Sports
6A
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Th e Observer
Reed on the list as potential scholarship recipient
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — La Grande
senior Nathan Reed put together a
senior season to remember on the
football fi eld as the running back
helped the Tigers to an undefeated
season and a Class 4A state cham-
pionship while earning the honor
of Class 4A offensive player of the
year.
Reed last week was recognized
for his work in the classroom, too.
Reed was announced among
10 scholar-athletes at his posi-
tion — and 40 total — recognized
by the Oregon chapter of the
National Football Foundation for
“Academic, Athletic, and Lead-
ership excellence during the 2019
football season,” according to an
email from NFF Oregon executive
director George Crace.
“I was super excited,” Reed
said. “It’s a really big honor and
cool to represent our high school
and community of La Grande. I’m
honored to be able to represent
our school and our community in
this way.”
Reed was among 10 players in
the “2A-4A Backs” category. The
other three categories are “2A-4A
Linemen,” 5A-6A Backs” and
“5A-6A Linemen.” Being selected
as one of the top 10 puts him in
EO Media Group fi le photo
La Grande running back Nathan Reed was among the state’s top 40
players selected to potentially earn a scholarship from Oregon NFF.
the running to be named among
four fi nalists — one from each
group — who will have $1,000
applied to their college tuition.
Additionally, one of the 40 will be
chosen for the National Team of
Distinction along with one indi-
vidual from each chapter of the
NFF across the country.
Those 120 individuals will
be put on display in May at the
NFF and College Hall of Fame
Building in Atlanta. The Oregon
chapter of the NFF, which has
existed since 1960, has awarded
academic scholarships to Oregon
high school football scholar ath-
letes since 1988, Crace said in the
email.
“The kid is not just a great
athlete but a great student, too,”
LHS head football coach Rich
McIlmoil said. “He takes care of
business anywhere he goes. The
kid has a lot more potential than
just sport — going to be a great
member of our community and
society.”
Reed, who will be attending
Eastern Oregon University to play
football, put up solid numbers in
helping La Grande go 12-0 during
a season where they were nearly
untouchable. He fi nished with
1,725 yards rushing from the run-
ning back position — 143.8 yards
per game. He was even better
in the playoffs, averaging 154.3
yards per game in four postseason
contests. It was rare for the senior
to be held to less than 100 yards
rushing in a game — and even
rarer for him to be in the game
after halftime as he was often a
spectator in the second half of La
Grande’s numerous blowouts.
He has also maintained a 4.0
GPA in the classroom while bal-
ancing three sports, being a two-
time state runner-up wrestler and
a state runner-up hurdler on the
track.
“It was a lot of work some-
times, I was just used to it, I’ve
always done the three sports, it
was a lot of making my priority
straight,” he said, adding a key
was getting school work done
while in class to allow him the
time to focus on athletics out-
side of class. “Focused in school
and worked really hard in the
classroom.”
The four award winners, and
the winner of the nod as a Team
of Distinction member, will be
announced this week. Each schol-
arship winner is determined on a
point scale — with a maximum
score of 100 points — where the
top 10 are awarded points for aca-
demics, athletics, and community
service and leadership.
“I don’t know how many of
those players were offensive
player of the year for the district
and the state, how many were
two-time all-state defensive and
offensive (players) and 4.0 stu-
dents at the same time,” McIlmoil
said. “I think he’s got a great shot
at getting it.”
Beavers baseball will wait for clarity before making roster decisions
By Jarrid Denney
Albany Democrat-Herald
CORVALLIS — When
Mitch Canham was man-
aging in the Seattle Mar-
iners system, he and his
assistant coaches spent a
good deal of time “playing
GM.” They would put them-
selves in the shoes of the
general manager and try to
predict the upcoming roster
moves that would dictate
their job that day.
With the college base-
ball season canceled and
the future of the sport con-
stantly shifting, Canham
and his Oregon State team
have adopted a wait-and-see
approach until they fi nd out
what exactly the 2021 cam-
paign will look like.
It has been over a month
since the Pac-12 canceled
all sports for the academic
year and the Beavers’
season reached an abrupt
end. Since then, plenty
in the baseball world has
changed, but OSU is still
left awaiting answers to
many questions as Canham
plots the program’s future.
In March, the NCAA
Division I Council granted
all spring athletes an extra
season of eligibility and
eased the 35-player roster
maximum — a move
that was universally cel-
ebrated by the players it
affects. The Council also
left each college program
to decide what it will do
with its seniors; schools are
still able to offer scholar-
ships to seniors, but cannot
offer more than what they
offered a player in 2020.
Meanwhile, Major
League Baseball reached
an agreement with its
players’ union that gives
MLB the option of trim-
ming its amateur player
draft as short as fi ve or 10
rounds this summer. The
agreement did not include
a date for the draft, which
could be held anytime
between June 10 and July
20. Regardless of when the
draft takes place, the dead-
line for players to sign their
pro contracts is August 1.
