The Oregon football team spoke to the media for the last time before Saturday’s spring game after their Wednesday practice. Defensive coordinator Don Pellum discussed what he hopes to see on Saturday and his (limited) involvement with team “Twifo’s” offense.

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Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich talked to the media after Monday’s practice, discussing the team’s draft for Saturday’s spring game and where his team — particularly its depth — sits at this point of the spring.

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Any Oregon baseball spectator can see when Mitchell Tolman messes up. Often, after the third baseman makes an inexcusable mistake — at least in his eyes — heated words spew from his mouth as he angrily tosses his equipment. The sophomore’s antics aren’t over-the-top, but his anger hardly ever remains subdued.

“Stuff will sit with me for a while, so I need something to just release my anger,”  Tolman said.

Tolman led the Ducks in batting average (.345) this season and sat second in both on-base percentage (.467) and slugging percentage (.490) through Saturday. But these numbers don’t quell his temper.

“The better I do, I feel, the more frustrated I get sometimes,” Tolman said.

Angry behavior isn’t new to Tolman, and it has created issues with current and former coaches. While he’ll likely never eliminate his temper, he has found ways to channel it and quickly move on.

Tolman said his volatile behavior comes from his family.

“My brother, who’s 14 years old, will text me all the time being like, ‘Hey you had a good day but I did better than you today,’” Tolman said.

Tolman’s brother, Erik, isn’t the only family member who stokes Tolman’s fire. Oregon hitting coach, Mark Wasikowski, immediately pointed to Tolman’s “fiery” mother, Linda, as a reason for Tolman’s attitude.

Tolman agreed, saying Linda can be temperamental at times. She did, however, help him get through one of his most trying times, when frustration reached a boiling point.

Tolman had committed to Cal State Fullerton when he was a sophomore at El Toro High School (Lake Forest, California), but the commitment evaporated when Fullerton head coach Dave Serrano left for Tennessee before Tolman’s senior season. When spring 2012 arrived, Tolman had no idea where he’d play college ball.

“It was a frustrating time for me,” Tolman said. “I remember doing really bad in one particular series, and my coach just sat me for one of the games because I acted out.”

Tolman’s coach, Mike Gonzales, has no tolerance for angry antics and has not been afraid to bench anyone — from stars like Tolman to fringe starters.

“I hear it all the time: He’s an emotional guy and he throws his helmet because he cares,” Gonzales said. “No, that’s due to immaturity.”

Gonzales wasn’t referring to Tolman, specifically, but Tolman said his temper was much worse in high school than it is now — especially during that frustrating period. Tolman needed a calming presence at that time, and he got it from an unlikely source — his mother.

“Whether this is your last year of baseball or not, you just have to have fun,” Tolman remembers Linda telling him.

Tolman, of course, found a college destination and has shined in both seasons for the Ducks. While he still displays a temper, Tolman said he has calmed down. Plus, he believes letting his anger out can be therapeutic.

“Some people throw or yell to get it out faster,” Oregon second baseman Aaron Payne said. “It’s better than him hanging on to it and it affecting him down the road.”

Tolman will always have moments where he wants to yell or throw something, but he knows he can’t let mistakes linger.

“Baseball is not a perfectionist sport,” he said.

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415

Jeff Gold pitched all but one inning for the Oregon baseball team (31-12, 10-7 Pac-12) Saturday night and was in line for his 10th win of the season against Oregon State (30-8, 13-4). But Garrett Cleavinger couldn’t preserve Oregon’s 1-0 lead, giving up four runs in the bottom of the eighth. The Beavers held on to win 4-2 and secure the series victory on a rainy night in Corvallis, Ore.

Cleavinger issued a walk, single and walk to the first three batters in the eighth to bring up Dylan Davis. Davis crushed the first pitch to right center field, driving in two runs on a double to give Oregon State a 2-1 lead. Cleavinger retired the next two batters on strikeouts, bringing up Caleb Hamilton. The third baseman lightly lined a 1-1 pitch to center field just in front of the diving Nick Catalano, scoring two more runs.

