After spending playing stints with the Atlanta Falcons and the Montreal Alouettes along with a coaching stint at Nebraska, the man that made the fly sweep famous in Corvallis, James Rodgers, is back donning the orange and black.

This time, he's the Director of Player Development for first time head coach Jonathan Smith.

Director of Player Development is quite the broad title, so naturally, Beaver fans will be curious to see what Rodgers will be doing on a day-to-day basis for Smith and Co.

“I’m doing class checks to make sure that the kids are going to class and getting to know them personally because I’m just getting here,” Rodgers told BeaversEdge.com in an exclusive interview. “The biggest thing is building a trust with these kids so they can tell me anything or issues that they are having.”

While Rodgers is happy to be a Beaver once again, he wants everyone to know that everything is about the players, not him.

“It feels good (to be back),” Rodgers said with a smile. “I have to shift the focus away from me because it isn’t about me. It’s about me coming here to help the kids and the focus should be on them. That’s what I’m here for.”

After leaving OSU in 2011 as the school’s all-purpose yards record holder in career (6,377) and the only player to achieve 1,000 yards rushing and 2,000 receiving in a career, Rodgers followed his younger brother Jacquizz to the Atlanta Falcons where he spent the 2012 and ‘13 seasons on the practice squad before ending his playing career with the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes in 2014.

Once his playing days were over, he got a call from his former head coach Mike Riley who happened to be the head coach at Nebraska with an intern opening for Rodgers. After pondering whether or not Nebraska was the right fit for him and eventually Riley called Rodgers again and told him when he needed to be up in Lincoln and Rodgers just went with it and never looked back.

While he was unsure at the start whether or not being a Cornhusker would fit him, by the time it was over, he had loved every minute of it.

Once Riley was let go from Nebraska, Rodgers found himself looking for a new situation and luckily, the Beavers wanted him. He applied for the position and stood out amongst many qualified applicants and the rest is history.

Rodgers, who was a part of two Beaver teams (2008, 2009) that was a game away from the Pac-12 title and the Rose Bowl both seasons, knows what success looks like at OSU, and he hopes to build this program back up to where it was after several disappointing seasons.

“You’ve got a lot of good athletes here that are willing to learn and put in the time to get better so with that being said, they are working hard with the offseason program and next up is spring where we have to get them buying in to everything coach Smith is doing,” Rodgers said.

It’s often been said that Corvallis and Oregon State specifically is one of the hardest places to recruit to, but Rodgers sees OSU as a place where the player has to come in looking to make a difference and have a high pride factor for your university.

“The biggest thing is going out and recruiting,” Rodgers said. “It takes special guys to come here. We have to get a special group that wants to come here and want to be the change. That’s the approach that I took when I came here and it’s the same mentality ‘Quizz’ came here with.”

While the Beavers might not have the same sort of glitz and glam that other Pac-12 schools have, Rodgers feels that the Beavers are going to be selling a tight-knit community that focuses on the players having great relationships with each other.

“When it comes to recruiting, it’s about the kids and the relationships they have with the coaches,” Rodgers said. “I take it a step further with on campus recruiting. When the kids ask me questions, the thing that I tell them is, of course you have a relationship with your coach but the biggest thing is, you need to have a relationship with the players. If you feel like you can be able to vibe with those guys and you like the place and the coaches this is the place for you. Vibe with the players because as we know, coaches can leave and go anytime.”