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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2001)
(JO, OSU eager to announce recruiting classes uiegun oiaie s ‘i i-y rout oi i\otre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl not only put the Beavers into the national spotlight, it helped coach Dennis Erickson get into the homes of re cruits that once were hopelessly be yond the school’s reach. Oregon State, which went 11-1 and finished fourth in the final Associat ed Press rankings, is sure to have the best recruiting class in school history when high school and junior college players begin turning in letters of in tent Wednesday. “It’s just clear that a lot of the kids think of Oregon State as an entirely different proposition now,” said Allen Wallace, editor and publisher of SuperPrep magazine, which pre dicts OSU’s class will be among the top 15 in the country. “Now they’re seen as a team that could literally humiliate Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. The landscape has really cnanged. Erickson, who in 1999 led Oregon State to its first winning season since 1970 and could make a run for his third national championship in the next few years, said the differ ence between recruiting now and when he took the job has been amazing. “The quality of recruit we’re talk ing to is a tremendous upgrade from two or three years ago. It’s hard to describe,” he said. Down the road in Eugene, Ore., coach Mike Bellotti also is expect ing another solid class. The Ducks went 10-2, including a win over Texas in the Holiday Bowl, and fin ished No. 7 in the final rankings. “If we get everyone we think we’re going to get, it will be an out standing class,” Bellotti said. What both Oregon and Oregon State are getting, for a change, is the best talent in the state. In 1999, the prep players listed as the top five in the state all went elsewhere: Luke Staley of Tualatin chose Brigham Young, Marc Jackson of Crescent Valley picked Illinois, Bryce Boh lander of McNary went to UCLA, and Troy Polamalu of Douglas and Chad Cook of Jesuit both went to USC. Last year, top prospects Brett Elliott of Lake Oswego and Tom Hackenbruck of Mountain View went to Utah, while David Bergeron of Lakeridge chose Stanford. At the top of both team’s lists are homegrown quarterbacks. Oregon State received a verbal commitment from Derek Anderson of Scappoose. The 6-foot-6,232-pound Anderson, whom SuperPrep calls the No. 2 quarterback in the nation, passed for 8,372 yards and 88 touchdowns in three seasons, and led the Indians to the Class 3A title last fall. After an expected redshirt sea son, Beaver fans are hoping Ander son can become the successor to starting quarterback Jonathan Smith in 2002. “I’ll do my best, and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen,” Ander son said. Oregon’s top recruit, among its ex pected 19, is Burns quarterback Kellen Clemens, rated No. 3 by Prep Star magazine. The 6-foot-2, 195 pound player threw for 3,226 yards and 37 touchdowns last season, lead ing Burns to the 3A semifinals. Erickson also is expected to land Sprague defensive end Bill Swan cutt, the 4A defensive player of the year, as well as running back Steven Jackson, who rushed for 2,764 yards and 34 touchdowns at Eldorado High in Las Vegas. Oregon received a verbal commit ment from receiver Phillip Good man, a 6-foot-3 receiver from Valle jo, Calif., who was rated the eighth best receiver on the West Coast by PrepStar. The Ducks still are trying to land Hawaiian Lyle Maiava, a 300-pound defensive lineman who reportedly was waffling between Oregon and Wisconsin. Bellotti, who was courted by Southern California and visited Ohio State before deciding to stay with Oregon, doesn’t think the un certainty over his job status adverse ly affected recruiting. “The initial indecision created potentially some questions in the minds of some recruits,” he said. “At the same time, my reasons for staying here created some publicity that probably helped us in some re gards. It put Oregon in a better light.” The Associated Press Mumme steps down as Kentucky head football coach By Steve Bailey The Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky football coach Hal Mumme re signed Tuesday following months of investigation into possible NCAA violations. Mumme was replaced by Guy Morriss, an assistant coach at Ken tucky with more than 15 years of NFL playing and coaching experi ence. Morriss was given a one-year contract, athletic director Larry Ivy said at a news conference. “I met with coach Hal Mumme this afternoon and officially ac cepted his resignation as head football coach,” Ivy said. The move came the day before I high school players are allowed to sign letters of intent with