When Cleavinger recorded the last out on a pop-up back to him, he spiked the ball and yelled at the Oregon State bench.

“It happens sometimes in the rivalry part of it and the emotions run high, but it still doesn’t make it Okay,” Oregon head coach George Horton said postgame. “You’ve gotta be disciplined enough not to do that kind of crummy stuff. The team that played better won tonight and we’ve gotta live with those things sometimes.”

Gold, who was unavailable to talk with the media after the game, threw seven scoreless innings on 94 pitches, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five.

“(Gold) was going to come out either way but he told me he was out of gas after that last pitch,” Horton said.

The Ducks singled and bunted to lead off the first two innings. Nothing materialized in the first, but the Ducks provided a stressful inning for Andrew Moore in the second.

Kyle Garlick led off the inning with a single to center field and Steven Packard bunted him to second. Austin Grebeck then walked to bring up Shaun Chase, who delivered an RBI single to center to give the Ducks an early 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second with the rain coming down hard, Gold wound up for a pitch to Michael Howard but slightly slipped, causing a brief delay. Gold scraped the wet dirt out of his cleats and the maintenance crew poured some dirt on the mound. Gold did this with his cleats multiple times during the game, to the chagrin of many fans. When Gold cleared the dirt out of his cleat in the bottom of the sixth, a fan yelled, “Get some Adidas.”

“I don’t know why they’d get on a guy who’s trying to clean mud off his cleats,” Horton said. “That’s kind of silly, but they’re doing everything they can to disrupt him and I think that’s the kind of mental toughness I’m talking about.

“That’s how I’d like to see our other guys respond. It was a phenomenal performance by Jeff Gold.”

Moore also pitched well, going into the top of the ninth despite a high pitch count. But after giving up a leadoff single to Packard, Moore was replaced by Zack Reser. Moore finished with 121 pitches, giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits and three walks while striking out seven.

Oregon strung a hit, two walks and a hit batsman (Payne) together against Reser and Scott Schultz to score a run in the ninth, but Schultz retired Tyler Baumgartner (0-for-5, two strikeouts) to end the game.

“It’s probably as disappointed I’ve been in a Duck baseball team in the last two and a half years,” Horton said. “Not because of the loss or where we’re at — the behavioral part of it. They’ve shown bad behavior and weakness.”

Horton said, in addition to Cleavinger’s antics in the eighth, several batters were “slamming things around” in the dugout after bad at-bats.

“Hopefully, we’ll chose a different route of how to show competitive toughness and mental toughness tomorrow and for the rest of the year,” Horton said.

The Ducks will look to avoid the sweep Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Horton said after Saturday’s game that Trent Paddon (3.03 earned-run average) will get the start, facing Jace Fry (1.95 ERA) at Goss Stadium.

Noteworthy:

– Pat Casey earned his 700th win as the head coach for Oregon State Saturday night. Casey has coached at Oregon State since 1995.

– Cleavinger’s streak of 14 scoreless appearances (13.2 innings) was snapped Saturday night.

– In the top of the second inning with Chase at second and Grebeck at third, Mark Karaviotis attempted a squeeze bunt but whiffed on the pitch, seemingly hanging Grebeck out to dry. Grebeck made his way back to third base but Chase was also standing on the bag, meaning catcher Logan Ice only had to tag Grebeck to get the out. But before Ice applied the tag, Chase started running back to second. Ice looked confused as he watched Chase run back and nearly tagged out Grebeck, who momentarily took his foot off the bag. In the end, both runners remained at their bases with the box score only revealing a strike to Karaviotis on the play.

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Oregon State starting pitcher Ben Wetzler and left fielder Michael Conforto extended their terrific seasons Friday night against the Oregon baseball team. The Ducks (31-11, 10-6 Pac-12) fell to the Beavers (29-8, 12-4) 3-1 in the first of the three-game Civil War series at Goss Stadium.

