My cousin and I embarked on the tremendous task of attending both Oregon and Oregon State's Practices on Monday. Here is the Oregon State Recap.
The Beavers took the Reser Stadium Field under the lights for the second time this season, and they were met with about 60 fans in attendance. Below are my notes on what took place. Feel free to ask any questions.
- Quizz was warming up before practice with the D-Line. I found that odd but cool.
- James Rodgers wasn't in pads, but he looked good in all of the drills he participated in.
- Halahuni had a couple nice touchdowns in a little 10 Yard drill they did. I'm expecting big things from him this year.
- One thing that really stood out was Quizz going down field more often for receptions.
- From the 2.5 Hours of Practice I saw, it looks like Cody Vaz has the backup QB spot locked up. Lomax looked pretty good as well, as was Mannion. The only thing that worried me about Sean though was that most if not all of his throws were a bit high.
- Suaesi Tuimaunei had a nice Interception in the 7 on 7 Drill. Of course, that means that Katz had a bad pass.
- The most impressive player of the practice by far was Markus Wheaton. He had numerous nice grabs, and I would say that about 75% of the throws went to him. Of course that number will come down with James in there, but I would expect Markus to have a breakout year similar to Adeniji last season.
- As far as the backup Running Back position goes, I would say that Jordan Jenkins outshined Ryan McCants yesterday.
- Keith Pankey looked great, just like everyone else said,
- I spent a few minutes watching the Offensive Lines and Devensive Lines go head to head, and the one that looked the best was D-Linemen Joe Lopez. It should be interesting to watch him throughout his Oregon State career.
- A funny moment took place near the end of the 7 on 7 Drills, when a Wide Reciever went out of bounds, came back in, and caught a Touchdown Pass. Brennan Olander exclaimed that he "Pulled a Utah" reffering to the 2008 controversial Utah Game.
- Near the end of practice, James Rodgers showed off his arm to Coach Riley. Suprisingly, it was a nice tight spiral. Maybe another option for the WildBeaver?
- Stephen Paea sat out practice with a sore right knee.
If you haven't made it out to a practice yet, I would defintiely recommend it. After practice the players were more than willing to give autographs, and I got ones from Quizz, James, Dockery, and Darkins.
After the break you can find the transcript of Coach Riley meeting with the media afterwards (Mike Parker and I) along with some bad cell phone pictures.
What kind of work did you get done today?
Well, it was a lot like Football Practice. Some good, some not so good. But I loved the effort, the kids are making a lot of progress in what we're doing, and I think they are doing a great job. All the snaps that are almost live for Katz is awesome.
Is there anything that you are doing differently with the two a day sessions than you haven't done in the past?
Well, we did our installation of plays a little differently this year, in a way that hopefully something that was new would help us get ready faster. It's just something that we looked at, something that might help. And then, we're doing more QB work then ever, because we want to get him feeling all the people on the field. So there's a few things that we're doing to help us get ready faster.
People use the phrase quick study, is Ryan (Katz) that proverbial gym rat kind of guy that you like?
Ryan's been a gym rat every year, in every phase. I've always been so impressed with his work ethic, with his diligence, how concencious he is. He's got a great personality, and I love all that stuff. And he's just getting better and better and better.
Players stretching before practice
Jacquizz Rodgers
Ryan Handford, Michael Doctor, and Michael Bibbee
7 on 7 Drill
Keo Camat, Suaesi Tuimaunei, and Josh Parish
James Dockery
GO BEAVERS!