CORVALLIS -- It was only recently that two of the best Oregon high school football players in recent memory first crossed paths.
On a chilly Saturday afternoon in December at the 6A state title game between Central Catholic and West Linn, Oregon State running back Ryan Nall walked up the aisle on the east side of Providence Park. He returned to his seats to find his mother, Teri, speaking with a group seated behind her.
It included former Oregon running back Thomas Tyner and his father, John.
The two former high school stars exchanged pleasantries for a couple minutes in their first meeting, a conversation that John Tyner said factored into his son's decision to transfer to OSU and return to football more than a year after his medical retirement.