Sean Mannion Returning For His Senior Season At Oregon St.

After much consideration and consultation, as was appropriate, and watching 2 other Beavers, WR Brandin Cooks and DE Scott Crichton, announce their decisions to leave a season early for the NFL draft, Oregon St. quarterback Sean Mannion had announced he's staying put, and will return as the Beavers quarterback for his senior season.

Mannion, who got his degree at the completion of winter term, legitimately had options, and his NFL evaluation suggested he would probably be a 3rd round pick. But he should be able to improve his stock and standing with another season's experience in Coach Mike Riley's Pro Style offense.

"It just seemed like the right thing to do," Mannion said. "I thought about it seriously for 2 weeks, and the more I thought about it, the more comfortable I was with the decision."

"I also talked to Matt Moore and Derek Anderson, and they were really helpful. They tole me what they thought of the NFL and what they think of college, and that helped a lot."

"Brandin and I also bounced a lot of things off of each other. We didn't try to influence each other, but it was great to have a peer to air ideas with. It was never going to be a package deal though."

Mannion, who was 2nd in the nation this year in passing yards and yards per game, with 4,662 yards, 358.6 per game, and 4th in touchdown passes, with 37, will be one of what will potentially be the best collection of quarterbacks ever in any conference, as 10 of 12 members have experienced, successful quarterbacks coming back (11 of 12 if Travis Wilson is cleared to play at Utah), and as we saw, Washington has an able replacement ready to go.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com