A fi ve-round draft would
ensure that less than 200
players get drafted — an
87.5 percent reduction from
the typical 40-round draft.
Players who aren’t drafted
are still able to sign with
pro clubs, but teams are
allowed to spend a max-
imum of just $20,000 on
the signing bonus of any
one player.
In 2019, the bonus slot
for the 162nd pick was
$318,200. The 311th pick —
the last of the 10th round
— was slotted at $142,300.
So, some of the top col-
lege players in the country
are now left to decide if
they want to take a drastic
pay cut to pursue their pro-
fessional dreams, or go
back to school and receive
little fi nancial support or, in
some cases, pay their entire
tuition out of pocket.
While an extra year of
eligibility will empower
players to take control of
their futures, it will also
leave many coaches with
more players than they can
possibly provide playing
time for. Oregon State has
not yet decided how it will
handle the ensuing roster
crunch.
“There’s still answers to
be had,” Canham said. “We
don’t know if there’s fi ve
or 10 rounds in the draft,
which one that’s gonna be.
That could affect some of
our guys. We just need to
get an understanding of
how that works out with the
seniors and what us and the
university are going to be
able to do as far as fi guring
out scholarships and every-
thing. So we’re still waiting
for those pieces to come
together.”
Canham will have plenty
to think about once more
clarity is provided. Oregon
State carried just three
seniors on its 2020 rosters
in Jake Mulholland, Preston
Jones and Andy Arm-
strong. They also had 11
juniors, eight sophomores
and 12 freshmen for a total
of 34 players. In November,
the Beavers announced a
10-player recruiting class,
meaning 44 players could
potentially be eligible to
play next season.
One of those signees,
Jesuit High School star
Mick Able, is a consensus
top-10 draft prospect and
could potentially be the
fi rst high school player off
the board this summer.
But aside from him, Kevin
Abel is the only player
with Oregon State ties who
is considered a top-100
prospect.
With an abbreviated
draft in place, several Bea-
vers who would have been
sure-fi re draft picks any
other year could be forced
to head back to school.
“Depending on what
happens in the draft, we
have a handful of guys
that I believe are ready to
go play at that next level
and be very successful
there. It’s just a matter of
if everything lines up and
they take off. Obviously,
if they’re ready to go play
at that level, if they wanna
stay, you obviously want
those guys around because
they’re very talented.”
Until the NCAA pro-
vides more answers,
Canham and the rest of the
country’s baseball coaches
will be in a holding
pattern.
TREASURE
VALLEY
STEEL, INC.
La GRANDE
AUTO REPAIR
975-2000
www.lagrandeautorepair.com
MOST
ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY
AVAILABLE
Joe Horst
Manufacturing Zee & Cee Purlins
In-HouseCustom Cut Exact Lengths
ACDelcoTSS
VOTE FOR CHANGE, VOTE FOR EXPERIENCE
INTEGRITY
TRANSPARENCY
HARD WORK
EXPERIENCED
VETERAN
PRO 2ND AMENDMENT
BILL MILLER
FOR SHERIFF
“Bill Miller spent 5 years on the sheriff’s command staff as
a dectective sergeant and has had experience in other areas
including corrections, patrol, drug task force and parole and
probation. He is anxious to bring transparency, communication
and accountability to the Sheriff’s Office.”
~ Dale Mammen, Union County District Attorney (14 years), Retired
“He will serve the citizens of Union County with
professionalism and honor, just as he has done his entire
working career. That is why I am endorsing Bill Miller as the
next Sheriff of Union County.”
• 24 Colors
• Custom Trim
• 2 1/2” Corrugated
• Delivery Available
• Full Soffitt Line
• 3 ft. Gulf Coast Panel
• 3 ft. PBR Panel
• 3 ft. Mesa Panel
• 3 ft. Tuff Rib Panel
• Standing Seam
DELIVERY
• 2 ft. Delta Rib
AVAILABLE
• 3 ft. Pro Panel
40 Year Full Paint Warranty • WeatherX Paint System
~ Derick Reddington, Lieutenant LaGrande PD, Retired
A few of my priorities:
Expansion of the drug task force, bring back a
comprehensive Reserve Program, full support of
Union County Search & Rescue, and better
policing/visibiliy in all communitties
Look me up on Facebook: Bill Miller For Union County Sheriff
Email me: billmillerforucsheriff@gmail.com
Paid for by Committee to elect Bill Miller, Sheriff. Jared Rogers - Treasurer, 73001 Palmer Junction Rd., Elgin, OR 97827
ONTARIO
541-889-4214
BOISE
208-336-7505
1460 N. Verde Dr.
Toll Free 1-866-887-8335
6619 S. Supply Way
Toll Free 1-888-717-8335
WWW.TREASUREVALLEYSTEEL.COM