Scouting report on Beavers' new QB-in-waiting: Peter Lalich

Named for 'Pistol Pete' Maravich, transfer from Virginia gets adjusted to team, school, Corvallis

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Nov 23, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

KEVIN C. COX / GETTY IMAGES

Pete Lalich, looking for a receiver while playing for Virginia Aug. 30 against USC, is running the scout team at Oregon State.

CORVALLIS — Peter Lalich hasn’t played a minute of football at Oregon State, but he’s the only Beaver player with a biography on wikipedia.org.

That’s both a good and a bad thing.

The good: A schoolboy quarterback sensation at West Springfield (Va.) High, he chose Virginia over offers from Oklahoma, Miami, Michigan and UCLA.

The bad: On Sept. 18, Lalich (pronounced Lah-lick) was dismissed from Virginia’s football program by Athletic Director Craig Littlepage after the athlete violated probation. Last summer, minor traffic offenses and a misdemeanor charge of purchase of alcohol while underage led to the probation. In August, in a voluntary admission during a regular meeting with his probation officer, Lalich admitted to use of alcohol, a probation violation.

Though the court continued his case without new punitive action, it proved the end of a career at Virginia for the 6-5, 230-pound Lalich, the Cavaliers’ starting QB in their first two games, against Southern Cal and Richmond.

That led to Lalich’s transfer to Oregon State and a spot on the Beaver sidelines — in street clothes — Saturday when the 23rd-ranked Beavers (6-3, 5-1 Pac-10) face California (6-3, 4-2) at Reser Stadium in a 12:30 p.m. regionally televised game on ABC.

Lalich, a sophomore, is redshirting, running the OSU scout team offense, taking 15 hours (with a major in exploratory studies) and biding time until spring ball, when he will have a chance to compete for a role with the 2009 Beavers.

“It’s going well,” Lalich says. “Everybody here has welcomed me with open arms. I’m happy to call Corvallis home.”

The subject of what happened at Virginia is mostly off limits in conversation with Lalich. Asked if he felt he got a raw deal there, he answers, “Yes.”

Asked to expound, he says, “I don’t really see the point. If I got a bum rap, it’s not going to change anything with me talking about it.”

When Lalich — named after “Pistol Pete” Maravich — was let go by Virginia, he sought to find a D-I school on the quarter system, to hopefully preserve a season of eligibility.

Lalich took a list of potential schools into Virginia coach Al Groh, with whom he shares a good relationship. Groh — friends with Riley through Nike’s annual coaches’ trips to vacation destinations — circled Oregon State.

“Coach Groh said it would be a great fit for me as a player and a person,” Lalich says. “The offense is one of the few in college football that fits me as a player. It’s (passing) down the field ... it’s like the Cowboys when they’re playing good, with Tony Romo.”

Meanwhile, Riley received a call about Lalich from Roger Theder, the offensive coordinator at California (and later head coach) when Riley was a graduate assistant there in 1976.

“Roger is now a quarterback trainer and mentor in the Bay Area, and he had worked with Pete,” Riley says. “It was interesting, because it was Virginia, and I’ve become pretty close with Al.”

Shortly thereafter, Riley received a call from Groh, who gave a positive report on the character of Lalich. A couple of days later, Riley got a message from Theder that Lalich and his mother were en route to Corvallis for a visit.

The Lalichs met with Riley and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf, mingled with some players, watched practice, toured the campus and spoke with an academic advisor. A couple of days later, Lalich was a Beaver — initially as a walk-on, with the promise of a scholarship beginning winter term.

Lalich, who turns 21 in May, says he was most influenced by “the kind of people who are in the program — good, hard-working people who care about each other.”

The decision to attend Virginia, after being a prep All-American and the fifth-ranked pro-style quarterback in the nation by rivals.com, had been made for a variety of reasons.

“Academics, and I thought I could come in and play early,” says Lalich, a backup last year at Virginia as a true freshman. “Coach Groh had recruited me since I was in eighth grade. (The Cavaliers) were the first team to offer me. They had been my favorite team growing up.”

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