OSU's top 10 players of the 2000s: #2 - Mike Hass
A walk-on turned All-American lands at number two in the countdown.
He wasn't the biggest guy (6-1, 208), and he didn't have blazing speed. But what Mike Hass did have was an ability to run crisp routes and a set of hands that almost never dropped the football.
In high school Hass was named the 4A Player of the Year out of Portland's Jesuit High School. But Hass didn't get much attention from college recruiters, and he chose to walk-on at Oregon State.
After his redshirt year in 2001, Hass played mostly on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2002 and didn't catch a pass. He made up for that the next year.
In 2003, Hass introduced himself to Beaver fans in the season opener against Sacramento State. In his first collegiate start, Hass caught 6 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. He was relatively quiet for the next six games, but over the final half of the season he was unstoppable.
His biggest game that year came against Stanford, when he caught 8 passes for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns. He broke the 200 yard barrier again two weeks later, when he piled up 208 against the eventual co-national champion USC. Hass finished the season with 44 receptions for 1,013 yards, 717 of those coming in the final six games.
As the go-to receiver the next season, Hass emerged as one of the top wide receivers in the country. His best game as a Beaver came in a loss at Boise State, when he snagged 12 passes for a Pac-10 record 293 yards - an average of 24.4 yards per catch - and 3 touchdowns.
Another one of his many big games as a Beaver came in the regular season finale against Oregon in 2004, when he caught 9 passes for 154 yards and 2 scores to help OSU beat the Ducks 50-21.
Hass was named an Associated Press Third Team All-American that season, in addition to being a first team All-Pac-10 choice, after he piled up 86 receptions for 1,379 yards. It was the best single season for a wide receiver in OSU history.
Even though the Beavers struggled to a 5-6 season during his senior year in 2005, you certainly couldn't blame Mike Hass. OSU struggled with inconsistent play at quarterback that year, but Hass did everything in his power to make life easier for the guys under center.
Only twice all season did he fail to register a 100 yard game, and he registered at least 140 yards in all but three games. At season's end Hass had 90 receptions for 1,532 yards, both OSU school records.
Despite the Beavers' struggles as a team, the college football world still noticed Hass' incredible season. He was named a First Team All-American by several publications. But the biggest honor came when Hass was named the winner of the Fred Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's best wide receiver.
Hass ended his career as the best wide receiver in OSU history. He is first in all-time receptions (220), receiving yards (3,924) and receiving touchdowns (20) for the Beavers, and he is the only receiver in Pac-10 history to record three straight 1,000 yard seasons.
Hass was drafted in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.
