In all of our Tyler Matzek focus, we've dropped the ball on other Rockies prep selections, notably the next best one left unsigned. I apologize because on August 5th, Oregon Live had this interview with Portland State Vikings coach Jerry Glanville. Here's the relevant part of the interview:
Then we signed a freshman quarterback (Pearson), and he got drafted as a baseball player, and he decided last week to go play baseball. We lost him as a freshman coming in, and we lost Tygue as a junior with experience, so all of a sudden our quarterback depth got shallow in a hurry.
This means that there's likely a deal in place with the Rockies with the athletic outfielder. Baseball America had this to say about him before the draft:
He's strong, is an average runner and has a strong arm reaching up to 90 mph off the mound.
which profiles well in right field.
This blog entry shortly after the above linked interview came out has a little more, apparently Pearson may have just chosen to attend a junior college and play baseball instead of choosing to sign with the Rockies. However, the silence with the media from Pearson still seems to indicate a pending contract.
I just want to update and emphasize that the question mark in the title should make it clear that this post is speculative and that we should know more about Pearson's status by tonight's deadline.