Q&A With Darrick Yray: How Has OSU Recruiting Changed Amid COVID-19?

Recruiting dead periods are nothing new for any staff in college football. When the scheduled time rolls around, most recently being February 3-29th, all coaches have different ways to contact recruits and make sure that relationships are continuing to be built until they can get the chance to see each other face-to-face throughout the spring.

But here's the thing.

That evaluation time is actively being taken away from the 2021 recruiting cycle. Because of the Coronavirus, a "new" dead period is in place until at least May 31st, eliminating a great portion of what is typically a very important couple of months for coaches and recruits.

The good news is, in a dead period, recruiting does not stop entirely. Coaches are allowed to use any means of digital communication to contact recruits, which is exactly what the next couple of months will look like for all involved. It could end up being very difficult for many schools and recruits, but the Oregon State staff is taking the most positive approach as they possibly can.

To get a better idea of how the Beaver staff is acclimating to these changes, BeaversEdge spoke with Oregon State Director of Player Personnel Darrick Yray, who went into detail about the day-to-day process, new strategies and more. The full conversation can be seen below.

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"Obviously, when you look at the landscape of everything that has happened, the good thing is that everyone is on the same playing field. It is a dead period for all of us, so it's not like it is just centered here. Safety is the most important part of this piece first and foremost.

As far as changes go, not being able to complete spring ball was a huge change, but obviously also we lose face-to-face interaction with the kids. It is not just about the kids coming on campus so they can see it, it is also to see the interactions that they have with everyone and how they operate. That is the hardest thing to recreate with the virtual tours. We are definitely changing some things, doing a lot more FaceTime calls and getting as much of the staff on there at the same time."

"At the end of the day, we are focused on relationship building. Are we reinventing the wheel? No. Are we trying to push more content related to the campus? Yes, that is why we started the hashtag #OStoU.

It would be great to FaceTime a recruit with an iPad and drive them through campus, but that is not the same feeling. Part of being on Oregon State's campus is the look, the smells, the skylines, the bricks, the buildings, and just the overall feel. All of that stuff will still be here and we will still send videos and pictures using 360-degree angles and all of those things, but this thing has always been about relationships and it will continue to stay that way. This has allowed us to dig deeper in that aspect, focusing on those relationships and spending more time talking."

"There will be some effects, but at the same time, it is a level playing field for everyone. We were able to get some kids on campus, and there were some kids who have not been able to get on campus yet. I don't think we can say that it will hurt us directly and no one else or anything because we are all in the same boat.

It is all still fair game, so we have to do our best to deal with the situation at hand and respect what our elected officials are telling us and abide by those guidelines and rules. When I get to go back to work I am going to go back to work and until they tell me I can, I am going make the best of the world at hand."

"I am lucky enough to have a home office, so I usually wake up pretty early, check emails, and go through those things. After that I will make some coffee, get dressed in some nike sweats and a dri-fit, and try to stay in a routine.

My recruiting staff and I will hold a meeting twice a week via Zoom to make sure we are all on the same page. Five days a week we meet as a whole staff to talk about a range of things, and throughout the rest of the time we will all evaluate film and we all do a great job pumping out work. All of the guys are doing really great.

We miss the office interaction because it is a bit harder to stay on the same page, but those Zoom meetings have been helpful."

"Not to give anything up, the shorter version is just to approach this time as if we are setting up spring recruiting. We are making a ton of calls to different guys every day to get background information on people in all areas just like we do if we were in school.

Everyone is just trying to treat it as if we are still in the office - doing all of the calls, coaches doing position meetings through zoom, and evaluating film."

"For sure, but we don't want to put anything false out there and don't want to speculate on what is going to happen. We will just keep spreading the current information as it is passed along and make the best use of our time as we are in it."

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