Make sure you scroll down to catch "OSU's" Basketball Awards, if you missed them the first time around.
After saying that Monday's practice was "just okay", OSU head coach Mike Riley referred to Wednesday's practice as "good" as the Beavers continue to prepare for the Spring Game on May 2, but ultimately the season opener against Portland State on September 5.
The Beavers continue to install packages, formations, plays, etc. on both sides of the ball, mostly running against air.
There is talk that the Beavers will go full speed in some sort of scrimmage on Friday, but Riley doesn't know what that will look like yet. If it was just up to him, he'd keep running his guys in non-contact drills to develop skills, but the players are itching to go full-speed.
Cliff Kirkpatrick brings us this from Riley:
"I really like what I see in the work of this team," he said. "It's always piecemeal. It never looks good in total. In general, I'm please with the work and the skills being developed."
"Same stuff, more growth," Riley said of what he expects of the second half of practice. "We have to keep going. We might pull back on the interaction and focus on some things. Now it's a matter of the skill development."
On the injury front, OL Michael Lamb continues to wait for the results of his MRI. Cornerbacks Brandon Hardin and Patrick Henderson, and linebacker Kameron Krebs also missed the workout.
The OSUBeavers.com staff was high on RB Ryan McCants' performance in practice-- he's the main man in Spring drills as Jacquizz Rodgers' shoulder continues to recover.
"He's working hard and has made a lot of strides," offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf said. "I like what I see - he's running much better and catching a lot of balls too."
With six practices remaining before the Spring Game, Riley likes what he's seen out of his players. Nothing earth-shattering has happened, yet-- and Riley likes it that way.
Buker brings us this quote from Riley regarding the secondary, which he's confident has the athletic ability to replace the departed seniors:
"I think these guys will rise up,'' said Riley. "They have the ability to do it, they've shown some great signs. We've been in a situation with two guys (Keenan Lewis, Brandon Hughes) who basically started four years so it's going to be quite a change. ... I think these guys will rise up and do it, like I said, but they need a lot of work and they need as much as this interaction with receivers as they can get.''
SID Steve Fenk and his staff also notes that James and Jacquizz Rodgers have volunteered their time to be the keynote speakers at the Kaleidoscope of Colleges and Cultures on the OSU campus - a program aimed primarily at underrepresented minorities and first generation students.
There you have it-- another practice in the books. Looking forward to the scrimmage on Friday.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)