Oregon State Football: It’s not a surprise, but Beavers will be bad in 2018

Defense

The Oregon State defense is really young and went through growing pains in 2017. The Beavers had only 14 sacks all season in 2017 and even worse, just seven interceptions. Defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar will run a 3-4 defense and a 380-pound nose tackle will help free up the inside linebackers. The defensive ends have little to no experience in action.

The 3-4 defense expects its pass rush to come from the outside linebackers and Bright Ugwoegbu and Kee Whetzel both return. In Anderson’s scheme, they only combined to make 5.5 sacks in 2017. On the inside, senior linebacker Jonathan Willis is back. The 6-foot-1, 235 pound Willis logged 68 tackles and three sacks last season and will be expected to be the veteran leader for Smith’s defense.

Safety David Morris leads the youth-driven defensive backfield that returns seven key players that should all return in 2019 as well. Morris had 75 tackles and four tackles for loss last year. He’s joined by Shawn Wilson, Isaiah Dunn and Xavier Crawford at the cornerback positions. Wilson had an interception in 2017 which makes him a ball hawk by OSU standards.