ESPN College Football

Oregon State head coach Mike Riley has a lot on his mind these days. He has a new recruiting class with one of the top offensive linemen in the country -- which is good for him, since a large part of his O-line is still rehabbing from last season. There's talk of his seat being toasty next year, and what's the next step for his young quarterback and standout defensive lineman?

Here's part one of a Q&A with the OSU head coach.

This past year, 10 true freshman and 23 first-time starters played. Once the injuries started to pile on, was the thought just to get these guys as much playing time as possible and hope it pays off in the future?

Mike Riley: When you're right in it, the immediate thought is we have to get the best players into the game because I've always had the philosophy that the best way to do well in the future is to take care of the present. We didn't just shove freshmen into prominent roles. There was either an injury or they earned the opportunity. It was the nature of our team last year. We had obviously lost some good players, like [Jacquizz) Rodgers, so it was open competition. Malcolm Agnew originally won it and then he had a significant hamstring and missed four or five games. We played them because we thought they were the best players and gave us the best opportunity to win. Even though we had a bad record, I liked the team. I think with that youth, they kept their spirits up and kept working hard and hopefully now it does pay off for the future.

You have 17 starters coming back and 58 players who saw time last season. What sort of dividends will that pay in the next few years?

MR: If we and the players use it correctly, it should pay great dividends. There is nothing like experience, especially if you can combine it with talent and in the offseason you can enhance your talent with good, hard physical work. When you come into spring practice, you should carry much more knowledge and much more physical preparation into the next year. That's very encouraging to me. I think we have a hard-working team. I think guys will take advantage both of their work and of their experience.

Speaking of spring ball, give us some rehab updates. Are you expecting most everyone to be ready for spring?

MR: I think we'll be very limited with a couple of guys that played a lot in the offensive line. Colin Kelly had surgery on his ankle and he won't be ready for spring. Grant Enger had surgery on his shoulder and I don't think he's going to be ready for spring. Malcolm Agnew continues to go through a specific rehab program for his hamstring. I think he will be practicing and hopefully full speed in the spring time. I think the offensive line -- we won't be deep in spring ball and that's the reason we signed seven guys in this class. I think we'll have to do a lot of individual development because I don't know what it will look like as a group in total. One good thing is Michael Philipp, who was injured and redshirted because of his injury after he started for two years, he'll be back in spring. I'm very excited about that and getting him going and hopefully he'll be a stronger, better player when we get to spring ball. We're looking at developing some new faces on the line while we wait for that class to come in.

What are your first impressions of your recruiting class?

MR: The realistic look at it is that I think it was an outstanding class in almost all ways. The disappointing factor -- we had four corners committed going into the last week. We got one of them. I'm very excited about Tyler Hasty from Bellevue, Wash. We're probably going to play Zach Robinson out of Tahlequah Ok., we're probably going to try him at corner first. He's a long body that can run. Was a real good receiver and defensive back. He might be that big corner we're looking for. But the rest of the class, I think we hit all the marks. Offensive line was a priority in recruiting and we got seven kids I'm really excited about then. Then, defensively, we needed more defensive backs in general and we signed three safeties. Nice-sized kids, good athletes. Two of them in particular played major roles as receivers. They are all around football players. Linebackers, we got two junior college linebackers which should help us right away and then we signed a couple of underclassmen that I think will be real good players down the road, Caleb Saulo and Joel Skotte. Then on offense, we just needed kind of one of each. We ended up with two tight ends I'm really excited about. Caleb Smith is a well-known prospect from the state of Washington and Dustin Stanton is not well-known, but he has tremendous potential. Big, 6-6 kid that runs well. Real good basketball player and a really good athlete for his size. We were really after one wide receiver. At the end, I thought we were going to get two. But we got Malik Gilmore and he was our first pick from the beginning. I'm really excited about Malik. Then I think we got an outstanding running back and quarterback. Kind of the bonus at the very end was we ended up signing the kicker from Arroyo Grande. Really good athlete, was a wide receiver.

I think we saw in the conference that you need kickers?

MR: Oh my gosh, no kidding. I have a great special teams coach in Bruce Read, been with me for many years here at Oregon State and then with the Chargers. He stayed in the NFL for a while and we got him back. He's a great evaluator and a great coach. We've always had some really good specialists here.

It's usually tough for offensive linemen to come in right away and play. Do you see Isaac Seumalo and or/ Garrett Weinreich being able to make an immediate impact?

MR: We're going to let them go in there and play. We know Isaac so well and he's a real talented kid. Who knows exactly where he'll go with it. But we're anticipating great things from him. As we place our group, we'll be very careful as to where we put him. He can play every position on the line. He could play center, guard or tackle. As we place our players we have to be very aware about him and everyone else. We're really excited about Stan Hasiak. He has experience starting in the conference. Coming out of high school we thought he was a really good player so we're expecting his competition right away. I also really like the talent and the tenacity of Grant Bays from Oceanside, Calif. I think physically and mentally he could fit in right away too. It's a good group.

Four Pac-12 coaches have been nominated for the 2011 Broyles Award, which annually honors a top assistant coach: Arizona offensive line coach Robert Anae, Oregon State special teams coach Bruce Read, USC defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and Stanford defensive coordinator Derek Mason.

