7/11/2022 football Edit

BeaversEdge Top 25 For 2022: No. 17 Kyrei Fisher

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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In the weeks leading up to the start of fall camp, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the Top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2022 roster.

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MORE: Where Oregon State's 2023 Class Ranks | OSU Lands Swedish DT Thomas Collins | DB Andre Jordan Commits To OSU | Film Room: QB Aidan Chiles

Kyrei Fisher

Bio

No. 10

6-foot-1, 242-pounds

Inside Linebacker

Rs-Senior

Union HS

Tulsa, Okla.

2021 stats: 30 tackles with three tackles for loss

2021 Recap

In his third season at Oregon State after transferring from Arkansas in 2019, Fisher had his best season as a Beaver in 2021, playing in a career-high nine games and recording career-highs in tackles (30) and tackles for loss (3).

Fisher had a sizzling finish to the season as he recorded nine tackles, half a tackle for loss and half a sack, and three quarterback hurries in the win over Arizona State before having his best outing of the season in the LA Bowl.

Starting in place of Avery Roberts, who was out due to injury, Fisher tallied 10 tackles and half a tackle for loss against the Aggies.

Fisher really seemed to thrive late in the season with some of the defensive tweaks that the Beavers were making under Trent Bray on defense and that bodes well heading into the 2022 campaign.

2022 Outlook

Heading into the 2022 campaign, Fisher will have big shoes to fill as he's expected to take over Roberts' spot at inside linebacker alongside Omar Speights.

Roberts led the Pac-12 in back-to-back seasons and there's no question the Beavers are relying on Fisher to have a big-time uptick in production when given a larger role.

Jack Colletto, Easton Mascarenas, Michael Erhart, John Miller, and potentially Melvin Jordan will help provide key depth at the position, but Fisher and Speights are expected to shoulder the load of the heart of the defense.

With Bray having the offseason to fully implement his defensive changes after being named full-time defensive coordinator, Fisher was quite straightforward about the direction the defense was going during spring practices compared to previous seasons.

"Huge strides... huge progress on defense," Fisher said in spring. "Coach Bray has this new system in, ... and it's looking real good." ... "We are not playing slow anymore, we are playing fast and aggressive."

With a bigger and more defined role in 2022, I expect Fisher to have a big season. He's primed to have a breakout year with the new-look defense under Bray and figures to be a great fit alongside Speights in his final campaign...