college programs. Mumme was 20-26 in four sea sons with the Wildcats. He has made no public comment since the school began an internal investiga tion in November regarding recruit ing. Former assistant coach and re cruiting coordinator Claude Bas sett in January admitted to sending $1,400 in money orders to a Mem phis, Tenn., high school football coach and improperly cashing a $500 check donated by a booster to help fund Mumme’s summer foot ball camp. Ivy told the school’s board of trustees last month that the inves tigation had uncovered several vi olations, some of which would be deemed major by the NCAA. He said at the time there had been no evidence linking Mumme to any of the violations. Since that announcement, sever al newspaper reports said that Kentucky assistant coaches had asked boosters for money to help pay for recruits to attend Mumme’s football camps, a violation of NCAA rules. The school could not provide proof that nearly 20 re cruits, including Kentucky Mr. Football Montrell Jones, paid the fee to attend Mumme’s camp last summer. Morriss has spent the last four seasons at Kentucky after one year at Mississippi State. An All-South west Conference guard at Texas Christian, Morriss played 15 sea sons in the NFL — 11 in Philadel phia and four with New England. Morriss coached with New Eng land and Arizona in the NFL and had stints at Valdosta State and with San Antonio of the Canadian Football League. The 48-year-old Mumme was a virtually unknown head coach at Division II Valdosta State when he was hired by former athletic director C.M. Newton in 1997 to replace Bill Curry, who was fired after a 26-52 record in seven years at Kentucky. An offensive innovator, Mumme brought with him a wide-open passing attack that showcased the talents of quarterback Tim Couch. Under Mumme, Couch rewrote the Southeastern Conference record book and became the top pick in the 1999 NFL draft. “Mummeball,” as his aggressive style of play became known, ignit ed renewed fan interest in a lan guishing program. Following a 5-6 record his first season, the Wild cats went 7-5 and 6-6 the next two years and played in back-to-back bowl games — a feat accomplished only twice previously in the 109 year history of the program. Humanity. Environment. YOU can make a difference. Participating organizations offering full time career positions, part-time jobs, summer jobs, paid and unpaid internships, and volunteer work on a regional, national, and international scale. Albertina Kerr Centers Alvord-Taylor, Inc. American Diabetes Association American Red Cross/Lane County Chapter Hill Americorps Amigos de los Sobrevivientes Arras, Inc. Birth To Three Boys and Girls Club of Portland Metropolitan Area The Boys and Girls Club of Salem, Marion and Polk Counties Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Camp Fire Boys & Girls of Wilani Council, Camp Wilani 111 Christie School Committed Partners for Youth Drinking Water Program, Oregon Health Division Eckerd Youth Alternatives Eugene Water & Electric Board Food for Lane County Fund for Public Interest Research, Eugene Fund for Public Interest Research, Portland Girl Scouts of Western Rivers Council, Camp Cleawox Greenhill Humane Society Headstart Of Lane County Health Care for All - Oregon Hilyard Community Center, Specialized Recreation Institute for Regenerative Agroforestry Lane County Department of Youth Services Lane County District Attorney's Office Crime Victim & Survivor Services Lane County Health and Human Services, Developmental Disabilities Services Lane County Mental Health, Sex Offender Treatment : Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority Look.. -1 itb and Family Services Mobility international USA Mount Pisgah Arboretum Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Nearby Nature Netcorps Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NGAP) Northwest Youth Camps (NYC) Oregon Human Deviloprnent Corporation Oregon Public Networking Peace Corps Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos Del Noroeste Portland Impact Relief Nursery Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) SAFE Center SDSU/San Diego Choice Program Sexual Assault Support Services St Mary's Home for Boys State Office for Services to Children and Families Student Conservation Association Sammerbridge Portland Teach for America The State PIRGs Trilbum Family Services: Waverly Children's Home United Way of Lane County F US Forest Service :* Wellspfings Friends School YMCA Camp Collins SOCIAL SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL CAREER FAIR ' . '■ : C: ■' ' '■ . ' W riPi;: 1 $ - S||F Thursday, February 8 EMU Ballroom 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. . r : pi UNIVERSITY OF OREGON CAREER