“We were kind of lucky to be in the game,” Oregon head coach George Horton said postgame. “There’s no question they’re difficult to beat in this environment, but I didn’t like the way our guys went around the process of playing baseball.

Wetzler (0.73 season earned-run average) threw 8.1 innings, giving up one earned run, five hits and one walk while striking out seven Ducks. He also earned his 31st career win, an Oregon State record.

“Obviously a great pitcher but not the best we’ve faced,” Oregon first baseman A.J. Balta (0-for-4, two strikeouts) said. “We should’ve capitalized in different situations, but the results are the results.”

Conforto (.414 season batting average) crushed two doubles — one for an RBI — and drew a walk off of Oregon starter Tommy Thorpe. Thorpe did get the best of him in the sixth, though, striking Conforto out to end the inning.

Thorpe labored through six innings, giving up three runs (all earned), seven hits and four walks while striking out six. He also threw 114 pitches.

“Tommy was walking the tightrope a bit,” Horton said.

Oregon State immediately put the pressure on the Ducks. Jeff Hendrix led off the bottom of the first with a single to right, then advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball. Thorpe walked the next two hitters — Andy Peterson and Conforto — to set up Dylan Davis, who drilled a pitch to left. Austin Grebeck was able to track it down, however, resulting in a sacrifice fly to give the Beavers a 1-0 lead.

“I had to go out there and compete, and that’s what I didn’t do against the first few batters,” Thorpe said.

Thorpe settled down after that, retiring the next two batters on pop-ups to second baseman Aaron Payne.

Both Thorpe and Wetzler went through ups and downs the next few innings but they each put up zeroes until the fifth inning.

Hendrix led off the fifth with a single to right and advanced to second on a Peterson bunt. That brought up Conforto, who hit a double to right center in his previous at-bat. He delivered again in the fifth, crushing a Thorpe pitch to left field that forced Grebeck to the wall. Grebeck nearly made an impressive catch but couldn’t reel it in, resulting in an RBI double for Conforto and a 2-0 lead for Oregon State.

“I thought Grebeck was going to get to it,” Thorpe said. “He got there, but it was hit pretty hard.”

The Beavers struck again in the bottom of the sixth. Caleb Hamilton, who compiled four extra base hits in 104 at-bats going into the night, crushed a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall for his first career home run. The Beavers led 3-0 after the solo blast.

Oregon nearly forced a tie or took the lead in the top of the ninth. Kyle Garlick and Nick Catalano hit a single and double, respectively, to lead off the inning, setting up a second-and-third situation for Shaun Chase. Chase struck out on a 3-2 count but Grebeck followed that up with a walk off reliever Zack Reser to load the bases. J.B. Bryant, pinch hitting for Mark Karaviotis, worked a 3-0 count on reliever Scott Shultz but grounded out to second base three pitches later to score Garlick. Payne then flied out to Conforto in left to end the game.

“It shouldn’t have to come down to just the last inning or just Aaron Payne’s at-bat,” Balta said.

Horton echoed Balta, saying the Ducks had several chances to score runs Friday night but failed.

“We’re usually a pretty efficient, executing type of offense and we weren’t tonight,” Horton said. “Against a guy like Wetzler, if you’re not, you see what happens.”

The Ducks and Beavers will be back at it tomorrow night in Corvallis. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with Jeff Gold (2.54 ERA) on the mound for Oregon and Andrew Moore (2.96) for Oregon State.

“We still have a chance to win the series,” Horton said. “Easier said than done but that’s the way we’re going to look at it when our head hits the pillow.”

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415

Redshirt freshman safety Juwaan Williams might currently be a backup, but he has a chance to earn some goodwill from coaches if he performs well in the spring game. After Friday’s practice, Williams talked to the Emerald about his excitement for the spring game, his performance in spring practice so far and defensive coaches, John Neal and Don Pellum.

