3 Burning Questions Heading Into The Late Signing Period

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With the Oregon State football team adding 11 new faces in the December early signing period, BeaversEdge.com Managing Editor Brenden Slaughter poses three burning questions heading into the late signing period.

MORE: Mailbag: Scholarships; Late Signees; Reser Updates | 2021 Signing Day Central

With the 2020 football season now in the books, the Oregon State football team and head coach Jonathan Smith will be squarely focused on rounding out the 2021 class and re-tooling the roster heading into next season.

Despite the disappointing 2-5 record, the Beavers still showed enough promise to indicate that things are moving in the right direction. Perhaps most importantly, they beat Oregon, which was the first time for Smith and just the second time since 2007.

That's concrete proof that the train is on track, it just needs a little more.

While the Oregon win was great for many reasons, OSU will still feel they left a lot on the table as every single game (yes, even Washington State) was winnable this season.

The biggest hurdle that remains is getting over that proverbial hump and turning those close losses into wins. Based on what we saw on the field in 2020 in terms of the Beavers being in every single game, it's clear that they are just a few difference-makers away from getting over that hump.

We've already seen who they've signed in the 2021 class, but Smith said he expects the Beavers to target an offensive lineman, and perhaps a defensive lineman as well between now and the late signing period, and that's where finding an instant-impact guy could have huge positive effects.

The defensive line is perhaps the area where the Beavers need the most help as far as an immediate need, so I'd be willing to bet they'll be very aggressive in search of a difference-maker.