CORVALLIS -- As Ryan Nall streaked past Oregon defensive backs before a stunned Autzen Stadium crowd on a brisk November afternoon, few people knew what his mad dash to the end zone meant for his football career.

In the waning days before Nall played in his first Civil War game, Oregon State head coach Gary Andersen called him into his office at the Valley Football Center. The topic of conversation was not the rivalry game at hand, nor the Beavers' arduous two-win season.

Andersen took a break from game prep to talk about the future.

If Nall was on board after the season-ending game, he said, the remainder of the running back's college career would be on defense. He would become an outside linebacker, a position where Andersen believed Nall could project down the road as an NFL prospect.

Nall called his parents to break the news. As far as the coaching staff was concerned, it was a done deal.

"We were fired up about that," outside linebackers coach Chad Kauha'aha'a said.

As defensive coaches rejoiced, running backs coach Telly Lockette had a different vantage point. The move would have taken away the player who emerged one month earlier as his No. 1 backfield option.

So during a meeting that week, he pulled Nall aside and delivered a blunt message.

Show them why you should be a running back.

Nineteen carries and 174 yards later, including his memorable 66-yard fourth quarter sprint, he had found his position. He wasn't moving anywhere.

Now in his sophomore season as a beacon of hope for a program in the midst of a steep rebuild, it can still be difficult to process just how close the "Wrecking Nall" came to never getting in the Beavers' backfield, or even to an FBS program at all.

"I'm just a local kid living out a dream," Nall said after the 52-42 loss at Oregon. "To have a game like I did today, I'm blessed." (Randy L. Rasmussen/Staff)

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Nall has yet to resist whenever a position change has been suggested.

Those close to him say he has always been able to put the team first, an adaptable mindset shown since childhood.

From kindergarten through high school, the Nalls commuted from their home nine miles east of downtown Sandy and near the base of Mount Hood to Portland for the children's Catholic school and their mother's job in the city. It started in a purple Honda Odyssey, when Teri put Jacob and Ryan in the backseat, plugged in a portable 10-inch television with a built-in VHS player to the car's cigarette lighter and departed on a pair of 45-minute drives to and from the St. Therese School.

Meals and homework happened in the back seat as the boys got older. Ping-ponging back and forth between home and the city was a natural part of Nall's life. He played little league baseball back in Sandy, meaning after school there was no time to think of much other than whether he had all his gear.

"We were never late," Teri Nall said. "You're there when I get you there and you're ready to play. You accept what's going on. There was no room for 'I don't really want to be here.'"

Nall's attitude was relaxed, even among his siblings. When his older brother would pick on him to start a fight, the younger Nall balked.

"He was always so chill that he would never want to fight back or do anything," Jacob Nall said.

The family noted a natural athletic ability from the moment a 4-year-old Ryan could do backflips on the backyard trampoline. By the time the brothers were in middle school, Jacob acknowledged that his brother -- two years younger -- could keep pace with him in footraces. His speed and athleticism, merged with size, made him a force in CYO football, where his chase-downs resulted in at least one opponent breaking a collarbone.

Ryan followed Jacob to Southeast Portland's Central Catholic High School, sharing a lengthy commute to the 6A school for two years with sights set on playing college football. The travel was a challenge, yet the brothers had each other. The payoff came on weekends back home, when the two could jump in the brisk water of the Sandy River behind the chain-link fence in their backyard that served as a pseudo-ice bath after Friday night games.

The drive got to Nall once his older brother graduated and he was tasked with going alone for two years.

At the latest, he would need to leave by 6:45 a.m. and not return until after 7 p.m. There were times when he would stay in Portland at a friend's house, easing the ability to arrive for 5:30 a.m. weightlifting sessions.

But more often than not as Nall took steps toward the next level, it was him alone for two hours a day, bobbing his head to the hip-hop or reggae pumping in his Honda Accord. When the commute would eat at him, he thought about what the sacrifice could mean for his future -- better exposure for a shot at a Division I scholarship.

"I don't know how he did it," Central Catholic assistant coach and former NFL safety Anthony Newman said.

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It took the loss of Jacob Nall for their high school coach to realize the potential Ryan Nall had.

The Nall brothers overlapped on varsity for one season at Central Catholic. Jacob was on the defensive line and a smaller Ryan played behind him at linebacker. Late in the 2011 season, the senior injured his hamstring and head coach Steve Pyne moved the younger Nall into his place. The sophomore thrived at the new position against upperclassmen.

In the following years, the Rams used him at both linebacker spots, defensive line, running back, tight end and even some H-back. Nall even served as the long snapper for extra points and punts. He declined to run track, but in workouts won 40-yard dashes against teammate Cameron Scarlett, now a Stanford running back who was the state's top high school recruit the year after Nall graduated.

Anthony Newman, who coaches defense at Central Catholic, envisioned Nall on that side of the ball in college. "I've always said Ryan would be one of the top outside linebackers in the country."

His first "Power Five" offer came from Oregon State the summer before his senior year following a camp in Corvallis.

"I thought at this point in time, things are going to get crazy for Ryan," Pyne said.

