Portland State's Cory McCaffrey, a Sisters High graduate, figures to be a big part of the Vikings' pistol offense this season.

Cory McCaffrey had been waiting for the call since December.

Oregon’s all-time leading high school rusher— he ran for 8,460 yards in three years at Sisters High — McCaffrey had been used sparingly as a slot receiver during his first two seasons at Portland State University, recording three catches for 19 yards in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined.

But when new head coach Nigel Burton was hired to replace Jerry Glanville — the former NFL coach, with his “run-n-shoot” offense, went just 9-24 in three seasons at PSU — McCaffrey, now a junior, figured he might have a chance at the position where he was twice named the Oregon Class 4A high school player of the year.

“I’d been waiting for (the position switch) since I heard about our change in offense,” McCaffrey says about Burton and the “pistol” offense he brought from the University of Nevada, where he was the defensive coordinator. “And I’m completely ecstatic about it.”

This past offseason, Viking offensive coordinator Bruce Barnum told McCaffrey before a conditioning workout that McCaffrey would be going with the running backs instead of the receivers. Since then, the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Sisters graduate has emerged as PSU’s top tailback, earning the starting assignment this Saturday night in the Vikings’ season opener at Arizona State.

“It looked kind of funny the first time I saw it,” McCaffrey says about the pistol offense, in which the quarterback stands four yards behind the center instead of the conventional seven yards in a shotgun formation. Also in the pistol formation, the tailback lines up three yards behind the quarterback, creating an “I” formation with the quarterback and running back.

“But it’s not that different from the West Coast offense,” McCaffrey adds, referring to the pass-first offensive philosophy that emphasizes vertical passing lanes, a system popularized by Bill Walsh’s San Francisco 49er teams in the 1980s. “It’s more like playing out of the (I formation), but out of the shotgun.”

Based on Nevada’s success — the Wolfpack produced three 1,000-yard rushers last season and were second in the Football Championship Subdivision with an offensive output of 505.66 yards per game — McCaffrey should see plenty of touches in the Vikings’ new scheme.

And ideally for McCaffrey and his teammates, the Vikings will win a few more games. Portland State went just 2-9 last season, the school’s worst record in 27 years.

“The biggest challenge so far is learning the blocking schemes,” McCaffrey says about the pistol. “You’ve got to be at the right place at the right time. As far as the running plays go, it’s not too complicated — go where the hole is.”

Despite playing out of his accustomed position for the last two years, McCaffrey says his football IQ has improved tenfold from his time at slot receiver.

“For the most part,” McCaffrey says, “ I learned a lot from being in the slot: how to read defenses, pick up blitzes, finding signals and keys when people might blitz — all this lingo I had no idea about in high school.”

While he is not adapting to a new position, Culver’s Nevin Lewis, a receiver for the Vikings, is also adjusting to the coaching change at PSU. Lewis, who started three games last year as a true freshman, is slated to start at the “Z” receiver for PSU in 2010.

“The learning process has been pretty quick,” says Lewis, who had five catches for 45 yards and one touchdown in 2009. “The biggest change for me is running specific routes. … In the run-n-shoot, you read the defense and based your route on it. In the new offense, you have a set route.”

Lewis, who also expects to see time at the “X” receiver, could be doing more than just catching the ball for the Vikings.

“I’ll get a little action at both (positions),” Lewis says. “The X receiver is more of a wideout, where the Z can come in and run more motion and be in some option stuff.”

Despite entering Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe as decided underdogs — the Vikings have never beaten a Pac-10 Conference opponent — McCaffrey says his team is ready for the challenge.

“We’re juiced and ready for it to be Saturday,” he says. “We’re so tired of playing our defense for the past three weeks. We’re ready to go get somebody.”

Next up

Who: Portland State at Arizona State

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Watch: Fox Sports Arizona

Listen: www.970.am

Live stats: www.thesundevils.com