Agnew, LaGrone Return To Beavers' Practice

Freshman RB Malcolm Agnew returned to practice today, and plans to play Saturday night at Arizona St.

"I’ll be ready on Saturday,’’ Agnew said. "I'm 90 to 95 percent.''

Oregon St. coach Mike Riley won't determine how much Agnew will play until seeing how he does, but Agnew showed no ill effects from the pulled hamstring he suffered in the first practice after the Sacramento St. game, a injury that has sidelined him since.

The Beavers got another player back as well, as junior safety Josh LaGrone returned to the team. LaGrone had considered retirement during fall camp, due to the slow healing of an injured knee, but his latest MRI revealed that the knee has improved enough for him to return.

As a result, Riley announced that with the reinforcement by La Grone, freshman safety Peter Ashton, who switched from the quarterback position when the rash of injuries to the secondary mounted, will be able to red shirt this season.

OG Josh Andrews was back running at practice, and there's hope he could return from his knee injury in a couple of weeks.

Starting center Grant Johnson also missed practice, after straining his back yesterday while lifting weights. And DE Taylor Henry was also held out of practice, to rest some aches. Riley expects both to be ready to go against Arizona St.

The Sun Devils are 17 1/2 point favorites at home over the Beavers. Oregon St. has won the last 3 games between the teams, and 4 of the last 5, but 3 of those wins came in Corvallis. The Beavers beat Arizona St. 28-17 in Tempe in 2009, but had lost 16 straight there before that, dating back to 1969.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com