Pierce begins official visit

Artavis Pierce is officially visiting Oregon State this weekend and BeaverBlitz.com has the preview.

Pierce has never seen Corvallis in person so this visit is much more significant than are most visits from players that are already committed to a school. He only knows what coaches have told him and what he's seen online, so this first impression will be his only opportunity to verify that he made the right choice. It will either tie him closer to the Oregon State program or cause him to consider other options.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound running back from Auburndale, Fla., committed to the Beavers right at the start of the summer and he's maintained that he's solid ever since. Recently, Oregon State hosted Louisville running back commit Malik Staples for an official visit -- but it seems likely that the staff would be willing to take both backs.

So far Pierce hasn't been able to get Auburndale into the win column as they're 0-2 to start the 2015 high school football season. He's unsure of his stats but believes he's been playing "pretty well," with room for improvement.

"I haven't gotten a lot of carries. I'm getting a few," Pierce said. "I'm getting some receiving yards and a couple of passes (thrown his way)."

Auburndale's spread offense gives the ball to a variety of players, hence the limited number of touches, and Pierce is hoping to get more production the rest of the year.

Pierce confirmed that his official visit is this weekend because his team is off the field for a week.

He's not exactly nervous going into his Oregon State trip, but Pierce does acknowledge that he doesn't know what to expect. The coaches have tried to help him in that regard by spelling out what his schedule will look like very clearly in advance of his flight on Friday.

"This is going to be my first time out there. I've been talking to Coach Odom and Coach Lockette," Pierce explained. "They did like a walk through of what (the weekend's) going to be like. I'm mostly looking forward to the environment, like the environment of the campus and stuff like that."

Pierce added that he knows, going into the trip, Corvallis and Oregon in general will be significantly different than what he's used to.

Coaches from Temple and Bowling Green have continued to recruit Pierce since his commitment to Oregon State, but Pierce maintains that he's solid with the Beavs.