Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
College Football
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
NFL
Beavers’ star Nall will enter NFL draft
Departs with 2,216
career rushing yards
Associated Press
CORVALLIS — Oregon
State running back Ryan Nall
has decided to declare for
the NFL draft with a year of
eligibility remaining.
Nall rushed for 2,216
yards during his career,
ranked eighth on the Beavers’
career list. He ran for 24
touchdowns (seventh) and
had nine 100-yard rushing
games (seventh). He also had
56 catches for 563 yards and
four touchdowns.
“When I was recruited
four years ago, I was fortu-
nate in knowing that I was
going to be in the best hands
both academically and athlet-
ically,” he said in a statement
released Tuesday. “My time
at Oregon State has been a
blessing — both on and off
the field — as the memories
that I have shared with my
teammates, coaches, and
Beaver Nation will be with
me forever.”
A native of Sandy, Oregon,
Nall was a standout at Port-
land’s Central Catholic High
School and was recruited to
Oregon State by then-coach
Mike Riley.
Nall, who was on track to
graduate after the winter term,
ran for 810 yards and eight
touchdowns this season. He
also caught 27 passes for 240
AP Photo/Don Wright
Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer (7) is
upended by Pittsburgh Steelers free safety William
Gay (22) at the end of a run during the second half
of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Rock bottom: Browns
drop to new depths
after winless season
By TOM WITHERS
Associated Press
AP Photo/Timothy J. Gonzalez, File
In this Oct. 14, 2017, file photo, Oregon State running back Ryan Nall (34) breaks
away from the Colorado defense for a touchdown during the second half an NCAA
college football game in Corvallis.
yards and two touchdowns.
But the year was disap-
pointing for the Beavers, who
finished 1-11 and winless in
the Pac-12 conference. Coach
Gary Andersen resigned
midway through and was
replaced in the interim with
cornerbacks coach Cory Hall.
Former Oregon State quar-
terback Jonathan Smith was
named the team’s new head
coach in late November.
“I have known Ryan since
he was a high school standout
in this state and it has been
impressive watching him
develop into an outstanding
young man with a tremendous
future,” Smith said.
Nall is the seventh player
from Oregon State to declare
for the draft with eligibility
remaining, including Steven
Jackson (2004), Brandon
Browner (2005), Jacquizz
Rodgers (2010), Brandin
Cooks (2014), Scott Crichton
(2014) and Isaac Seumalo
(2016).
Seahawks Wrapup
Carroll still believes Seattle can be title contenders
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. — Pete
Carroll insisted again that
he’s not going anywhere.
He’s intent on remaining
the leader of the Seattle
Seahawks even if it means
many of the faces he spoke to
this week while closing out
the 2017 season are gone by
the time Carroll finally gets
to coach his team again.
“I’m pumped up about
it. I’m excited about that
challenge,” Carroll said
Tuesday. “I’m upset that we
have to face it this early. I’d
like another six weeks here,
that would be nice. But that’s
not what this one is. We got
to go after it. Nothing’s going
to change other than maybe
our resolve.”
For just the second
time in his eight years
in Seattle, Carroll spent
Tuesday explaining why
the Seahawks were not in
the postseason. It’s the first
playoff miss for Seattle since
the 2011 season and with the
rapid rise of division foe Los
Angeles indicated — at least
for one year — a significant
change in the hierarchy of the
NFC West.
Injuries played a major
role in Seattle’s slide to 9-7.
So, too, did inconsistency on
offense, continued problems
with penalties and salary
cap constraints that limited
adjustments the Seahawks
could make during the
season.
It’s likely to be a busy
offseason as Seattle attempts
to manage its tight cap
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Seattle Seahawks NFL football head coach Pete Car-
roll talks to reporters Tuesday during his end-of-season
press conference in Renton, Wash.
situation while making key
decisions about how to
move forward and if it still
is a championship contender
needing slight tweaks or a
major overhaul.
“I think there is a cham-
pionship team sitting in this
meeting room right here,”
Carroll said.
REDISCOVER THE
RUN: Perhaps nothing irri-
tated Carroll more, or had a
great impact on the efficiency
of the offense, than Seattle’s
inability to run. It’s been a
staple of Carroll’s program
from the day he arrived in
Seattle.
This year the Seahawks
had one rushing touchdown
by a running back. Quar-
terback Russell Wilson was
the leading rusher with 586
yards, 346 more than any
other player. Seattle had
hopes for promising rookie
Chris Carson, but he was
sidelined by an ankle injury
early in the season and never
made it back. The lack of
a running game affected
Wilson as a passer as well,
as defenses didn’t have to
commit an extra safety to
stopping the run, leading to
smaller throwing windows
and some tentative decisions
by Wilson.
INJURY CONCERNS:
Carroll wouldn’t get into
specifics, but there is a
chance Cliff Avril and Kam
Chancellor have played their
final games. Avril and Chan-
cellor suffered neck injuries
during the season. Carroll
said on the radio Tuesday
that both would have a “hard
time” playing football again.