After redshirting last year, what is it like practicing now and knowing you have a chance to play this season?

“It definitely gives you extra motivation. You’ve seen what everyone can do when you redshirted. You’ve seen defenses now. You’ve learned more stepping away from the game and observing everything. Now it’s my time to take what I learned last year and just put it all together this spring. Just see what I can do and take all the momentum I’ve had from doing well being a scout (team player) for the offense in the fall now to coming into my own, playing a backup safety role behind (Erick) Dargan. Just bringing all that into fall.”

Coaches have talked about how big the spring game is for the backups, so how excited are you to play next Saturday and potentially impress them?

“I’m always excited when I can play. It just gives me extra motivation. You have to train harder because you’re going to have longer minutes and you have to be ready for whatever the offense throws at you.”

What’s Dargan like? Is he a mentor to you?

“He’s a great guy. He gives the offense trouble a lot and you talk to him and try to learn from him. It’s hard to do what he does because he knows more than you do, but every day, you have to pick something out that means a lot or that you haven’t known since you’ve been here and just mimic it off of him.”

Describe defensive backs coach John Neal.

“He’s a different type of coach. He’s one of the coaches that cares more about the intangibles that we do — tackling, press coverage, all of that — and he cares about everyone in the DB room right now. He wants to see us be great and see us take those steps to be great. He knows that we’re not going to be great overnight but he’s going to help us in anyway possible to become great.”

How would you grade your spring?

“I’d say like a C-plus. Still working the kinks out, gotta do a little bit more here and there, but as a whole, C-plus. Almost a B-minus. I’ve gotta see through Monday and Wednesday’s practices how I do.”

Which kinks do you need to work out the most?

“Communication and breathing. Coach Neal’s told me he knows I’m a smart guy, but when it comes to out there, I don’t breathe as well as I should, so I mess up sometimes.”

By breathing, do you mean taking more deep breaths to calm down?

“Yeah, taking deep breaths, bringing it all in and just seeing what’s around me.”

What do you like most about defensive coordinator Don Pellum?

“His attitude. His attitude every day is to get better than yesterday. If it’s a Monday, if it’s a Tuesday, he wants to get better than the previous day. He brings a lot of energy to the defense, especially in the meeting rooms. He wants everybody, just like Coach Neal, to be great and he’s going to take small steps to be great and he just wants the whole defense to communicate on one cord. We’re moving forward to that raw communication on and off the field and he just wants everybody to play their best, play fast and play physical.”

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415

During Oregon baseball season, our sports staff will discuss various topics surrounding an upcoming series. Today, Emerald digital sports editor Victor Flores and sports reporters Madison Guernsey and Andrew Bantly discuss the loss of Matt Krook, No. 19 Oregon’s nine-game winning streak and the weekend series against between the Ducks (31-10, 10-5 Pac-12) and No. 5 Oregon State (28-8, 11-4 Pac-12).

1) How much will Matt Krook’s season-ending Tommy John surgery hurt the Ducks?

Flores — It’s the nail in the coffin for any Pac-12 or national championship hopes. This team can still sneak past the Regionals if it gets favorable matchups, but Trent Paddon and Brando Tessar aren’t going to replace Krook’s production. Losing Cole Irvin and Scott Heineman already wounded Oregon’s postseason aspirations, so Krook’s absence is the final blow.

Guernsey — Krook’s injury will either doom the Ducks and keep them away from Omaha or spark a miracle run and inspire the team to play above its ability level and reach the promised land. However, my money is on the first scenario. Tommy Thorpe and Jeff Gold have been great, but neither is a true ace. Losing Krook and Irvin really depletes the rotation and pitching staff as a whole, and the bullpen has been too inconsistent to turn to lesser-used arms in desperation.

