Appeal Tribune
܂ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018܂ 1B
Sports
Questions OSU must answer in rebuild
Gary Horowitz
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
CORVALLIS – When it comes to
Pac-12 Conference football, there is a
consensus prediction: Oregon State will
be at the bottom of the North Division.
No surprise there.
The Beavers are coming off a 1-11 sea-
son (0-9 Pac-12) and their only win was
a narrow escape against lower-division
opponent Portland State, a winless
team last season.
But enough about the past.
OSU has renewed hope with first-
year head coach Jonathan Smith. He
knows what it takes to win big in Corval-
lis, even if he last accomplished it nearly
two decades ago.
Here are five key questions facing the
Beavers as they open preseason prac-
tice Aug. 3 in preparation for the Sept. 1
season opener at Ohio State.
1. Is Jake Luton the real deal?
We got a small sample of Luton last
season, who suffered a season-ending
back injury in Game 4 at Washington
State.
At 6-foot-7, 234-pounds, Luton has
the size and arm strength to be a good fit
for Smith’s pro-style offense.
Luton is the only quarterback on the
roster with significant Division I experi-
ence and his senior leadership will be
key for a team that needs to build confi-
dence early. Sophomore Conor Blount
and junior college transfer Jack Collleto,
the best runner among the quarter-
backs, are waiting in the wings.
2. Will the defensive line hold up?
There was little push from the defen-
sive front last season, which produced
See OSU, Page 2B
Oregon State linebacker Jonathan Willis, center, celebrates after a sack in last
season's 15-14 loss to Stanford. SCOTT OLMOS/USA TODAY SPORTS
Five teammates key to
Herbert’s Heisman chase
Pete Martini
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
The hype is already here for Oregon
quarterback Justin Herbert as he pre-
pares for his junior season.
In June, Las Vegas gave Herbert the
fourth-best odds of winning the Heis-
man Trophy, and during the past couple
weeks, Herbert was included on the
watch lists for both the Davey O’Brien
Award and Maxwell Award, two of the
top college football honors.
With the Ducks set to open the sea-
son at Sept. 1 against Bowling Green at
Autzen Stadium, Herbert isn’t going to
sneak up on anybody — he’s on the na-
tional radar.
It’s unclear if Herbert can live up to
the hype, but to do so, he’ll need to play a
full season.
As a freshman in 2016 under head
coach Mark Helfrich, Herbert was
thrust into the starting role midseason
after Oregon struggled with quarter-
back Dakota Prukop. In the partial sea-
son of work, Herbert threw for 1,936
yards, 19 touchdowns and four intercep-
tions.
Last season under head coach Willie
Taggart, Herbert performed well when
he was on the field, but a fractured col-
larbone sidelined him for five games. He
finished with 1,983 yards, 15 touch-
downs and five interceptions.
This season, Herbert has his third
head coach in three seasons — Mario
Cristobal — and he’ll need to stay
healthy if he’s going to join Marcus Ma-
riota as the only Heisman Trophy win-
ners in Ducks history.
Herbert also needs playmakers
around him, and Oregon is lacking some
of the playmaking experience that it’s
had in the past. There is no Darren Car-
rington, Bralon Addison or Josh Huff at
wide receiver. No LaMichael James or
Royce Freeman at running back.
Here is a look at the top five possible
Oregon quarter back Justin Herbert (10) throws the ball in the first half at Autzen Stadium during an April 2017 game.
See HEISMAN, Page 2B
SCOTT OLMOS-USA TODAY SPORTS
The agony of halibut fishing birthed friendship
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
OTIS – There’s a line from a column
written almost three decades ago that
sticks in my mind.
I can’t remember the exact words, but
it went something like: “Frank had a
look on his face like a guy who had taken
a grand piano up 15 flights of stairs only
to find out that he was supposed to be in
the building next door.”
The comparison was inspired by a
halibut fishing trip out of Newport.
My newly minted fishing buddy
Frank King had latched onto something
stupendous.
After about 30 minutes of straining to
reel it up, first the charter skipper and
then the first mate took over for Frank,
spelling each other.
“It’s probably between 70 and 100
pounds,” they both guesstimated about
the flatfish what was on the end of the
line.
Sort of …
About an hour into the battle, they
handed the rod back to the bone-weary
angler to let him bat cleanup.
It was, in fact, a halibut.
Two, actually.
Each of them was almost identical in
size, and both about a half-inch less
than the legal minimum length, mean-
ing that they had to be released.
Which prompted the comparison to
the piano-mover in the building without
an elevator.
Frank went into the cabin to lie down,
and I ended up catching a halibut for
him.
We’ve been fast friends ever since,
although our fishing adventures petered
out long ago with the departures and
deaths of many of our Statesman Jour-
nal fishing companions such as John Er-
icksen and Jerry Easterling.
“I sure miss Larry,” Frank said about
the late Larry Roby, the Statesman edi-
tor who introduced us when I was a new
arrival and Frank served as the coastal
correspondent for the paper.
“And I sure miss those fishing trips
that we took together, Henry,” he added
with a smile. “I had a lot of fun.”
Me, too, which is why I stopped by to
reminisce on my way back from a clam-
ming clinic at Netarts.
Frank, 95, is part of America’s Great-
est Generation. He served as an aircraft
radio technician during World War II.
There’s a “Semper Fi” bumper sticker
on a car in his driveway in rural Otis, an
oxymoron if ever there was one.
He’s lived in the same house since he
moved there from a rental in Taft, south
of Lincoln City, in 1991.
We talked about our fishing trips on
the late editor John Ericksen’s boat, the
Agdenes, which was berthed at the Em-
barcadero in Newport.
See HALIBUT, Page 2B