CavsCorner.com - Lalich headed West

September 23, 2008

Chris Wallace, Jamie Oakes
CavsCorner.com Staff

It was less than a week ago that Virginia dismissed Peter Lalich from its football program, a decision that was announced last Thursday. Almost as quickly, news broke that Lalich intended to transfer to another program to resume his playing career.

Well it didn't take long for the 6-foot-5, 225-pounder to find a new home, as CavsCorner has learned that the West Springfield, Va., native is headed to the Pac-10.

Earlier this afternoon, according to a source close to the situation, Lalich finalized plans to attend Oregon State, where he will play for Mike Riley in the Beavers' pro-style offense.

Sources told CavsCorner that Lalich traveled to Corvallis on Monday to have a closer look at the Oregon State campus and to watch the Beavers practice.

Earlier today, he then sat down with Riley and the decision was made that Oregon State would be his destination.

Sources told CavsCorner that UCLA and Cincinnati were the two other schools in which Lalich had serious interest.

Lalich started two games for UVa to begin the 2008 season, passing for 359 yards and three interceptions.

But he was then benched for the Cavaliers' game at UConn and subsequently dismissed from the team by athletics director Craig Littlepage.

Lalich had been cited for underage drinking in July and is currently on a one-year probation.

In a court appearance last week, Lalich admitted to having consumed alcohol during his probation, but the judge did not revoke probation and should Lalich have no other incidents, all charges against him will be dropped on July 21, 2009.

As far as his football career goes, Lalich and his family have begun the process of petitioning the NCAA to not have this season count against his eligibility.

If that petition is successful, Lalich will use the coming season as a redshirt year and then have three years of eligibility remaining at Oregon State.

Lalich was one of the top quarterbacks in the 2007 recruiting class, having landed offers from the likes of UCLA, Miami, Florida State, Michigan and Oklahoma, among others.

He passed for 3,100 and 33 touchdowns as a senior for West Springfield High School and was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the 2007 class.

Lalich will start classes on Monday at Oregon State, which operates on a quarter system and is just getting started with the fall session, and is expected to join the team immediately.

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