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With the February 3rd national signing day quickly approaching and Oregon State looking to put the finishing touches on the 2021 class, BeaversEdge.com poses three important questions ahead of the late signing period.

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Entering the offseason, one of the biggest needs for the Oregon State football team on the recruiting trail was an instant-impact defensive lineman or two.

From watching the Beavers on defense throughout the 2020 campaign, you could tell that most of the pieces were in place, but that the push and strong play from the d-line was routinely inconsistent.

Just several days out from the late signing period and the Beavers have yet to land that piece... There's plenty of time even beyond Wednesday (more on that later), but it's something that's still somewhat surprising to me.

The only thing I can think of as far as why the Beavers haven't been as aggressive as we thought in pursuing a d-lineman is that they feel good about the potential for Jeromy Reichner and Jordan Whittley returning next season.

Reichner opted out of the 2020 season and Whittley missed the year with a health issue, but there's a decent chance that at least one or both are back in the fold next season, so perhaps that's a factor in the Beavers' thinking.

Or perhaps it's possible that staff has been hard on the trail and hasn't been able to find a player who fits their mold. The Beavers are notably selective as far as bringing guys into their program and in the case of transfers, they really have an ideal "mold" of what they're looking for in a player coming into the program.

All in all, I'll still say that I expect the Beavers to add a defensive lineman or two before the start of the 2021 campaign, but continue to be surprised that it has taken this long...