When Mike Riley was the football coach at Oregon State he was renown for the toil and initiative he poured into recruiting Hawaii.

He was so painstaking in the pursuit of local prospects that legend had it Riley used to sit in the back of then-Kahuku High coach Siuaki Livai’s math classes on recruiting visits.

So when Riley left after the 2014 season to become the coach at Nebraska there was an audible sigh of relief.

Short lived, as it turns out, now that the Beavers under Gary Andersen are showing signs of becoming recruiting enemy No. 1 for the University of Hawaii in this year’s campaign.

While the Rainbow Warriors do not lack for competition on the well-trodden recruiting trail through their backyard, the Beavers have the potential to do some significant damage this year.

With just eight days until National Letter of Intent day, the first opportunity for high school prospects to sign binding commitments, the Star-Advertiser’s recruiting tracker on hawaiiprepworld.com shows the Beavers have already secured two commitments and are trying to flip a third into their column.

Leilehua safety Charles Watson and Waianae offensive tackle Onesimus Lutu-Clarke, who were both on the recruiting lists of UH among others, have committed to the Beavers in the past four days.

Then there is the drama surrounding UH’s’s top local commit to date, Kahuku’s multi-talented Kesi Ah-Hoy. He declared for the ‘Bows last month but is said to be wavering after an in-home visit from the Beavers, and the Star-Advertiser’s tracker has it a toss-up.

Kapaa offensive lineman Morris Unutoa has also been looking at both UH and OSU.

They are the kind of players who could make an impact for UH, both in perception and on the field. They can help UH build a foundation for the future — if the ‘Bows can keep them home, that is.

Any Oregon State success here would be particularly troubling since the Beavers will shortly show up on the schedule, playing at Aloha Stadium in 2019 and hosting UH in 2021.

They are facts the Beavers and their Maui-raised associate head coach, Chad Kauha’aha’a, have no doubt made part of the sales pitch.

There isn’t much UH can do when an Alabama, USC or Oregon comes knocking. And, historically, Brigham Young and others have made their mark here on signing day.

But OSU was, once upon a time, one of those lower-end Pac-12 teams that UH could, occasionally, compete with on the field and on signing day. UH might not get all it wanted, but it need not fear being shut out, either.

Recent developments in college athletics have made that more arduous. Not just for UH, but all non-Power Five conference members going head-to-head with even the lower echelon Pac-12 members.

Blessed with eight to 10 times the yearly TV revenue, they have more moolah to invest in recruiting, not to mention big ticket items such as facilities. Speaking of TV, where once Hawaii could sell families on the difficulty of watching their sons play if they went away, the Pac-12 Network and the conference’s other TV partners have made it possible to watch all the games from home.

Then there is the latest wrinkle, cost of attendance stipends, which can double — or more — between the well-heeled and UH. Project that over a four or five-year career and you’re talking a $5,000-$10,000 difference, depending on the school.

These days when the Beavers come to town UH has more than a coach in the back of the room to go against.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.