Here is something you don’t see every day. Justin Strong, the starting safety for the Oregon State Beavers last season, will be leaving the Power Five program on his own accord to head down to the FCS level.
FCS school Montana announced the addition of Strong on Wednesday. It was a pretty odd announcement, seeing as how the safety had two years of eligibility left with the Beavers, but Oregon State confirmed that he had left the program due to “personal reasons.”
“We love his physicality. That’s the thing that jumps out on tape,” said Montana defensive coordinator Jason Semore said in a statement provided by the Big Sky school. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but you can see, watching his Pac-12 tape, that he’s a really explosive athlete. I think he fits in to our scheme and what we’re going to ask him to do in this league very well. I think at the end of the day that’s what drew Justin to the Montana program is how he fits our defensive scheme.”
Strong took a redshirt his freshman year in 2013. He then turned into a big piece for the Corvallis team, starting three of the 12 games he played in the 2014 and the first eight last season before a concussion knocked him out the final four games.
During his career with the Beavers, Justin Strong recorded 110 tackles, five for loss, and one forced fumble. He will be able to play immediately in the 2016 season as he is moving down to the FCS.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
