Beavers' Defense Impressive in Scrimmage
August 24, 1998
CORVALLIS, Ore.--Oregon State returns nine starters from a defensive unit that played very well for much of the 1997 season and that No. 1 unit was very impressive Saturday as OSU held its first major scrimmage of fall camp at Prothro Field.
The Beavers' No. 1 defensive unit kept the offense out of the end zone Saturday and it wasn't until the 14th series (all drives started from the 50) that the offensive unit scored, and then the offense scored on four out of the next five drives.
"I like our defense," said Coach Mike Riley. "I was excited about the intensity and the speed that our defense played with today. There are a lot of good football players and a lot of good people on that defensive unit."
Having the defense dominate the initial scrimmage wasn't not unexpected.
"Our defense threw a lot of different type of blitz and stunts at our offense today and this will help our offense improve as we look at it on film," said Riley. "I would expect our defense to have the upper hand in our first scrimmage."
OSU's first scoring play cam on a 19-yard TD pass from No. 3 quarterback Jonathan Smith to freshman Junior Adams, who led all receivers with 10 catches for 141 yards and 1 touchdown. The drive covered 50 yards in five plays.
On the next series, Terrance Bryant, the Beavers' junior college All-American quarterback, marched OSU 50 yards in 10 plays to score. The TD came on a brilliantly executed pass play to tailback Jason Dandridge from 4 yards out.
The third touchdown came on a 12-yard run by redshirt freshman Greg Mobley with Nick Stremick at the quarterback controls. Two series later, Stremick again marched the offense 50 yards in 7 plays to score as he hit Turner Byrd on a 5-yard TD pass.
Kicker Jose Cortez also booted three of four field goals connecting on a pair of 37-yarders and a 42-yard effort.
Riley was pleased for the most part with the Beavers' execution on the afternoon as there were very few penalties as the offense was flagged for one holding call and a pair of five-yard procedure penalties.
OSU ran a total of 103 plays during the afternoon. The Beavers ran the football 46 times, gaining 145 and settling for a net 99 yards rushing and 1 touchdown. Five OSU quarterbacks completed 32 of 57 passes for 332 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception, that picked off in the end zone by Armon Hatcher.
Tyler Tomich, who is listed No. 1 on the depth chart, connected on only 2 of 8 passes for 7 yards and was only able to lead the offense to a pair of first downs while he was running the club.
Bryant, who is listed #2, but shares the same number of snaps during practice as Tomich, completed 9 of 17 passes for 104 yards, 1 touchdown and he threw the lone interception when his receiver did not run a correct route. Smith, No. 3 on the chart, had the best numbers on the day as he completed 12 of 18 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. Stremick was 4 of 5 for 45 yards and a TD and freshman Tyler Thomas hit 5 of 9 passes for 48 yards.
When asked about Bryant and the quarterback situation overall, Riley said, "Terrance has come along about as fast as he could be at this point. He has a great grasp of the offense and he takes command.
Tyler has had a great week of practice and we will continue to give each quarterback the same amount of snaps. We don't have to make a judgment yet as to which quarterback is No. 1."
In addition to the 10 catches by Adams, Roddy Tompkins and freshman Shawn Kintner also added 4 catches apiece. Tompkins for 47 yars and Kintner for 29. Adams, a true freshman who is No. 2 on the depth chart currently at the slot position, was able to take advantage of more playing time today as starting slot receiver, Greg Ainsworth, the Beavers' leading receiver with 49 catches last year, was out of action resting a sore Achilles tendon.
Junior college transfer Avery Cummings was OSU's leading rusher with 31 yards on 6 carries as a total of 12 backs carried the ball, while 14 Beaver players caught passes.
The Beavers came out of the scrimmage without picking up any injuries. OSU held out nine players from Saturday's scrimmage with various assorted injuries, the most series being Samuel Gage, a backup cornerback who is out of action for probably six weeks after suffering a dislocated left elbow on Wednesday.
Oregon State will hold its next scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon and its final scrimmage on Saturday, August 29. The Beavers open the 1998 season on September 5, hosting Nevada at 1 p.m.
