Tim Tibesar talks recruiting, zoom meetings, and more

Oregon State defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar met with the local media via zoom to talk about everything from how he's handling the current state of affairs, to the current landscape of recruiting, to how his defense is staying sharp in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. BeaversEdge.com Managing Editor Brenden Slaughter was on the call with Tibesar and has the complete rundown.

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Q: How are you keeping in contact with the players and what's their regiment like?

Tim Tibesar: "We started the spring quarter about two weeks ago and we spent the first week getting those guys going on their classroom stuff. I had three zoom meetings with my position group that week and we made sure everyone was squared away technology-wise. In the second week, we were able to start talking about some football.

We've been meeting for the NCAA max (four hours) on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. There's talk that they might even up it to eight hours, which would be a big help. We're going three days a week for a little over an hour and we've been able to share video via zoom while also using the dry erase board right behind me. That's mainly what the position group coaches and coordinators have been doing with the guys these first couple weeks.

Coach Mac and his strength staff have sent out a tailored program for each of the guys and they've been in constant contact to see what equipment they have and what they don't. Some guys have near-full gyms in their basements and we'll tailor a workload around that equipment. Others aren't so lucky and don't have anything, so their workout is more outside."

Q: With you having such an experienced group, does that make the virtual teaching easier?

TT: "For sure. When you have returning players, they have a much better concept of what we're trying to do. They probably don't need to quite as much hands-on, walkthrough, or practice to understand what you're trying to coach them. But we really miss out on the practices, especially in the secondary. We got some new guys in January that would have really benefitted from the full slate of practices."

Q: Talk about the current recruiting landscape?

TT: "To be honest, we've probably had more contact with recruits at this time of the year than ever before because we've normally been in the middle of spring ball. We have a lot more time to spend, and with all of today's technology, we've had a ton of facetime calls with recruits and their families.

Coaches are spending more time on recruiting and we're identifying guys, but we're missing the face-to-face interaction with those recruits on campus. Not being able to have those recruits here in my office to talk to them one-on-one about the game and not being able to show them this beautiful campus in some of the best weather of the year in unfortunate."

Q: How much do you think this off period will impact tackling?

TT: "Make no mistake, zoom meetings don't replace spring ball. They're making the best of the situation we're currently in and it's not just us, it's the entire country. We've talked to our guys about who can adjust, adapt, and use this time to get better. If we stay on task with our school work, the study of the playbook, position meetings, and you're staying true to your workouts, can we get an advantage over teams who's players maybe aren't as disciplined.

That's the best we can do right now.

There's no zoom meeting that can teach tackling or help make a pass-rusher better. That's all done through physical repetition and muscle memory. Hopefully, we can increase knowledge of the schemes and the playbook so they can play faster on the field and get to the highest level they possibly can."

Q: How confident are you that the season will start on schedule?

TT: I'm a positive person, so I'm very optimistic we will play our season in some sort of fashion. It may be shortened, just conference, or delayed, but I have a hard time believing that we're not going to play a season regardless of if it starts in Septemeber, October, November, December, or January.

Athletic Departments across the country are going to have to play college football or it will be a financial disaster for many, many athletic departments."