Bantly — It will hurt the Ducks the most when they start playing in Regionals and, if they get there, Super Regionals. This is because a team typically needs more than one dominant starter — assuming Thorpe would be dominant in game one. It also puts a ton of pressure on Thorpe because whenever he pitches, it is a must-win game. The Ducks can no longer afford Thorpe to be off his game.

2) Who should be the Sunday starter going forward?

Flores — Brando Tessar has thrown 14 straight shutout innings, and his most recent excellent start came against a solid San Diego squad. Trent Paddon looked good in his start Saturday against Washington State but my money’s on the guy who’s gone deep into two straight starts.

Guernsey — Tessar. He’s really come on as of late and has been more consistent overall than Paddon and Jordan Spencer, who’s started three games but has pitched much better in a relief role. Tessar appears to be more poised and has the experience edge over Paddon. He gives up too many hits (.270 opponents’ batting average) but finds a way to get out of trouble and has good command. Two players (Tessar and Gold) that wouldn’t have been weekend starters before injuries are now huge parts of the rotation and will be leaned on just as if they were there all along.

Bantly — Paddon. Brando Tessar has looked good of late but still needs to improve. His last two starts came against relatively weak competition — San Diego and Portland. Yes, he has 14 straight shutout innings between San Diego and Portland, but he also gave up four runs (all earned) in 2.2 innings to Gonzaga and he hasn’t even pitched in the Pac-12 this season. I don’t think you throw Tessar against Oregon State for his Pac-12 opener. Paddon, on the other hand, has a 1.65 Pac-12 ERA (three runs in 16.1 innings pitched) and, in his most recent game, pitched well against Washington State – 6.0 IP, one run (earned), one walk and six strikeouts.

3) What is your biggest takeaway from the nine-game winning streak the Ducks are currently riding?

Flores — Encouraging but not necessarily meaningful. Of the four teams Oregon has played on this winning streak, only one of them (San Diego) owns a record over .500, and several of Oregon’s wins could have gone either way. If the Ducks don’t play well against Oregon State, these last nine games will simply look like a good team feasting on mediocre competition.

Guernsey — They’ve certainly shown they can win close games, and Jake Reed is a sure-fire closer. The competition hasn’t been great, but the Ducks could have crumbled with Krook’s left arm but instead stood strong and are playing more inspired than they have been all season. Four of Reed’s 10 saves have come during the streak, and he’s going to need to replicate that success going forward.

Bantly — They are finding ways to win while dealing with serious adversity. The hitting is leading this team — something we are not accustomed to seeing — and the defense is playing great and heads-up. In Oregon’s last game, Austin Grebeck made one of the best plays I have seen all year throwing out a guy attempting to get to second instead of throwing home to get the lead runner. Grebeck got his man out at second, which was the final out of the inning and moments before the runner crossed the plate at home. Oregon won that game 2-1.

4) Who will win this series? In how many games?

Flores — While I’m skeptical of Oregon’s true talent level based on these last nine games, I think the Ducks will go into Goss Stadium— “the most hostile place I’ve ever played at in any sport,” Reed told reporters Wednesday — and take two of three in a neck-and-neck series. The Beavers are the better team, but the Ducks will continue to perform well against their toughest opponent of the season.

Guernsey — Oregon State wins two of three games. The Beavers’ first two starting pitchers (Ben Wetzler and Jace Fry) are as good as they come and Zack Reser is lights out at the back end of the bullpen. Offensively, Oregon State is led by Michael Conforto (.408, 3 HR, 41 RBI) and has a number of starters hitting over .300. With Krook and Irvin healthy, the Ducks may have swept this series. Given the injuries and Oregon State’s overall level of talent, the Beavers get the better of their rivals at home this weekend.

Bantly — I think Gold (9-0, 2.54 ERA) continues his monstrous season by winning the Saturday game but I don’t see Friday or Sunday going the Ducks way. I don’t think Thorpe will out-pitch Wetzler (6-1, 0.68 ERA) and I don’t think that whomever Horton picks to throw on Sunday will have success against the Beavers offense, let alone beat Fry (7-1, 1.95 ERA). This is probably the best pitching rotations the Ducks have faced all year, rivaled only by Cal State Fullerton.

