CORVALLIS – Former Oregon State safety Jake Cookus has been appointed quality control analyst, Beaver head football coach Gary Andersen announced Thursday.

Cookus will have an array of duties, including the organization, administration and promotion of all aspects of the football program.

“I have a great deal of respect for Coach Andersen and it’s an honor to be a part of his staff,” Cookus said. “I share the same vision of the staff about developing young men on and off the field.”

The Roseburg, Ore., native played for the Beavers from 1998-2001 after transferring from the Air Force Academy after one quarter. He was a Pac-10 Conference Honorable Mention selection his senior year following a career that included playing in 46 games. For his career he totaled 117 tackles and made seven interceptions, three of those in a win over Oregon in 2001 that propelled him to Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

“The experiences that I had at OSU as a student-athlete have shaped me into who I am today,” Cookus said. “When I started my coaching career my goal was to return to OSU; I can’t wait to get started.”

Cookus returns to OSU after serving as the special teams coordinator/tight ends coach at Hawai’i last season, a position that also included recruiting the Pacific Northwest. From 2005-11 he was an assistant coach at Weber State and was promoted to defensive coordinator for the Wildcats from 2009-11. While at Weber State he was on a staff that for a period included current Beaver assistant coaches Kevin McGiven and Chad Kauha’aha’a. He began his coaching career at Southern Oregon University in 2002 and then served as a graduate assistant at Kentucky for former Beaver and Oregon head coach Rich Brooks from 2003-04.

“We are excited to add Jake to our staff and to welcome a Beaver home,” Andersen said. “He has experience in all three phases of the game and will add value to our preparation.”

The 2002 graduate of OSU with a bachelor’s degree in business administration was a three-sport standout at Roseburg High School, leading the football team to back-to-back state titles as a quarterback and defensive back. He was the USA Today Player of the Year as a senior.

– Via Oregon State Athletics