The whirlwind did not start.

In the midst of a visit from Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich, Pyne inquired directly about when the Ducks planned to offer the senior a scholarship. But an offer never arrived from Eugene or any other Pac-12 school after Oregon State. Had Mike Riley and OSU not come calling, Nall said he would have joined his brother at Portland State.

Aside from his on-field work at Central Catholic, Nall minimally attended recruiting camps. However, Pyne and Nall himself both theorized Nall's versatility in high school may have hindered his recruitment. The coach fielded inquiries from recruiters and said questions about Nall often came back to the same topic: Where do we play him?

"My answer was always 'yes,'" Pyne said. "He'll be whatever you need him to be and he'll be the best at it."

Nall committed to Oregon State not long after the offer and went on to win 6A offensive player of the year and first team all-defense honors on an undefeated team that won its first state title in 60 years.

Among the highlights during the Rams' run to a championship was the night Nall and Scarlett traded carries and combined for 676 rushing yards and nine touchdowns while putting up 83 points against previously unbeaten Tigard in the 6A semifinals. Nall's scores were from 29, 67, 79 and 96 yards out.

Tigard allowed barely over 100 rushing yards per game prior to the meeting with Central Catholic, when Nall and the Rams scored a big school semifinal record 83 points. (Bruce Ely/Staff)

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Once when Jacob and Ryan were in middle school, they had a BB gun war in their backyard while both parents were away. Hiding behind the cottonwood tree in the yard, Nall sprung out more quickly than expected while his older brother aimed for the tree - and missed.

The result was a BB lodged above Ryan's upper lip (a scar is still visible today). His father darted home to take him to the hospital and recalled how unruffled Ryan was.

"I didn't see any tears at all," Fred Nall said.

During Nall's senior year as Central Catholic protected its lead and ran out the clock in the state title game, he fumbled while fighting for a first down. Pyne thought he would need to console the two-way star whose error kept the championship from being cemented. Instead, Nall shrugged, credited the defense with a good play and told his coach it was time to go get the ball back.

"Nothing fazes the kid," Pyne said.

Under a new coaching staff, Nall spent spring practice of 2015 adding weight and prepping for his role as an H-back.

Of all the traits Nall brought to OSU, his consistently calm nature may have been the most important given the positional odyssey he would soon travel.

While enthusiasm about Nall did not spread around the Pac-12, his two head coaches at Oregon State have gone out of their way to praise him in Corvallis. The excitement has been there, but the question about what to do with him remained.

Riley acknowledged during Nall's first fall camp that the biggest issue around the Oregon native was where to play him. He arrived as an H-back, shifted between that spot and the backfield throughout his redshirt year, bulked up to as much as 257 pounds under a new staff after Riley left for Nebraska and then returned to running back as injuries piled up in the first and second strings.

"If we hadn't been that banged up, we probably would have missed out on him," Lockette said. "It was a chance thing."

Reflecting one year later in fall camp, Andersen granted he was initially "confused" about the right place fit for Nall, who was not on the Beavers' depth chart to start the 2015 season. The freshman had 19 carries through the first five weeks of the year, then broke out in a loss to Colorado with 20 rushes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Andersen spent nearly a minute of a dejected postgame news conference highlighting the freshman's innate toughness.

"You get you 30 or 40 of those kids, you'll be rolling," he said.

But Nall did not register a carry the following week and missed one of the next three games with a concussion before the meeting about moving to linebacker took place.

In the midst of a frantic comeback attempt against the Ducks, all confusion dissipated. Nall finished with more rushing yards than UO star running back Royce Freeman and returned to his phone in the locker room crammed with texts featuring a common theme: I didn't know you were that fast.

"I think everybody was stunned," Nall said. "I just needed a chance to get out there and go."

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Two things have changed for Nall since his Civil War performance: his figure and his spotlight.

He trimmed down to 235 pounds in the offseason, fully aware of his role for the first time. Andersen said the focus has given him a full year to understand run schemes, pass protection and routes out of the backfield to make him a versatile threat.

The bruising back with deceptive speed has also become a much sought-after interview after finishing with 6.2 yards per carry as a freshman. Friends of Fred Nall at Mountain View Golf Course bring up his son's radio and television appearances daily. Working a summer job at Safeway in Portland, unknown customers have caught Jacob Nall's eye to ask, "Don't you have a brother at Oregon State?"

The Beavers have lost 21 of their last 23 Pac-12 games dating to 2013, including the last 11 in a row. The media picked them to finish last in the conference for the second consecutive year. But the performance that let Nall keep his spot gave the fan base an outlet for optimism amid a climb from the depths of the league. The sample size has been small yet spectacular, his emergence a rare bright spot amid a grim season.

Now settled on his position at a school with a deep history of running backs, Nall will have three years to be part of the solution and add his name to that list of greats.

"He's trying to be the glue that holds it together in tough times," Pyne said. "Some people just have that unique quality."

Upon his arrival at Oregon State football media day in August, Nall was perhaps the most sought-after interview on the team. "To be where I am now," he said, "it's crazy but it's cool."

-- Danny Moran