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415
Follow Madison Guernsey on Twitter @guernseymd
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @abant3

During Oregon softball season, our sports staff will discuss various topics surrounding an upcoming series. Today, Emerald sports reporters Hayden Kim, Ryan Kostecka and Jonathan Hawthorne discuss Oregon’s weekend series versus Stanford and the Ducks’ outlook the rest of the season.

1) Stanford (27-18, 3-12 Pac-12) is ranked eighth in the Pac-12 heading into the series. Is this series important in the long-run? Why or why not?

Kim — While the Cardinal will likely be one of the lesser teams the Ducks will play this season, every game moving forward — especially in the Pac-12 — matters. With a regular season Pac-12 title and home-field advantage on the line, the Ducks will presumably enter this series with the same mentality they have all year. I have the Ducks picking up another sweep.

Kostecka — Ordinarily, I would say the series isn’t important based on records alone, but this series is important for the Ducks. With their final two series against Arizona and Arizona State coming after Stanford, this is a perfect trap series for the Ducks with where they could be looking ahead. This series will be a pivotal for pitchers Cheridan Hawkins, Karissa Hovinga and Jasmine Smithson-Willett to fine tune some of their mistakes in preparation for the end of the season and postseason.

Hawthorne — The Ducks are no doubt looking to continue their winning ways and wanting to continue to prove they deserve their No. 1 ranking. Even if Stanford’s record doesn’t impress, the Cardinal showed that they can take down a top-10 team in Washington earlier in the month. Oregon can continue to learn a lot about their strengths and weaknesses by winning games on the road.

2) With three series remaining on the season, what is a realistic finish for the Ducks? 

Kim — The Ducks have sustained the No. 1 ranking for a couple weeks now and it doesn’t look likely they’ll give it up anytime soon. Having said that, two of the three remaining series are against Pac-12 opponents and there really are no guarantees under that context. I, however, still have the Ducks finishing atop of the national standings and winning the regular season Pac-12 title.

Kostecka — Realistically, I think Oregon finishes the regular season as Pac-12 champions and a top-three team in the country. I think the Ducks will lose, at maximum, two of their final 11 games on the season to earn a top-eight national seed and have home-field advantage until the College World Series.

Hawthorne — Without a doubt, Oregon will finish out its season strong and win the Pac-12 title, which will only boost the Ducks heading into post-season play. Finishing either No. 1 or No. 2, the Ducks will want to ensure that they do not let their feet off the gas pedal because momentum can be everything.

3) The Ducks will host No. 5-ranked Arizona State in two weeks. Who do you have in the series and why?

Kim — I have the Ducks winning two of the three games. With the series being at home and the way they have been playing as of late, it will be hard for any team, even the Sun Devils, to come into Howe Field and pick up more than a win. But considering Arizona State is as good a team the Ducks will see this season, it will undoubtedly be one of the more important and entertaining series of the year.

Kostecka — I also think Oregon wins the two of three in the series, just because the Sun Devils and starting pitcher Dallas Escobedo are too good of a team to be swept. Escobedo is arguably the best pitcher in the country and they’ll find a way to pull out a win, much like Ally Carda and the time UCLA visited Oregon earlier in the year.

Hawthorne — I agree with my colleagues that Oregon will take two of three from the Sun Devils. I think that this series will be key for Oregon to make a final statement before the season ends. With Arizona State, the Ducks will once again have an opportunity to validate their success with a strong showing.

4) The Ducks have been eyeing the College World Series title since the beginning of the year. Do you believe they have a legitimate shot at winning it all and if so? What will it take to do so?

