Q and A with Oregon State Director for Player Personnel Vince Guinta

BeaversEdge.com caught up with Oregon State Assistant Athletic Director for Player Personnel Vince Guinta to talk about the Beavers' 2019 recruiting class and much more. Read the entire Q and A below, exclusively from BeaversEdge.com.

This was Oregon State's first full recruiting cycle under Jonathan Smith. How pleased are you with the class?

Guinta: “I’m extremely happy with this class. I think we’ve filled a class with high character, high caliber football players that can help build on the foundations Coach Smith has been laying since he’s been here.”

There was an article in the Oregonian titled Oregon State Beavers football recruiting approach flops in 2019. Did you read that and what was your reaction to it?

Guinta: “I did read it because I like to read anything that has to do with Oregon State football or recruiting. I really don’t have a reaction [to the article]. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.”

Just how key are the transfers to the future of the Oregon State football program? It seems that they may be able to change the tide of the program.

Guinta: “We targeted transfers at specific positions; they were positions of need for us. I think it will be fun to watch [Tristan] Gebbia and Jake [Luton]. We have so much more depth with Gebbia coming in … Any time you can get an explosive receiving threat like Tyjon Lindsey – I mean come on, that guy has a lot of juice. That speed will help us. Then you look at the two linebackers (Avery Roberts and Addison Gumbs); they add size and girth and speed to the linebacking corps. I think we really helped ourselves in that regard.”

During the football season, you’re not coaching any positions. When you watched practice last fall, what did you see from the transfers?

Guinta: “I don’t get to practice very often. I do if there are recruits there, but that is a great time for me to be evaluating film or be working on recruiting weekend with Darrick [Yray]. There’s always so much going on. Football practice itself is not a big time for me … I would just echo what their position coaches have said. I think they’re all impressive young men who are good, high caliber, Pac-12 players. I think they’ll help us next year.”

Can you speak on Oregon State targeting the preferred walk-on ranks so hard in January?

Guinta: “You get an opportunity to improve your roster so much if you go out and get the kind of walk ons that you want – that can help you get ready and hopefully end up playing some. We wanted to target the best possible guys that can help us.”

And you guys got some PWOs that had offers from other schools. That has to be pretty exciting.

Guinta: “Yeah it really was. I think when you invite a young man and his family to your campus, they get to sit down and talk about it and see the ins and outs of the program. You recruit those young men just the same [as scholarship recruits] in mostly all aspects. It was a great team effort from our staff to get those young men on board.

For me personally, the biggest question of this class is the offensive line. It seems that there are more question marks than answers, but there is a big potential upside with this group.

Guinta: “The offensive line is a tough position. It’s a position that – I don’t care highly recruited or talented you were coming out of high school – you have to develop, get stronger, and increase your skill set. I think you always look at O-line two or three years down the road to judge how you did.”

Length seems to be a key term in recruiting under Jonathan Smith. Cory Stover is an interesting prospect with a ton of length. Where you do guys want him to be at weight-wise and how good can he be?

Guinta: “Any time you get a young man with that kind of frame, you don’t know what he truly can be because he might naturally gain weight or he might naturally stay lighter. The nice thing with him is that he’s athletic and he’s got a lot of fast twitch muscle fiber. He can play a few different positions. You get him in, let him work through your strength and conditioning and nutrition programs, and see how his body responds and develops – and you place him accordingly.”

As you guys transition into focusing on the 2020 class, what will be the keys for you guys to put together a strong class?

Guinta: “I think the key is to continue to build on the foundation – collect as much information as you can on these young men. Make sure they fit the athletic and academic profile that you’re looking for and make sure they can thrive in the culture of OSU and Corvallis. We want to do the best job we can in evaluating these young men on and off the field. I think as we continue to do that and trust what we’re doing in our process, we’ll keep taking that to the next level.”

In Jonathan Smith’s very first press conference as Oregon State head coach, he mentioned the “low ego, high output” term. I don’t know if he still uses that term much, but it kind of stuck with fans and media. Do you see that mindset played out in your recruiting?

Guinta: “Yeah. That term resonates at so many different levels. Whether that be the character of the kid, whether that be the coaches that are recruiting that young man, or whether that be anyone who works in our building. We just want to work hard and check egos at the door and be a team. We want kids who buy into that, and we want our staff to be like that as well.”