A couple of hours later, he
softened his stance, saying
each have quality-of-life
decisions to address with
their football future.
“Both those guys are
marvelous
people
and
competitors and all that. We’d
love to see them through the
rest of their career. I don’t
know what’s going to happen
there,” Carroll said.
LEGION OF WHOM:
If Chancellor does not
return, it could be the start
of a major makeover for
Seattle’s secondary. Richard
Sherman is coming off a
torn Achilles tendon and was
openly shopped by Seattle
last offseason. Earl Thomas
is entering the last year of
his contract and his actions
toward the end of the season
indicated a desire to be else-
where for the 2018 season.
OFF THE FIELD:
Seattle was among the most
active teams in the league
with a significant number
of players participating in
national anthem protests.
The protests, on top of the
incident Michael Bennett
had with police in Las Vegas
in August, created a number
of unexpected issues.
Carroll said he believed
that only once this season —
Seattle’s loss at Tennessee —
did discussions of off-field
issues affect the team’s
performance. Seattle had
long discussions following
comments by President
Donald Trump about NFL
players and opted to remain
in the locker room as a team
during the anthem before that
game.
“That was an extraordi-
narily heated time,” Carroll
said. “I think that was a
different amount of emotional
output that occurred before
the game and it looked like it
the way we played.”
BRIEFLY
Timbers acquire
central defender
Julio Cascante
PORTLAND (AP) —
The Portland Timbers have
acquired central defender
Julio
Cascante
from
Costa Rica’s first-division
Deportiva Saprissa.
The Timbers used targeted
allocation money for the
transfer, which is pending
approval of his visa and other
documentation.
Cascante, who is from
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica,
has played in 107 matches
with 93 starts since his
professional debut in his
native country in 2011.
“We have monitored his
progress for over a year, and
have targeted him to help
strengthen our backline,”
Timbers general manager
Gavin Wilkinson said in a
statement. “Julio brings an
intense focus and awareness
to the game and possesses
a number of characteristics
we believe will help propel
him to the next level in his
career.”
Cascante’s career started
with Orion FC before three
seasons with C.F. Univer-
sidad de Costa Rica. He
joined Saprissa in advance of
the 2016 season, making 51
league appearances.
He also started in three
CONCACAF Champions
League matches, including a
pair against the Timbers.
Utah hires former
OSU coach Gary
Andersen
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)
— Utah hired former Oregon
State coach Gary Andersen
on Tuesday as an associate
head coach and defensive
assistant.
Andersen
was
the
defensive coordinator at
Utah under coach Kyle
Whittingham from 2005-08
before leaving to take lead
jobs at Utah State, Wisconsin
and Oregon State. He
surprisingly stepped down in
early October after a 1-5 start
during his third season with
the Beavers. Oregon State
went 7-23 under Andersen
overall.
“Gary brings a wealth
of high-level coaching
experience to the program,
including serving as the head
coach at two Power Five
schools,” Whittingham said
in a statement. “During his
previous time on our staff, he
developed some of the best
defensive linemen in Utah
history. In addition, he is an
excellent recruiter and moti-
vator and understands what it
takes to win at this level.”
This will be the third stint
at Utah for the Salt Lake City
native who played center
for the Utes from 1985-86.
Andersen was the defensive
line coach from 1997-2002
before taking the head
coaching position at Southern
Utah in 2003. He returned as
defensive line coach under
Urban Meyer in 2004 before
being promoted to defensive
coordinator in 2005.
The Utes bring him on
now as the 10th assistant
under a new NCAA rule.
Pasco native
Urlacher among
15 Hall of Fame
finalists
(AP) — Star linebackers
Ray Lewis and Brian
Urlacher are among four
first-time eligible former
players selected among the
15 modern-era finalists for
the Pro Football Hall of
Fame’s Class of 2018.
Receiver Randy Moss and
guard Steve Hutchinson also
made the cut to the finals in
their first year of eligibility.
They join Tony Boselli,
Isaac Bruce, Brian Dawkins,
Alan Faneca, Joe Jacoby,
Edgerrin James, Ty Law,
John Lynch, Kevin Mawae,
Terrell Owens and Everson
Walls for consideration.
The seniors committee
has nominated guard Jerry
Kramer and linebacker
Robert Brazile. The contrib-
utor’s nominee is Bobby
Beathard, a former general
manager and administrator
for five franchises.
BEREA, Ohio — When
Hue Jackson was hired less
than two years ago, he was
greeted in the lobby of the
Browns’ headquarters by
cheering team employees.
They
beamed
and
clapped while shaking hands
with their new hero, this
offensive mastermind and
quarterback guru. Finally,
they thought, here was the
coach who would restore
glory to a franchise that
once symbolized greatness.
Jackson was supposed
to fix things. They’ve only
grown worse.