Kim — While the Ducks posed one of the more complete rosters in program history with Jessica Moore on the mound last season, the Super Regionals proved that softball is a game a runs. For this year, I believe the Ducks have an even better shot at competing for a title. They may only have three seniors, but the team features more weapons than in year’s past. Simply put, this is arguably the best team in Oregon history. In regards to winning, the Ducks will need to begin and end their game on the mound. If Hawkins, Hovinga and Smithson-Willett can carry over their regular season production into the postseason, this team will be extremely tough to beat.

Kostecka — Oregon has as good as chance as any team in the country to be crowned as national champions, based on the overall balance the team has. Hawkins is one of the top pitchers in the country and Hovinga is no slouch herself, making for a great 1-2 combo. Oregon’s offense is as deep as it gets with eight of its nine batters hitting over .300 on the season. Seven Ducks have hit three or more home runs on the year and Courtney Ceo is the best leadoff hitter in the nation with a .486 batting percentage (top in the Pac-12). The Ducks have the talent but they’ll have to believe in themselves, mainly Hawkins, that they can be No. 1 at the end of the year.

Hawthorne — The Ducks are here to stay in the conversation for a national title, which is quite the accomplishment in itself. With a great coaching staff and an explosive offense, Oregon is sure to be in the competition and playing on the final day of the softball season. I echo the sentiment above that Hawkins, Hovinga and Ceo are definitely the keys to success. They’ve got all the tools in the shed, it’s just about execution and making sure the machine is running on all cylinders when the spotlight is on them.

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne

When Pharaoh Brown called his mother on graduation day, he sounded calm. Jeannetta Smith assumed her son was pulling another prank, but this one angered her.

“This is not how you play,” Smith said.

Brown wasn’t joking. His friend, Fred Zuber, had drowned hours earlier. He sounded calm because he was in shock.

Brown, Zuber and three other friends graduated fifth grade earlier that day and celebrated by going to a Lake Erie beach with Zuber’s father.

Zuber and another friend, Deonte Dillard, said they could swim. They couldn’t. After spending some time on a group of rocks shortly offshore, the friends made their way back to the beach. Brown and the two other friends reached shore. Zuber and Dillard got caught in the undertow.

Some people on the beach spotted Dillard drowning and helped bring him to land. A panicked Brown saw his friend lying unconscious on the sand and tried to revive him by pushing on his chest. Paramedics resuscitated Dillard, later taking him to the hospital.

They eventually found Zuber’s body, but it was far too late. When he was removed from the water, Zuber’s skin was discolored, his stomach bloated.

Brown’s state of shock lasted until he got home. Immediately after entering the front door he crumpled to the floor, tears streaming down his face.

Zuber was the first of several friends Brown lost over the next decade. The others involved violence that plagues Cleveland on a daily basis (Brown grew up in Cleveland Heights, Richmond Heights and Lyndhurst — all Cleveland suburbs). Tragedies like these make Brown’s struggles on the field and the national condemnation of his actions in a December snowball fight seem tame in comparison. But Brown continues to fight, narrowing his focus on a goal he and Zuber set as children — to play in the NFL.

***

Smith, 43, said Brown and Zuber spent practically every day together from the time they met in fourth grade until the time Zuber died. One day when the two were about 11 years old, Smith overheard the two discussing their futures. They planned on playing professional football – Zuber for the Green Bay Packers, Brown for anyone.

“It’s kind of crazy because I wasn’t playing football (at the time),” Brown said. “Now, being at Oregon playing football — it’s like, ‘Dang, I did say that as a kid.’”

The discussion stuck in Smith’s memory, motivating her to send Brown a photo of Zuber right before last year’s spring game.

“When he sees that picture, he knows what the plan was,” Smith said.

Brown’s path to the NFL has been anything but smooth. The sophomore received limited playing time as a tight end — which he began playing as a senior at Brush High School — each of the past two seasons. While Brown has a chance to be the starting tight end in 2014, he’s currently on crutches — although he said the foot injury isn’t serious.

