Historical Recruiting Analysis: Best Hits '07-'11

In a new article series that we're starting at BeaversEdge, we'll be diving deep into the history of Oregon State's football recruiting classes in the Rivals era.

After running through the Diamonds in the Rough from 2007-'11, today, we dive into the best hits on top-rated recruits during the same span.

To be eligible, the recruit had to be ranked five or four stars as an incoming prospect.

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Spin-> While the Beavers signed a pair of four-star recruits in Reggie Dunn and David Ross, neither of them panned out in Corvallis. Dunn never actually made it after running into some academic troubles and eventually playing out his career at Utah, while Ross never cracked the two-deep at OSU and eventually ended up at Portland State.

Spin-> Despite signing the biggest recruit in school history in five-star defensive end Simi Kuli, it never materialized. Coming out of El Camino CC in Southern California, Kuli was one of the most hyped recruits ever to choose OSU as he was one of, if not the top-rated JUCO recruit in the nation.

Unfortunately, Kuli never made an impact in Corvallis. He never enrolled and ultimately ended up at West Texas A&M where he was no longer of national relevance.

The only four-star recruit signed in the 2009 class, offensive lineman Michael Philipp had all the highs and the lows of a college career. After being named a starter as a true-freshman in 2009 (OSU's first since 1997) and being named a Freshman All-American by several outlets, the 2010 and 2011 seasons were unforgiving as he was plagued by injuries.

Philipp labored through an injury-riddled 2010 season and missed the entire 2011 season for a knee injury that forced him to take a redshirt. Once Philipp was back in the fold for the 2012 and '13 seasons respectively, he became a model of consistency as he finished his OSU career with 26 straight starts.