A civic treasure during
the Jim Brown years, Cleve-
land’s pro football team is
now a shameful mess, a
historic flop.
The worst of the worst.
Rock bottom.
With their 28-24 loss on
Sunday to the Pittsburgh
Steelers , who rested
stars Ben Roethlisberger,
Antonio Brown, Le’Veon
Bell and other regulars for
the playoffs, the Browns
wrote their name into the
annals of sports sadness by
finishing 0-16 and joining
the 2008 Detroit Lions as
the only teams in history
to go winless for an entire
16-game season — 16 up,
16 down.
In a league designed to
provide parity and hope,
the Browns followed a
1-15 season with one even
worse and now have gone
more than a calendar year
between victories.
The
2017
Browns
stumbled their way into
the pathetic pantheon of
rotten teams along with the
1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers
(9-73), 1974-75 Washington
Capitals (8-67-5) and 2003
Detroit Tigers (43-119) as
some of the sorriest squads
to ever hit the hardwood, ice
or diamond.
And now that Buffalo is
back in the AFC playoffs,
Cleveland’s
postseason
drought stretching to 2002 is
the league’s longest.
“The bottom line is we
did not play well enough, we
did not coach well enough
and we did not get the things
done that we set out to do,”
said Jackson, who kept his
job despite going 1-31 —
the worst two-year stretch in
98 NFL seasons. “I think to
make it more than that, you
can’t. We had the opportu-
nity every week to go out
and play and to go win. We
did not do that.”
Not enough talent. Too
many turnovers. Those were
the main reasons behind the
Browns’ continued fall from
grace this season, but the
team’s issues are older and
run even deeper.
Owners Dee and Jimmy
Haslam thought they had
solved numerous problems
— deplorable drafting,
front-office
dysfunction,
fan apathy — when they
revamped their football hier-
archy following the 2015
season by hiring Jackson,
who was considered the top
coordinator available.
The Haslams promoted
salary-cap expert Sashi
Brown to vice president
of football operations
and brought aboard Paul
DePodesta, a baseball
executive with an analytics
background, as their strategy
officer to plot the Browns’
course to relevance.
Instead,
they’ve
descended to new depths.
For all that Brown and
DePodesta provided in
terms of smarts and mana-
gerial savvy, their lack of
experience and football
intellect was dooming. Their
initial decision not to re-sign
some veteran free agents in
favor of younger players
came back to haunt the
Browns, who haven’t filled
major holes.
More troubling, the
Browns’ brass passed on
selecting
quarterbacks
Carson Wentz or Deshaun
Watson in the past two
drafts, blowing the chance to
finally find the long-term QB
the franchise has coveted for
two decades. Cleveland did
acquire extra picks — it has
the No. 1 and No. 4 picks
and three in the second
round this year — through
a series of trades, but the
misses on Wentz and Watson
were unforgivable sins.
Jimmy Haslam waited
until the Browns were 0-12
in December before firing
Brown and replacing him
with John Dorsey, Kansas
City’s
former
general
manager, who straightened
out the Chiefs.
Dorsey will be armed
with up to $100 million in
salary cap space to overhaul
the Browns, who have
recorded 15 double-digit
loss seasons since 1999
and are 4-44 over the past
three years and 20-76 since
Haslam agreed to buy them
in 2012.
The perception of the
team — inside and outside
Cleveland — is so poor
that Jackson knows he must
deliver a sales pitch of a
brighter future to prospec-
tive draft picks, free agents
and even the city’s loyal-as-
a-dog fans.
“Being 0-16, the stigma
that comes with that is
that we’re going to have
to do some recruiting
everywhere,” Jackson said.
“Not just players, we have
to re-recruit our fans. I
think we have to re-recruit
everybody who is associated
with the Cleveland Browns.
We have to go out and do a
better job with the players
and get them to understand
really what is here and what
we are trying to accomplish
and what we are trying to
do. Right now is not a good
time, but me talking about it
or trying to explain it away
is not going to change it.
“The only thing that’s
going to change it is results. In
order to do that, is there some
convincing we are going to
have to do? Absolutely. We
are in a war for talent on
every level right now.”
Jackson is not absolved
of blame for the Browns’
fiasco. He made question-
able moves with rookie QB
DeShone Kizer, who led the
league in turnovers. Yes,
Jackson was handed the
league’s youngest roster, but
he couldn’t find his way to
a single win and somehow
survived.
It’s no wonder so many
fans are outraged. They feel
betrayed, ignored but mostly
beaten.
And the idea that Jackson
is coming back at 1-31 —
he’s the first Cleveland
coach to get a third year
since Romeo Crennel in
2008 — has driven some
Browns backers to their
breaking point.
As he and his team-
mates cleared out their
lockers
Monday,
CB
Jason McCourty perfectly
summarized two crazy years
in Cleveland.
“You can’t keep doing
the same thing and think
you’re going to get different
results,” he said. “That’s the
definition of insanity.”