But Brown’s football-related struggles make up a small portion of the adversity he has faced.

Brown arrived home last summer on June 16. That night, he went to a friend’s party in downtown Cleveland. The party was shut down by police, so Brown and a group of friends decided to go to the nearby Marathon gas station.

Around 2:30 a.m., a black Dodge Durango pulled into the gas station. Brown and his friends didn’t give it a second thought, even as it lightly hit a curb before stopping. The group left Marathon shortly after.

Later that night, Brown and his friends were watching the news when a headline caught their attention: “Man found dead in a truck at the Marathon.” It was the black Durango — but it wasn’t some unknown man. It was Brown’s friend, Are’es Richard, who attended the same party as Brown earlier that night.

Richard got into a physical altercation with a guard in his car after leaving the party. Three armed guards fired 17 rounds at the vehicle. One bullet hit Richard’s leg, severing the popliteal artery and vein. Witnesses later found him unconscious behind the Durango’s wheel at the Marathon. The 20 year-old was pronounced dead at MetroHealth Medical Center.

Brown felt shocked when he heard the news, but he also felt regret.

“That was hard knowing, ‘Man, why didn’t I go over to that truck?’” Brown said. “I could’ve probably saved him.”

***

Last December, Brown received national scrutiny for throwing a bucket of snow into a retired professor’s car on the University of Oregon campus, documented by an Emerald video. For that, he was suspended from the Alamo Bowl.

In between the snowball fight and the Alamo Bowl, Brown briefly spent some time at home — where tragedy struck again. His friend, Fela Lockhart, was celebrating his 21st birthday at a restaurant (Brown wasn’t there) and went back to his car to retrieve his cell phone only to be shot during a robbery attempt. Police didn’t arrive in time to save him.

“I feel like every time I go home, somebody dies,” Brown said.

Violence like this is why Smith told Brown not to come home over spring break.

“I’d just be scared that something’s going to happen to him,” Smith said. “It can be just wrong place, wrong time.”

***

Brown’s Oregon teammates Bralon Addison, Arik Armstead, Chance Allen, Dwayne Stanford and Byron Marshall make up a tight-knit group of friends that Addison compares to the “wolf pack” from the Hangover movies.

Armstead said Brown started a game where he’d pour water on sleeping teammates.

“He got me one time, but I got him too,” Armstead said. “It goes back and forth.”

Brown’s high school head football coach, Rob Atwood, also mentioned humor as a defining trait. Atwood, now an assistant coach at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, said his four sons would follow Brown around like shadows.

“He’d buy them ice cream after two-a-days if they called him King Pharaoh, or something along those lines,” Atwood said.

Brown was a two-sport athlete (basketball and football) at Brush and played quarterback, defensive end and tight end at elite levels. Atwood said Brown didn’t have great practice habits, but this was one flaw among many positive traits Brown possessed, such as intelligence.

“He learns fast,” Oregon tight ends coach Tom Osborne said. “He’s not one of those guys you have to tell five times how to do something.”

***

Brown said it’s not hard to stay motivated despite his friends’ deaths.

“Everybody’s lost one,” Brown said. “It’s just part of life, part of growing up.”

It helps that he’s surrounded by inspiring people, namely his 25-year-old sister, Tonika, and Smith, who raised both children by herself.

“My mom is my dad,” Brown said.

Smith, who talks with Brown multiple times a week, hopes he gets a good education and a good job, but overall, she just wants him to be happy. While he’s lost several close friends, she believes the memory of them — specifically Zuber — will only push Brown harder to deliver on their NFL plan.

“He’s doing it for himself, but also for somebody else,” Smith said.

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415

After Wednesday’s football practice, Oregon defensive coordinator Don Pellum spoke to the media. He discussed his relationship with the linebackers now that he’s moved up from linebackers coach and how helpful it is to have a veteran group of players at that position. He also discussed the defense’s blitzing strategies.

Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415