With Oregon State's season opener against Oklahoma State just eight days away, BeaversEdge.com takes a look at who's stock is trending up, and who's stock is trending down.
RELATED: FOOTBALL Recruiting Nuggets 8-21 | Oregon State Fall Camp HQ
*** STOCK UP ***
The Captains
With Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith announcing on Wednesday night that the senior quartet of quarterback Jake Luton, lineman Blake Brandel and Gus Lavaka, and outside linebacker Andrzej Hughes-Murray would be the team captains in 2019, all four guys' stock went soaring.
MORE: Jonathan Smith announces 2019 captains
While Brandel, Lavaka, and Hughes-Murray's stock were already on the high side, I believe that Luton stands to benefit most from being named a captain. While Smith and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren have been quite coy about who the Beavers' starting quarterback was going to be, this just might settle it.
Luton being named a captain signals that the team is prepared to be behind him in his sixth and final season and it might be a subtle way of the team indicating of what's ahead.
While the team could still go with Tristan Gebbia at quarterback, it seems unlikely that Smith and Lindgren wouldn't start one of their captains at one of the most important positions on the field.
In Luton, Brandel, Lavaka, and Hughes-Murray, Smith chose four seniors who are the epitome of excellence on and off the field, and given that all four have expressed an extreme desire to win in their final seasons, it's hard to envision a better group of captains.
