Notebook: Freshmen looking to improve Oregon State defense

With the Minnesota Gophers and PJ Fleck heading west to take on the Oregon State Beavers in just three days, the Beavers know they need to improve on defense to come out of Saturday night’s matchup with a win. The Beavers will be looking to avenge last year’s season opening loss to the Gophers while Minnesota will be looking to start out 2-0 under Fleck.

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Despite the Beavers struggling on defense through the first two games, there have been a few freshmen who have emerged on the defensive front and are now stepping into big roles in defensive coordinator Kevin Clune’s system. Those players have been linebackers Kesi Ah-Hoy and Kee Whetzel and safety David Morris.

All three of these players have been asked to do a lot in their first college football season and each one of them has been taking it in stride trying to be the best players that they can be for their team. Each one of them notes that being able to play big minutes so early in their careers is a blessing.

“It's been awesome,” Morris said. “It’s rewarding to to be able to be out here playing as a true freshman. I definitely feel some pressure, but at the same time, it’s good pressure and it’s pushing me to be the best. My ultimate goal is to make it at the next level and it starts with progressing here and making big plays in the game.”

Kesi Ah-Hoy wasn’t on the radar of many Beaver fans coming into fall camp, but he certainly is now as the soft-spoken true-freshman is already cracking the Beavers deep linebacker rotation.

“My progression has been really good with the help of my coaches and teammates. All of the linebackers and coaches have welcomed me as family,” Ah-Hoy said. “My intention when I came here was to play. Luckily the coaches believed in me and trusted in me and now I’m out here playing as a true-freshman and I’m grateful for the opportunities that they’ve given me.”

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For redshirt freshman linebacker Kee Whetzel, sitting out last season and not playing was very difficult for him.

“It’s been a long road. Last year it was a little boring going to every game and just watching. I’ve been playing football for so long that I’m used to being on the field 24/7, so last year was very humbling for me as a player.”

Whetzel has found his way to the field because he impressed coaches with his playmaking, speed and versatility in his redshirt freshman season.

“Speed is my strength,” Whetzel said. “My speed on the edge is unmatched when it comes to most tackles in the Pac-12. Being able to use my speed on the outside and the fact that I can go out and cover a slot receiver or a tight end is also a strength that I have.”

Through two games in this young 2017 season, the Beavers currently sit 1-1 with a too close for comfort win against Portland State and an ugly loss at the hands of CSU. Many Beaver fans have been hitting the panic button on various mediums, but safety Jalen Moore notes that it’s early in the season and the Beavers are still growing as a team.

“It’s only the second game of the season,” Moore said. “I feel like we have a lot of potential to be a really good defense not only in the Pac-12 but in the country. We have a lot of young guys like David Morris, Kesi Ah-Hoy, and Kee Whetzel in addition to some older guys like BA (Brandon Arnold), Manase Hungalu, Xavier Crawford, Dwayne Williams, Kyle White and others. We have all of the talent in the world, we just have to have everyone on the same page to make sure everyone is communicating and is locked in.

I asked Moore what his message would be to Beaver fans that have been frustrated with the team’s performance thus-far.

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“At the end of the day, if you are rolling with the Beavers, then you are rolling with the Beavers,” Moore said. “If you aren’t rolling with us than you have to get out. It’s just like in any sport, if your team is losing, that’s your team and you have to stick with them. If you’re winning you’re winning. If you’re a Beaver fan, you’re a Beaver fan. We just want our fans to support us win or lose, that’s all we want. Diehard fans.

“I just want to tell Beaver fans to hang in there, because we aren’t going to let them down.”

After being revealed to the team in Bend back in August, the Beavers are now set to break out their 11 strong uniforms against Minnesota. The uniforms signify that the Beavers are about the team, not just any individual player. Naturally, the Beavers are excited to get these uniforms on and play with swagger under the lights on Saturday.

“The jersey’s are going to make us feel like we are a new team, so hopefully everybody is juiced up, we have more fans, and everything works out right,” Moore said.

“Our first night game, our new uniforms, I think we are going to be more hyped,” Morris said with a smile. “Those uniforms are very clean.”

-For those of you who are still concerned about OSU’s kickoff against Minnesota being delayed because of the smoke and air quality, I talked to an OSU spokesman who assured me that everything is going to move ahead as planned for Saturday night.

-The Beavers' defense might be at the point where they are ready to turn the corner. It’s hard to say from practice, but today was the best I’ve seen them play as a whole during the fall session. They still struggled to stop the offense in certain goal line packages, but tackled much better and played more fundamentally sound football.

-Kevin Clune noted that he agrees with Gary Andersen that he believes that the Beavers are just a few adjustments away from being a good defense in the Pac-12. Given the improvement that I’ve seen at practice today, I’d say that Beaver fans might be surprised to see a much improved defense Saturday night.

-Speaking of Saturday night, the Beavers are extremely stoked to break out their 11 strong uniforms. Several players such as David Morris, and Jalen Moore are extremely excited to get out there and bring the swagger back to the defense with the new unis. A lot of pundits have been calling out the Beaver defense for not having enough of a fire through the first two games of the season, but perhaps the new look and playing under the lights at Reser Stadium on national television will be the extra boost that the Beavers need to get their 2017 defense back on the right track.

-Head coach Gary Andersen has been much more involved with the defense this week compared to weeks past. Even though he has a whole team to be concerned with, he is taking extra time to watch and analyze the defense. Andersen’s calling card and MO is defense so having him spend a little bit more time with the defense is a very good thing for the Beavers.

-The Beaver defense was tackling much better in space today. Any fan or bystander that has been watching OSU’s first two games could tell you that the Beavers need to tackle better and that has been a clear point of emphasis this week as Clune has challenged the Beavers to make better plays in space. OSU appears to be hearing his message loud and clear as the Beavers looked like a different defensive team out there today.