In one fell swoop, the running back position at Oregon State has taken a double shot of attrition.
Second-year head coach Gary Andersen confirmed Thursday that backs Chris Brown (pictured, right) and Deltron Sands are no longer a part of his football program. While the school confirmed that the fifth-year senior Brown was forced to retire due to medical issues, no explanation was given for Sands’ departure.
However, The Oregonian, citing a source close to the program, is reporting that Sands, who would’ve been a second-year sophomore in 2016, was dismissed by Andersen for violating unspecified team rules.
For his career with the Beavers, Brown ran for 376 yards and four touchdowns on 73 carries. In 28 games, he also caught eight passes for 49 yards.
Last season, injury issues limited him to seven games, although he did carry a career-high 32 times. Those 32 carries netted Brown 141 yards, three off his career-best total set during his redshirt freshman season in 2013.
Sands, meanwhile, ran for 23 yards on six carries as a true freshman in 2015 before his own injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
Despite losing a pair of backs who saw action in 2015 as well as their leading rusher (Storm Barrs-Woods, 502 yards), The Oregonian explains the Beavers should be just fine in the backfield.The Beavers will return sophomore Ryan Nall (73 carries for 466 yards), junior Damien Haskins (seven carries for 65 yards) and junior Tim Cook, a three-star transfer from Eastern Arizona College who missed last season with an injury.
OSU will also add junior college transfer Kyle White in the spring and freshman Artavis Pierce (Auburndale, Fla.) in the fall.