Clute commits, keeps it quiet

Kellen Clute knew that playing a different position than the one he would ultimately play in college would make recruiting him a challenge. It didn't matter. For the 6-foot-5, 225-pound athlete from Mt. Spokane High School in Spokane, Wash., being proactive took care of a lot of the stress off the recruiting process.

Clute, a two-sport star for the Wildcats, was getting some recruiting mail during his junior basketball season. By the time the May evaluation period came around, he received even more.

Word was getting out. Slowly, but it was getting out nonetheless. Problem was, Clute plays in a spread offense that runs the ball a lot. He's considered a running back, but he's really more a fullback. He definitely has the mindset for it, because he takes a lot more pride in breaking the school record for pancake blocks (24) than the fact that he didn't score a touchdown for Mt. Spokane last year.

It wasn't uncommon for Clute to elicit the same reaction from college coaches that finally got a chance to see some of his junior film. "You're biggest RB we've ever seen run the ball!" is what they would say to him.

"What they saw on film is that I can run and I can block," he added.

Clute decided on three summer football camps; Idaho, Boise State and Oregon State. The Beavers offered him at their camp. The Vandals or Broncos?

"They didn't show as much of what I was looking for," Clute said, matter-of-factly.

A summer commitment was also part of the plan. "I really just wanted to get the decision out of the way and focus on my senior season," said Clute. "But I didn't rush the decision."

The Beavers blew Clute and his family away in terms of coaching and the attention they give to their players. "All coaches have been together for eight years," Clute added. "When I go there, I want to know that the core of the coaches that I work with are going to be there and they want to stay where they are at."

When Clute found out Mike Riley spurned USC to stay in Corvallis, he knew he had found his future head coach.

There are two interesting facts about Clute's commitment. He verbally committed to Oregon State about a month ago. "We decided to tell family and friends," he said. "We weren't going to make it a big deal."

Word spread on the Mt. Spokane Wildcat Football page on Facebook, and that was that. The second interesting fact about Clute's commitment is that he is poised to be the first ever football player from Mt. Spokane High School to ever sign with a D1 school.

Clute doesn't know if the school will honor him in some way, and frankly he didn't seem to be all that fazed by it regardless. Clearly a team player that should fit in very well at Oregon State next fall.

Kellen Clute Scout.com Profile