CORVALLIS - Jarrel Comer’s path to Oregon State football looks nothing like the usual route. Two years ago, he was a freshman at Tallahassee Community College and hadn’t played competitive football since middle school. Now he’s starting at outside linebacker for the Beavers.
Comer spent his high school years playing basketball at Eastside High School in Gainesville, Florida, then began college as a regular student. Football came back into the picture later, at Citrus College in California, when he started looking for another chance to get back into sports. That meant leaving home for the first time and making a cross-country flight to play football again after more than four years away from it.
“I was willing to take that chance to get to where I am today,” Comer said.
The chance has paid off quickly. At Citrus College, he put up 58 tackles, including 8.5 for loss and six sacks, and that production caught the attention of linebackers coach Cort Dennison, then at Idaho. Dennison kept recruiting Comer after moving to Oregon State, where Comer signed in January and arrived for spring ball.
At 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, Comer was able to overwhelm junior college opponents with pure athleticism. The finer details of the position were still new to him.
He wasn’t yet polished in hand placement, setting the edge against the run or dropping into pass coverage. His job was simpler: go after the quarterback.
“They didn’t ask much of me,” Comer said. “They told me just do what I do, use my athleticism, get to the quarterback.”
That athleticism has already carried over to Corvallis. Comer is regularly among the fastest players on the Oregon State practice field, a trait that has mattered for a defense looking for more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
“His athleticism is off the charts,” defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre said. “We see him grow leaps and bounds. Playing a lot more (against Montana), he will grow leaps and bounds going into this Saturday because now he’s seen it, it slows down, he understands the different things.”
Comer has 10 tackles so far, with four in each of the past two games, and he’s become more than just a pass-rush specialist for the Beavers. He says MacIntyre, along with edge coaches Joe Seumalo and George Frazier, have helped him learn the position, especially in pass coverage.
OSU is hoping Comer’s speed, paired with Takari Hickle, can help create more problems for opposing offenses by forcing them to account for pressure from both sides.
“Teams have to respect his speed,” Hickle said. “If they don’t, then he’ll run right by them. He is definitely a threat in coverage and in the pass game.”
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