The five finalists for the award will be announced today. The winner will be announced on Dec. 6. The winner of the 2010 Broyles Award was Gus Malzahn, offensive coordinator at Auburn

Here's a complete list of nominees:

Sal Sunseri, Alabama, Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers
Robert Anae, Arizona, Offensive Line
Garrick McGee, Arkansas, Offensive Coordinator/QBs
Dave Wommack, Arkansas State, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
Tim Banks, Cincinnati, Co-Defensive Coordinator
Chad Morris, Clemson, Offensive Coordinator
George DeLeon, Connecticut, Offensive Coordinator / Tight Ends
Todd Grantham, Georgia, Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers
Vic Koenning, Illinois, Defensive Coordinator / Inside Linebackers
Tee Martin, Kentucky, Passing Game Coordinator/ Wide Receivers
Tommy Spangler, Louisiana Tech / Defensive Coordinator
John Chavis, LSU, Defensive Coordinator
Greg Mattison, Michigan, Defensive Coordinator
Ron Brown, Nebraska, Running Backs
Art Kaufman, North Carolina, Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers
Bob Diaco, Notre Dame, Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers
Brent Venables, Oklahoma, Associate Head Coach / Defensive Coordinator
Todd Monken, Oklahoma State, Offensive Coordinator/QBs
Bruce Read, Oregon State, Special Teams
John DeFilippo, San Jose State University, Offensive Coordinator / QBs
Brad Lawing, South Carolina, Defensive Line
Derek Mason, Stanford, Defensive Coordinator / Associate Head Coach
Chuck Heater, Temple University, Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Backs
Manny Diaz, Texas, Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers
Monte Kiffin, USC, Assistant Head Coach / Defense
Bryan Stinespring, Virginia Tech, Offensive Coordinator / Tight Ends
Jim Reid, Virginia, Defensive Coordinator
Ryan Cubit, Western Michigan University, QBs
Paul Chryst, Wisconsin, Offensive Coordinator / QBs

There was a way for California defensive coordinator Bob Gregory's departure to Boise State to not raise more than an eyebrow or two: If Gregory had bolted Berkeley for Boise on the day after national signing day and became the Broncos defensive coordinator, replacing Justin Wilcox, who was hired at Tennessee.

Such a move would have felt more seamless.

While few would call it a promotion to jump from the Pac-10 to the WAC -- even for a national power such as Boise State -- it would have seemed perfectly reasonable for Gregory to move on after being at Cal for eight seasons.

Sometimes change for the sake of change makes sense.

But the timing of Gregory's departure -- just over two weeks before spring practices begin on March 6 -- is hardly ideal, and it suggests this was a separation, even if it was an amicable one.

Moreover, Boise State hired Gregory as a "defensive assistant," not as the coordinator, a job that presently belongs to Pete Kwiatkowski, who was promoted from defensive line coach after Wilcox's departure.

Perhaps Gregory will get a "co-coordinator" slot. He was the Broncos defensive coordinator for a single season (2001) before being hired by Tedford, by the way. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. As for money, it's possible Boise State can match the $241,000 Gregory was making at Cal (before bonuses), at least when the salary is adjusted for cost of living.

Still, the vagueness suggests a hastily made deal.

Gregory did a good job at Cal. He rebuilt the Bears defense and his units were among the Pac-10 leaders in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008.

You could argue, in fact, that Cal has had the conference's second-best defense during his tenure, though obviously rating well behind USC.

Still, there's a building sense of urgency that the Bears need to take another step forward after a disappointing season, and coach Jeff Tedford has been fairly frank this offseason about needing to be more aggressive on defense.

It's hard to believe that Tedford outright pushed Gregory out the door, and it's clear that both men don't want that to be the perception. Gregory didn't return a message left on what now may be an outdated cell phone, and Tedford didn't immediately reply to a text message.

Said Tedford in the official statement: “This was coach Gregory’s decision all the way to make what he feels is the best move for his family."

Said Gregory: “This decision is a great move for my family.”

Not to be insensitive on this, but let's consider the recent case of Dave Ungerer, who was hired this week to be Washington State's new special teams/running backs coach.

Last February, Ungerer "left" Oregon State, reportedly to be closer to his family on the East coast. He coached at Elon College in North Carolina in 2009.

Beavers coach Mike Riley replaced Ungerer with Bruce Read, a longtime Riley assistant -- and friend -- who had been fired by the Dallas Cowboys at the end of the 2008 season.

Sometimes coaches make tough decisions and they'd prefer not to go into the details why.

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

The fifth of 10 quick updates on offseason Pac-10 goings on.

Oregon State in a sentence

• After finishing the past three seasons ranked in the nation's Top 25, the Beavers have earned the benefit of the doubt, even with only 11 returning starters: this team will finish in the top half of the conference.

The big issue

• Only three starters return from a crew that ranked second in the conference in total defense last fall, but the biggest challenge for the Beavers' high-pressure scheme is replacing cornerbacks Keenan Lewis and Brandon Hughes, who were both NFL draft choices.

Quick hit news

• Quarterback Lyle Moevao, running back Jacquizz Rodgers and receiver James Rodgers each had offseason shoulder surgery. They are expected to be ready to go when camp begins, but each figures to be protected to some extent by cautious coach Mike Riley.
• Offensive tackle Timi Oshinowo is out and running back Ryan McCants doubtful for preseason camp because they are still recovering from knee injuries. Oshinowo was the projected starter at right tackle, while McCants is Jacquizz Rodgers' top backup.
• Offensive lineman Mike Remmers and punter Johnny Hekker, who are both likely to start this season, are no longer walk-ons, as both were recently awarded scholarships.
• Former linebackers coach Robin Ross returns to Corvallis as an offensive graduate assistant. Ross had been the head coach at Western Washington, which dropped football.
• Bruce Read returns for his third tour as the special teams coach. His previous stays included the 1997-98 and 2004-06 seasons. Read has coached special teams in the NFL for three teams, including last year with the Dallas Cowboys.