While Oregon St. quarterback Ryan Katz beat the heat of the hottest day of the year, defensive tackle Kevin Frahm and corner back Brandon Hardin were evaluating surgery options.
Frahm, who got a second opinion on the meniscus damage in his left knee Friday in Portland, told head coach MIke Riley that he will have surgery Monday. Frahm expects to be out 2-4 weeks.
Hardin is looking at different procedures for repairing the chipped bone in his shoulder, trying to determine which will allow him to return to the field the soonest.
Hardin is considering going to see Dr. David Chao, the team doctor for the San Diego Chargers. Chao saw tight end Joe Halahuni before Halahuni had shoulder surgery this spring.
"The more options you can give these kids, the better,'' Riley said.
Katz took the day off from throwing, and backup Cody Vaz continued to stay on the sidelines, for the fourth day now, with back spasms, which resulted in Sean Mannion taking all the reps with both the 1s and the 2s in Saturday's practice.
"We asked him about it, and he said let’s go," Riley said. "I think it was good for him."
Given that the heat apparently led to corner back Sean Martin leaving practice part way thru due to getting ill, it might not have hurt Katz to cool it.
"Sean took all the reps, and did a good job," Katz said after practice, "and that’s not easy to do. He looked good, too. That will be good for the team."
The day of rest is consistent with Riley's plan going into fall camp to have Katz on a pitch count to avoid any sore arm problems, but Vaz's prolonged absence is a complicating factor.
It will be interesting to see if Mannion is able to capitalize on a great number of reps in recent days with the better players, and possibly supplant Vaz as the #2. Given that 11 of the 12 Pac-12 teams had to make an unplanned quarterback change under duress at some point last season, it's more than likely that whoever is the Beavers' #2 at QB will see action with the game up for grabs at some point.
Corner back Keynan Parker also sat out practice, but freshman wide receiver ran some drills, suggesting the ankle he sprained mid-week is well on the way to being recovered.
With Parker slowed, sophomore Rashaad Reynolds has seemingly locked up the starting job on the corner, at least as long as Hardin is hindered.
The Beavers will take Sunday off, hopefully without a repeat of last weekend's party incident (if you listened closely Saturday afternoon, you could probably make out Riley telling his troops 'We are OSU, NOT LSU!'), and return to work Monday morning, hopefully rested and recuperated, with a full gear practice at 9:30 AM, followed by a 6:30 light gear (helmets and shoulder pads only) session.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com