpack basketball team during his sophomore season.

This group has it's playmakers, but it will be a relatively young group starting out. Paea should only improve, and Frahm and Terry need to hit the ground running as full-time starters. If the Beavers can fill the left tackle position with a reliable guy, the line should be able to put pressure on what will be some inexperienced Pac-10 quarterbacks in order to help out the also inexperienced secondary.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Upgrade/Downgrade - Defensive Ends

Jake Bertalotto — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:15 -0000

We've completed our look at the departing starters on offense, and now we'll shift over to the defense, where only three starters (but 24 lettermen) return. We'll start by looking at defensive end, where Victor Butler and Slade Norris leave as perhaps one of the best defensive end duos in the recent era of Beaver football. Their replacements, though-- Ben Terry and Kevin Frahm-- seem to have the potential to be just as tenacious.... and skilled. What do you think... will Frahm (soph.) and Terry (senior) be an upgrade or downgrade when it's said and done?

Last Year:

Victor Butler

#90 / Defensive- End / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 238

Year: graduated

Slade Norris

#58 / Defensive- End / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-3

Weight: 245

Year: graduated

This Year:

Kevin Frahm

#74 / Defensive- End / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 255

Year: sophomore

Ben Terry

#55 / Defensive- End / Oregon St. Beavers

Height: 6-3

Weight: 240

Year: senior

Other defensive ends looking to get time... Gabe Miller, who made the switch from TE, Evan Hill, and Taylor Henry.

Time to vote.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Poll

Will Frahm/Terry be an upgrade or downgrade from Norris/Butler?

Upgrade

8 votes

Downgrade

77 votes

About the same

24 votes

109 votes | Poll has closed