SPORTS Friday, April 1, 2016 East Oregonian Page 3B College Football Beavers building position identities in spring practices By KEVIN HAMPTON Albany Democrat-Herald COR9A//I6 ² There’s a new look to the helmets worn by the Oregon 6tate football team this spring. On one side, players are wearing patches that repre- sent their position group. Each group came up with the design. When coach Gary Andersen was at 8tah 6tate and traveled to take on Air Force, he noticed that those players took a lot of pride in representing various groups. +e brought the idea to the Beavers this spring. “Position identity was a big thing for us,” Andersen said. “We talked long and hard about culture change, which we needed. There’s a reason why at the end of the year we took the amount of kids we took to the Oregon game. “We were in a major spot that we had to make a decision as a team, as group of coaches, as a group of players, that we had to change the culture or stay where we are and we didn’t want to stay where we were.” There are also stickers for the back of the helmets to award players for community involvement and accomplishments in the weight room and on the football ¿eld. Andersen said the team will not get stickers during the season. “It’s just one small part that we’re trying to get better every day,” he said. GAME DAY EVERY DAY Each practice this spring replicates the length of a Godofredo Vasquez/The Corvallis Gazette-Times via AP In this photo taken Tuesay, March 29, 2016,Oregon State freshman quarterback Mason Moran (15) evades linebacker Kyle Haley (5) during spring NCAA college football practice in Corvallis, Ore. game, so the players are out on the ¿eld for about three and a half hours. It’s a different approach, but one that Andersen felt was necessary. “We’re squeezing every minute that the 1CAA will allow us to squeeze out of these kids, which is different for me as a coach to have kids out on the ¿eld for that long. But we discussed it since January 4th that we are going to take every minute that we possibly can because we need every single minute,” Andersen said. “The kids haven’t batted an eye. They’ve battled very hard through some pretty aggressive time frames as far as what we’ve asked them to do.” OFFSEASON EXODUS 6everal players have left the program during the offseason, including quarterback 6eth Collins, linebacker Rommel Mageo and safety Justin 6trong. Andersen stressed that the players all have different reasons. “There’s no reason to point ¿ngers or look at kids in a different way,” he said. “Every kid that’s left this program, for whatever reason they’ve left this program, has made a deci- sion and you have to want to be where you’re at. “I wouldn’t say there was a bunch of surprises. The key thing there is you have to want to be where you’re at. If you don’t want to be where you’re at, then that’s ¿ne. “And we say that in recruiting all the time. There’s a ¿t for every young man, there’s a ¿t for every type of player and if it’s not your ¿t, don’t sit here and be miserable. But we are going to hold you accountable to a high level, so if you don’t want to be held to a high level of accountability on the ¿eld, off the ¿eld, in your social life, your academic life, then you better run away because you’ll get caught.” MLB Baseball’s boom-bust payroll cycle illustrated during offseason RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer Practically neighbors, the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers illustrate baseball's boom- bust cycle. At Wrigley Field, the Cubs have boosted payroll by about $50 million this year in an effort to win their ¿rst World 6eries title since 1908. At Miller Park, the Brewers overhauled their roster after ¿nishing last in the 1/ Central and cut their big league player budget to under $60 million. That's the lowest in the major leagues, according to a review of contracts by The Asso- ciated Press. Just eight of the Brew Crew make over $525,000, which is barely above the big league minimum. They're many rungs below pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Zack *reinke and 'avid Price, the ¿rst trio to reach $30 million in the same season. "I think we're underdogs," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "Tampa is a great example, where it's proven that payroll isn't everything. The payroll ¿gure to me is not important because teams have had great seasons without payroll." Chicago is now among the biggest spenders, with an open- ing-day payroll in the $170 million range. After losing to the 1ew