CORVALLIS - Kevin Frahm pulls off his helmet exposing a tangle of blond hair and lets out a whoop.

"Some people think this is a game," Frahm shouts as he stalks the sidelines during a recent Oregon State football practice.

Frahm, a sophomore defensive end, is non-stop noise and motion on the football field.

He is relentless in his pursuit of the quarterback or ball carrier and is chirping constantly.

The words come out in bursts, with the same frenetic pace he keeps up at all times on the field.

It's only when Frahm slows down for a conversation that his speech reverts to a stutter.

"Funny thing, on the field … I actually don't seem to stutter when I sing and when I'm running around screaming," Frahm said. "There's something about being on the football field that it's never been a problem in games or during practice."

Stuttering impacted Frahm's life, but not in a negative way. Sure, there were some tough times as a youngster.

Other kids made fun of him and he had to go through speech therapy during his elementary and middle school years.

"I have definitely heard every single stuttering joke on the entire planet," he said. "But I think that at the end of the day you just have to believe that people are going to take you at what you do rather than how you talk. So I think in that sense it's been a real blessing because it's made me really focus on my actions instead of my words."

Frahm's speech improved with work. He learned to use his hands while talking and was given some mental tricks to smooth the stutter.

It didn't make any difference when it came to playing sports and Frahm became a pretty good football player.

He blossomed at Central Catholic, starting on offense and defense. As a senior, Frahm was the Mount Hood Conference defensive MVP and first-team all-state as a defensive end. He was second-team all-state as an offensive lineman.

Frahm arrived at OSU and took his redshirt year in 2007. Last year he played in every game for the Beavers and finished with four total tackles.

He is expected to start at defensive end this year along with Ben Terry, replacing Victor Butler and Slade Norris who are now with the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders, respectively.

"He's a hard worker," defensive tackle Stephen Paea said. "Even in walk-through he's like, go hard every time. He brings in something that Vic and Slade don't have and that's the power. That's the thing I like about him."

Watching Norris and Butler and Jeff Van Orsow and Dorian Smith play the position in the last few seasons has helped Frahm get ready for his turn.

They taught him to come in ready to play, to watch tape and pay attention to the coaches as well as some tricks of the trade.

"Like jumping the snap count, trying to read people's stances, read the formation, hand fighting," Frahm said. "All the big stuff, too. Taking the stuff that they see as problems on tape and then taking it on the field and correcting it. They've totally been instrumental."

Football takes up so much time that Frahm has put speech therapy on the back burner for a while.

He wants to be able to speak without the stutter eventually and can look at people such as Bill Walton as inspiration. Walton worked on his stutter and was able to overcome it to the point where he is able to work as a basketball broadcaster.

Football is the focus for now.

"I think that every day is an opportunity and being somebody who can't go talk the talk, I'm forced to go walk the walk," Frahm said. "I think that's part of the reason that I enjoy playing football so much just because you get totally evaluated on what you can do on the field day in and day out."

Training camp

* TODAY: 6:30- 9 p.m. (helmets/shoulder pads)

* SATURDAY: 2-5 p.m. (scrimmage)

* SUNDAY: Off