BeaversEdge Top 25 For 2025: Honorable Mentions Part 1

The rankings will be controversial, and no two people will agree on every single ranking, but that will be the fun of the rankings! Want to give your two cents on the rankings? Make sure you subscribe to BeaversEdge.com to join The Dam Board and weigh in on the conversation.

Ranking Criteria

This is obviously an inexact science as you're comparing quarterbacks to defensive linemen and linebackers to offensive linemen. However, our team, which consisted of Publisher Brenden Slaughter and writers Ryan Harlan and Brogan Slaughter, gave it a shot.

The main criteria were assessing our expectations for the player's performance in 2025, and to evaluate that, you have to look at what the player did in 2024. Stats were considered, but it was more of an overall impact on the team from an analysis perspective.

Again, we want to reiterate how difficult it was to create this top 25. Keeping some of the guys below out of the top 25 was tough...

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

DB Kobe Singleton

-> After transferring from Liberty before the start of the 2024 campaign, Singleton was poised to play a significant role in the secondary, but was limited to just four games before a season-ending injury. Entering the 2025 campaign, Singleton is in the mix for the last starting cornerback spot, but not seeing him in spring has him just on the edge of the T-25. Singleton is an experienced and talented playmaker who boasts several years of experience and is somebody who could end up higher on the list as the season goes, we just need to see him back in action during fall camp.

WR Zach Card

-> If there's a guy on this list who's a candidate for a breakout season, it's almost certainly receiver Zach Card. Another guy who was really on the fringes of the T-25, Card is coming off a 2024 where he played in 12 games, running the ball five times for 60 yards and a touchdown, showcasing his blazing speed, but not getting into the mix as a receiver with just one target on the year. He's a guy who really stands to benefit with Maalik Murphy under center as he could be a dynamic deep threat, plus his fly-sweep ability gives him even more versatility. He was a key piece of the receiver corps in spring, and I expect he'll be a lot busier as a receiver this season, and his speed is going to help the Beavers elevate their downfield passing attack.

DL Jacob Schuster

-> After joining the program during fall camp of 2023 as a transfer from Minnesota, Schuster wasn't immediately eligble, but was entering the 2024 season, and he played a sizable role, seeing action in 10 games (nine starts), and tallying 17 tackles with two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and one pass breakup. The Lacey (WA) native is entering his final season and should be able to provide quality depth on the DL with an improved cast around him.

OL Tyler Morano

-> Morano didn't see action last season as he was recovering from a lower-body injury suffered in spring, but enters the year with 15 career games played, including a bowl game start vs Notre Dame in 2023, and will be ready to go by the start of fall camp. The 6-foot-295-pounder will be in the mix for one of the tackle positions if he's healthy, but he hasn't seen extended action since the end of the 2023 campaign, so he'll be looking to shake off the rust and get back into the swing of things once he returns to full 11-on-11.

LS Dylan Black

-> One of the best stories on the team, if not all of college football, Black is poised to regain his starting position in 2025 after being diagnosed with cancer before the start of last season and beating it before the season concluded. Black missed the 2024 campaign, but began his OSU career back in 2019 and has 46 career games at long snapper and will play a big role in the Beavers' special teams efforts this season.

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