With the Oregon State football team just over halfway through the 2019 season with seven games played and sporting a 3-4 (2-2 Pac-12) record, BeaversEdge.com is set to give it's midseason superlatives...

After breaking down the offense, today we wrap up with the defense.

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Is there any question who Oregon State's defensive MVP has been through seven games?

Simply put, Hamilcar Rashed has been playing on a different level this season. He's tallied a Pac-12 leading nine sacks on the season, which is also good for fourth-best nationally. In terms of total tackles, he's tied with fellow linebacker Avery Roberts for the team lead with 43. Additionally, he leads the Pac-12 with 14.5 tackles for loss.

With the Beavers losing a ton of production from the outside linebacker spot by way of injuries early in the season, Rashed was thrust into a big-time role which involved him being on the field a ton. Yet, even with the increased workload and responsibility in the wake of the injuries to Andrzej Hughes-Murray, Addison Gumbs, and Matthew Tago, Rashed has been able to maintain an elite level of play on the field.

He's a tailor-made linebacker for Tim Tibesar's aggressive defensive scheme and the coaching staff believes he hasn't reached his ceiling, hinting at the notion that we still haven't seen the best of Rashed.

While the Oregon State defense hasn't boasted a lot of top-level playmakers in recent years, we're starting to see the beginnings of an ever-improving defense with Rashed leading the way. He earns the nod of MVP because, without him, the OSU defense would really struggle to get pressure on the quarterback and would be a far less effective defense.

It's often said that football is a next-man-up approach, and with all the injuries that hit the Oregon State outside linebackers this season, redshirt-freshman Riley Sharp was that next man up.

With the Beavers desperately needing depth behind Rashed and John McCartan, they turned to the 21-year-old, and he's steadily increased his production each and every week. Sharp's breakout game of the season came against Cal when he tallied three sacks and three tackles for loss, showing that he's more than capable of playing big-time snaps early in his OSU career.

Sharp earns the nod of biggest surprise because heading into the season, there wasn't a clear path to playing time. If the Beavers had stayed healthy, Sharp would have likely struggled to see the field much outside of special teams' work. However, the silver lining to those injuries is that Sharp is gaining valuable experience early in his career, which will only benefit him and the Oregon State defense in the coming years.

With head coach Jonathan Smith and Tibesar both saying this week that he's earned more playing time moving forward because of his ability to play smart and fundamentally sound football, the best is certainly yet to come for the Salt Lake City native.

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