Oregon St. fullback and special teams player Clayton York missed practice Tuesday, and was held out of physical activity again today, but head coach Mike Riley is still hopeful that York will be able to play Saturday when the Beavers finally open their season against Wisconsin.
Updated 9/6, 2 PM: York was again unable to participate in practice Thursday, and has been ruled out of this week's game by Riley.
Tight End Tyler Perry missed practice as well, due to a shoulder injury, and he's doubtful for the opener.
When the depth chart came out, it showed Grant Bays as the backup to Grant Enger at right guard, which was necessitated when red-shirt freshman Jake Welch left the team this week for personal reasons. Oregon St. now shows 4 freshmen and a sophomore with 2 games participated in his career in the 2 deep across the offensive line.
Good luck guys; Beaver Nation is of course behind you, but trench warfare against the Badgers is going to be rough.
Welch was expected to be a walk-on who eventually worked his way into a scholarship, so this is yet another hit to the offensive line, both this season and in the future.
With an another opening in the 105 man roster, Ryan Cope from Jesuit High in Portland was added to the team as a walk-on.
On the recruiting trail, the Beavers did pick up a linebacker commitment today when X'Zavier Preston from Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, LA verbaled to Oregon St.
Preston is 6'2", having gained 3 inches in the last year, and weighs 235 lbs., and is rated a 2-star prospect by Scout.com. Rivals.com has not rated him yet.
Preston has 4.6 speed in the 40, and had 85 tackles for the Eagles last season.
Here he is in action:
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com