Oregon State Offense Shines in Wet Saturday Scrimmage

For the day, the offense accounted for 406 total yards during the 87-play drill.

Sean Canfield guided the first team offense to a TD Saturday. Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Oregon State offense generated four touchdowns in the second scrimmage of the spring practice session on a wet Saturday at Reser Stadium.

For the day, the offense accounted for 406 total yards during the 87-play drill.

“Well, it’s kind of funny how it works – today really resembled how practice has been going with the offense and defense taking turns,” head coach Mike Riley said when asked about the improvement of the offense from last week. “Overall, a lot of football today. When they get to play that much they get to learn about game situations.”

Junior running back Patrick Fuller posted several of the highlights of the day and finished with 95 yards on 13 carries. He had runs of 36 and 24 yards and capped a Lyle Moevao drive with a two-yard touchdown run.

Sophomore Tony Carrasco added 35 yards on the ground on 16 carries with a score, freshman Michael Sorem collected 28 yards on 10 attempts and senior Andy Stewart had 12 yards on four attempts.

“Considering we didn’t have Yv (Yvenson Bernard), Clinton (Polk) and Micah (Strickland) it was a good day for the backs,” Riley said. “They ran hard. Part of the reason we went as long as we did today was I have a big job getting down to 105 guys for fall camp, right now we are way over that number. This is a great chance for us to evaluate and see where guys are.”

Bernard has been held out of most of the contact throughout spring and is doubtful for the Spring Game next Saturday.

Polk and Strickland could be back in practice Monday.

Sophomore quarterback Sean Canfield opened the scrimmage by taking a mostly first team offense down the field for a 16-play 70-yard touchdown drive.

He found senior receiver Anthony Brown (formerly Wheat-Brown) in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown pass. Canfield finished the day completing six of 12 passes for 65 yards and the one score.

“That’s exactly right,” Riley said to a question about the quarterbacks improved play from a week ago. “I think they would rather play with a wet ball than windy conditions (prevalent in last week’s scrimmage). Overall, the quarterbacks executed better for the most part.”

Moevao finished the day completing four of six attempts for 109 yards and guided the team on 12-play 70-yard scoring drive that was set up by a 65-yard pass play to freshman tight end Brady Camp.

Senior Ryan Gunderson connected on five of 11 attempts for 62 yards and redshirt freshman Brennan Sim was nine of 14 for 68 yards.

Sim finished the scrimmage with a 10-play 7-yard drive that culminated with an eight-yard touchdown pass to freshman receiver Aaron Nichols.

Junior walkon receiver Damola Adeniji from South Eugene High School continued to make plays, catching three passes for a scrimmage-leading 76 yards.

Camp had 71 yards on two catches with junior Dan Weis with 25 yards on two receptions.

Defensive tackles Pernnell Booth and Mitchel Hunt suffered what appeared to be knee injuries. The severity of each was not known at press time.

The final week of practice resumes Monday at 3:00 PM. The final practice prior to next Saturday’s Spring Game will be Wednesday.

Fans are reminded to access Beaver Nation Online Friday at Noon for the unveiling of the 2007 Nike-designed football uniforms. BNO also has post-scrimmage comments today from Riley.

The Spring Game will air live from 1:00-3:00 PM on Portland’s new flagship home for Beaver Athletics, KPAM (860 AM).

The broadcast crew of Todd Mansfield, Steve Preece, Jim Wilson, Cathy Marshall, Jon Warren and Ron Callan will have all the action.

Preece and Marshall will be on the sidelines interviewing Riley and players during the game.

Lead play-by-play announcer Mike Parker will be on the road broadcasting the No. 9 baseball team’s game at Stanford, which can be heard on BNO, KEJO-AM (1240) in the Corvallis area, KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area, KKNX-AM (840) in the Eugene area and KICE-AM (940) in the Bend area.

Tickets for the Spring Game are on sale for $5 at the Gill Coliseum ticket office from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM during weekdays.

Tickets may also be purchased the day of the game at Gill Coliseum. Season tickets are now on sale for the six-game 2007 home season.

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