Oregon State halfback Cornell Hatcher and safety Drake Vickers spoke with local media this week, reflecting on Saturday's Oregon State win over Colorado State in Fort Collins.
Vickers discussed his journey back from multiple injuries, while Hatcher talked about the RB room's improvement over the last few games.
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Safety Drake Vickers
Explain your path to this point at Oregon State with injuries
"My first year here in 2023 we were prepping for Utah, and I ended up tearing my left ACL. I ended up coming back week four of 2024...Last year I got moved back to corner and was getting good reps there, and during spring scrimmage I ended up tearing my ACL and meniscus."
With the probability of a third, why do you keep going?
"Doctor explained to me that it's increased risk, but you wear your brace and do the right things, I can ride it out as long as I can...shoot, if I'm healthy I can go. Right now I'm healthy and so I'm just gonna keep goin'."
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To not just play again but to be starting, how have you been able to put yourself in this position?
"There was never any doubt to be honest, I think I was always close, you know in 2023 I was behind two great safeties with Akili Arnold and Kitan Oladapo. Those guys were great at guiding me and giving me the nods that I needed. Every year I've been able to absorb more and more knowledge about the game."
The pick you had last week was on a trick play, did you sense that something like a double pass was coming?
"When that play happened...CSU liked to roll out a lot with this quarterback, so when I saw the play develop I had my eyes backside, and I saw the tight end leaking out, and so I reacted right away to that."
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The running game has been a lot better, what's changed?
"I think it mainly comes from us as a running back room taking ownership after we didn't have the start to the season that we wanted to. We came together and especially with coach Marks, we knew that we didn't want to get into a situation where we were losing games because we weren't doin' what we needed to do. So we had to take ownership of our role."
What was it like to set the tone with six straight runs out of the gate?
"I think it was amazing really, knowing that coach Dahlen is up there trusting us enough to call six runs in a row like that. It takes a sense of responsibility, and we're glad to have that."
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What was it like to go in front of a sellout crowd and execute that well?
"That was amazing, it was everything we hoped for. We were excited it was going to be a sellout game, Colorado State was a great environment, and there's no place we would've rather started the Pac-12 this year."
The Beavers welcome San Diego State to Corvallis Saturday at 3 p.m. PT on USA Network.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/oregon-state as Cornell Hatcher: Beavs Conference Opener was "Everything We Hoped For"
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