8/14/2020 football Edit

BeaversEdge Top 25 for 2020: No. 10 - No. 6

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

With Oregon State's 2020 season officially postponed, BeaversEdge.com will wrap up the Top 25 for 2020 in two editions. Today, we look at No. 10 through No. 6...

Want to give your two cents on the rankings? Subscribe to BeaversEdge.com to join The Dam Board and weigh in on the conversation.

PROMO: Join BeaversEdge.com and get 30 DAYS FREE!

No. 10 - Addison Gumbs - OLB - 6-foot-4, 231-pound Rs-Sophomore

After suffering a torn ACL in Oregon State's second game of the 2019 season against Hawaii, Addison Gumbs finds himself just inside the Top 10 in the BeaversEdge Top 25 for 2020.

The 6-foot-4, 231-pounder is an elite athlete and a recruit that the Beavers don't often get. Gumbs is an SEC/BIG12 level talent and it's not often the Beavers are able to lure those types of high-impact guys to Corvallis.

Despite suffering his second ACL injury in as many years, Gumbs' talent is undeniable and if he's able to get on the field regularly, he'll show Beaver fans a defensive prowess that hasn't been seen in some time.

Gumbs is one of the fiercest competitors on the squad and after just playing 1.5 games in '19, there's no question he'll be itching to get on the field and put his injury woes behind him.

No. 9 - Brandon Kipper - OL - 6-foot-6, 304-pound Rs-Junior

After playing and starting in all 12 contests for the Beavers in 2019, Brandon Kipper will now be tasked with being one of the veterans on the offensive line as the team graduated three starters in Blake Brandel, Gus Lavaka, and Clay Cordasco.

Despite going through the growing pains of being a full-time, first-time starter, Kipper performed admirably and gave lots of hope about his future in his final two seasons. Sure, he struggled with penalties and those were costly, but he improved throughout the course of the season and was playing quite well at the end of the season.

The Beavers have invested a lot in Kipper after making him a full-time starter right out the gate in 2019 and they're about to see the return on investment as he's experienced and more than capable of being a strong centerpiece to Jim Michalczik's offensive line.

No. 8 - Onesimus Clarke - OL - 6-foot-4, 334-pound Rs-Junior

After making two starts (Cal Poly & Cal) and appearing in 10 games in 2019, there might not be a player that I'm more excited to see when this season eventually gets underway than Onesimus Clarke.

His massive 6-foot-4, 334-pound frame was on full display when he was playing in games and the analytics loved his performance. Despite only playing 190 total snaps, the PFF advanced stats graded him out as one of the highest offensive performers on the roster.

While the sample size is small, this tells us that Clarke is more than ready to be a full-time starter and help fill the shoes of the Beavers' graduated vets. Clarke still has a lot to prove as far as being consistent for an entire season and an entire game, but the glimpses we've seen from him indicate his future is bright.

No. 7 - Isaiah Dunn - DB - 6-foot, 182-pound senior

Entering his fourth and final season, defensive back Isaiah Dunn is one of Oregon State's most experienced secondary defenders as he's played in 26 games (22 starts).

The 2019 season was the first in Dunn's career where he was able to stay healthy and play in all 12 contests as his previous best was seven games in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Dunn has dealt with some nagging injuries throughout his career, but he was able to play a full-slate in 2019 and has high expectations for his play on the field when the 2020 season eventually gets underway.

The 6-foot, 182-pound Dunn will be looking to up his leadership and production on the field in his final campaign, and based on the conversations I had with him, he's extremely motivated to have this be his year.

Dunn has nice instincts and has a knack for being able to play the ball well when covering one on one, but he'll benefit greatly from having some depth around him. The Beavers' corners have been a hot-button issue for several seasons, but I don't attribute a lot of the mistakes to Dunn or anyone else.

The Beavers have been razor-thin as far as Pac-12-level cornerback depth goes each of the past several seasons and that took its toll on the DB's. Armed with more depth and experience around him, I look for Dunn to have his best season when OSU takes the field again.

No. 6 - David Morris - DB - 6-foot-3, 209-pound Rs-Junior

Last but certainly not least, we arrive at the Sherwood, Ore. native David Morris.

Like Dunn, Morris is one of the more experienced and veteran presences in the Oregon State secondary as he's played in 23 games (14 starts). During that span, he tallied 119 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, one interception, two forced fumbles, and three pass breakups.

After arriving on the scene and proclaiming his prowess in Oregon State's porous defense in 2017 as a redshirt-freshman where he was the teams' second-leading tackler, he missed all but the final two games of the 2018 season rehabbing a broken foot. Luckily, he was able to claim a redshirt year and entered 2019 with a presumed clean bill of health.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as he was dealing with continued issues with his foot.

Whenever Morris would start to ramp up towards game activity, he'd experience pain in his foot and the coaching/training staff elected to play it safe. He was relegated to special teams duty for the Oklahoma State, Stanford, UCLA, & Utah contests and many wondered what his status was.

Shortly before the Cal game, then-starting safety Omar Hicks-Onu announced his intent to transfer and Morris got the call-up and never looked back. Despite finishing the season and playing some of his best football to date, there's a quote from last fall that will always stand out to me.

"We've gotten to the point where my foot is forever going to be messed up," Morris said in October 2019. "I'm going to have pain no matter what."

Despite the lingering injury issue, Morris finished the 2019 campaign with no issues and was a key part of the Beavers' defense late in the year as they tried to push for the postseason.

Will the foot issue impact Morris when the Beavers take the field again? Probably, but he's past it at this point as he just wants to play football. That type of toughness and leadership is infectious across a locker room and he's more than earned the respect of his teammates.

All in all, it's a shame that Morris likely won't be able to play football pain-free, but he's one of the Beavers' top secondary defenders in terms of his ability to play the run and the pass. If he's able to stay on the field and productive, the sky's the limit for a secondary that is now rich in depth and talent.