Five Las Vegans gear up for Insightful bowl trip

Thursday, Dec. 26, 2002 | 10:13 a.m.

Five Oregon State football players from Las Vegas started laying the groundwork last Thursday morning, before their team left for Phoenix, for a basketball competition against Beaver quintets from other cities.

Those from Los Angeles have been especially earmarked for embarrassment by the troupe from Las Vegas.

"We do stick together," said fourth-year junior linebacker Richard Seigler. "We are family. We're with the same people when we go home, and it's nice knowing people come from the same town as you. Specifically, from Vegas. There's not another city like Vegas."

OSU (8-4) plays Pittsburgh (8-4) in the Insight Bowl today at 5:30 p.m. at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, but count on those hoop games taking place soon and being just as competitive.

The Five-of-a-Kind from Las Vegas doesn't like to lose.

"We joke around with everyone, saying it should be called 'Las Vegas State University,' " said Seigler, out of Chaparral High. "We play around with people, but we're proud to be Beavers and represent this university.

"We say it jokingly to others to let them know that Vegas cats are up here and that we have a lot of talent in that city of ours. The coaches have given us all opportunities to come up here and showcase our talents, getting us on the field as soon as possible."

Steven Jackson, a sophomore tailback from Eldorado High who led the Pac-10 in rushing this season, noted the special bond between him and those four other teammates.

"It's quite a unique bunch, like a little brotherhood," Jackson said. "A lot of guys can't relate to what we've been through and seen. They all think of The Strip. But we have a tight-knit group here. We love one another and respect one another."

The perception, Seigler said, is that everyone lives on the Strip.

"You know," he said, "everyone gambles, the sand, they stay in the hotels ... we definitely dispel that. We let them know, Vegas isn't just the Strip. A lot of people live there, and live normal lives.

"People also think Las Vegas can't produce a lot of athletes. That's crazy talk. You just explain to them that Vegas guys are overlooked by everyone."

Everyone, except certain coaches in Corvallis. Beavers defensive coordinator Craig Bray, a former UNLV wide receiver and assistant coach, is the only assistant to coach Dennis Erickson with direct ties to Las Vegas.

Junior strong safety Lawrence Turner, from the City College of San Francisco via Cheyenne High, shares an off-campus apartment with Jackson. Second-string linebacker John Pollard, a Las Vegas High graduate, lives in the same complex.

Seigler -- second on the Beavers with 94 tackles, third with 12 1/2 tackles for loss and who shares the current team-best streak of 37 consecutive starts with defensive tackle Eric Manning -- lives around the corner.

Cornerback Kellen Marshall, Cimarron-Memorial's addition to the group who used a redshirt season in 2002, has a pad nearby. With both of OSU's corners graduating, Seigler said he expects Marshall to fit in well as a redshirt freshman starter in 2003.

Jackson might be the boldest, since made a preseason prediction that he would lead the Pac-10 in rushing.

"I was blessed to do it," he said, "and I knew I would do what it took to win that title."

Seigler is more astonished that the hometown college football program let Jackson jump to Corvallis, Ore., than by the fabulous season that Jackson has had in 2002.

"I see a future Heisman Trophy winner, that's what I see," Seigler said. "Steven Jackson is amazing. By far, he's one of the most talented running backs in the country. I don't know how UNLV let him slip out of their grasp. They lost big points, what could have been keys to their program

"They let key players slip from underneath them. Steven will run through you, by you ... he's big, fast and powerful, very explosive. I'm glad he's part of my team."

Steven Jackson credited Jonathan Jackson for starting the Las Vegas-to-Corvallis pipeline.

Jonathan Jackson signed with OSU in 1996, after a prep career at Bonanza High. The middle linebacker played for the Las Vegas Outlaws of the defunct XFL and has played in Berlin, in the NFL's Europe League, the last two springs.

During Steven Jackson's recruiting trip to Corvallis, Jonathan Jackson gave him the scoop on the football program, school life and adapting to a small town in the middle of nowhere.

"He helped get me here," Steven Jackson said. "He was a senior when I was a redshirt freshman. He started it off, and ever since then we've been getting a Las Vegas guy up here every year. It was a major change. He explained it to me, the same way I do with the rest of the guys."

The Five-of-a-Kind aims to restore the Beavers' luster as one of the nation's elite teams, which they achieved not very long ago.

Today marks OSU's first bowl appearance in Arizona since Jan. 1, 2001, when it high-stepped its way to a 41-9 slaughter of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe.

Jackson committed to OSU just before the Beavers dismantled the most popular team in America in one of the most prestigious bowls.

"That got me wound up to play for the university," Jackson said. "That was an amazing season, what got a lot of us guys here. That particular season won our hearts to come to Oregon State."

Seigler started at middle linebacker against Notre Dame. The plans, strategies and schemes that night, he said, all worked to perfection.

"It was a lot of fun to be a part of it my freshman year. It was mind-blowing," Seigler said. "I came from Cimarron, where we couldn't get past the first round of the playoffs. And, now, we were smashing on Notre Dame, a traditional powerhouse program!

"The coaches here, I'm glad they didn't overlook me. They gave me a chance to come in here and play right away. These coaches here, and the program, take a liking to Las Vegas."

OSU's five connections to Las Vegas did not predict that the Beavers would dismantle the Panthers the way that Notre Dame got crushed by that black-and-orange steamroller not so long ago at Sun Devil Stadium.

Seigler said Pittsburgh quarterback Rod Rutherford is elusive, the offensive line is imposing, and the Panthers' fullback and running back are big.

"But we have a lot of speed on this team, and we'll try to match that," Seigler said. "I predict it will be a great game."

One that certain Beavers from Southern Nevada plan to parlay into a much bigger bowl game in Arizona in the very near future.