In the month of July, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the top 20 Oregon State football players on the 2017 roster.

The rankings will be controversial and no two people will agree on every single ranking, but that will be the fun of the rankings.

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This is obviously an inexact science as you're comparing quarterbacks to defensive lineman and linebackers to offensive lineman. But our team, which consisted of Mike Singer, Brenden Slaughter, and Marcus Greaves, gave it a shot.

The main criteria was assessing our expectations for the player's performance in 2017, and to assess that, you have to look at what the player did in 2016. Stats were taken into consideration, but it was more of overall impact on the team from an analysis perspective.

Again, we want to reiterate how difficult it was to create this top 20. It was tough to keep some of the guys below out of the top 20. It goes to show the talent that Oregon State has on their 2017 roster.

Today, we start with several players who just missed the cut in the top 20.

After a great performance in the season opener on the road against Minnesota, Garretson was never himself for the rest of the season, and it ended with him suffering a season ending injury.

Garretson doesn't have the strongest arm in the world, but when healthy, he has the mobility to make plays and had an "it" factor about him that we can't really put our finger on.

The former Utah State quarterback is likely going to be the No. 3 quarterback to start the 2017 season.

There was definitely some discussion about adding in Hodgins in the top 20 after his solid spring performance. Hodgins is definitely an impressive true freshman for the Beavers, and he is already starting to live up to his high expectations.

Hodgins might just get the start for OSU on the outside opposite of Jordan Villamin, but Timmy Hernandez will also be in the mix.

Hodgins has great size, route running ability, soft hands, and football smarts. We might regret not having him in the top 20 if he explodes onto the scene as a true freshman.

Vakameilalo was another tough guy to keep off the list. Vakameilalo played in all 12 games last season for the Beavs and started six of them. The defensive line was poor for the Beavers in getting pass rush last season, but we think that Vakameilalo will improve.

We originally had Aydon well inside the list, but after many discussion, we decided to leave him off. Aydon started four games for Oregon State last season and had two tackles for loss.

Like Aydon, Wallace was initially inside the top 20. Wallace is a great talent, but we still don't know much about Wallace because he doesn't have college game experience. OSU has a talented young secondary with several guys fighting for a few spots.

Somehow, Williams was a guy that slipped through the cracks and we almost forgot about him when considering the top 20. Williams is a strong contender to start for the Beavers at nickel. He nearly cracked the top 20 but feel better about the guys we have in it.

Houston almost sneaked into the top 20, but as a guy who wasn't productive on the defensive line and moved to center, we need to see more of him. He did have a great spring and all but locked up the starting center spot, which made us give him consideration to the top 20. Houston could have two great seasons for OSU at center.

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