Football Holds Initial Scrimmage of Spring
REDMOND, Ore. -- Oregon State took to the road Saturday, traveling to Redmond High School in Central Oregon, to hold its first major football scrimmage of the spring and the Beavers demonstrated they were much further ahead in their execution level than at the same period last spring.
"I thought our team did a great job today of playing and executing under game conditions today despite a lack of depth in some positions," said OSU Head Coach Mike Riley. "It was not perfect by any means but we couldn't even have attempted this at this point last year. We intend to have at least three more big scrimmages this spring and they will help us get better."
The Beavers ran a total of 120 plays in the three-hour scrimmage at Redmond High School and OSU's Number one offensive unit scored two touchdowns and a field goal, while the number one defensive unit yielded one 80-yard touchdown pass, but otherwise controlled the line of scrimmage.
Senior Tyler Tomich, listed No. 1 on the depth chart at quarterback, threw a pair of touchdown passes of 3 yards to tight end Martin Maurer and 24 yards to wideout Robert Prescott. Jose Cortez also tacked on a 33-yard field goal on his only attempt. Another field goal attempt was botched by a bad snap.
The starting defensive unit yielded the one big bomb. Redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Stremick connected on a 80-yard scoring strike to junior college transfer Chad Sorenson.
"One of the things we want to accomplish this spring is running the football better and establishing an identity running the football and I thought we made some progress in this area today," Riley said.
"Jason Dandridge and Ken Simonton did an outstanding job of running the football today," said Riley. "Dandridge and Simonton had the benefit of running behind the No. 1 offensive line, while DeShawn Williams had to run behind the No. 2 line.
"One of the great things about practicing here in Redmond today is that we were able to simulate traveling on the road, perform under game conditions and find out where we need to make improvements," said Riley.
"Basically, I thought we did a good job of running the ball, which I said was one of our big objectives this spring, and we had some bright spots in the passing game," said Riley. "We dropped too many passes today and our pass protection broke down at times, but I feel we are ahead of where we were a year ago."
OSU has three quarterbacks battling for the NO. 1 job this spring, while waiting for junior college transfer Terrance Bryant to join the Beavers in August.
Tomich, a senior who backed up Tim Alexander last fall, is in a fight with a pair of redshirt freshmen, Nick Stremick and Jonathan Smith this spring.
Tomich lacked consistency in his initial spring scrimmage, connecting on 19 of 39 passes for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was intercepted 3 times and had several passes dropped.
Smith, who displayed a very strong arm Saturday, completed 8 of 13 passes for 75 yards, while Stremick completed 9 of 19 passes for 200 yards and the 80-yard TD pass.
Dandridge, who had his first career 100-yard rushing game in the season finale last year at Oregon, produced 113 yards on the ground in 22 carries for a 5.1 average and looked very strong. Simonton, a shifty redshirt freshman, has worked his way to No. 2 on the depth chart at tailback and he contributed 34 yards on 9 carries for a 3.8 average. Williams was able to pick up only a net 3 yards on 8 carries while playing behind the No. 2 offensive line.
All told, the Beavers had 11 different receivers catch passes, led by senior wideout Greg Ainsworth who caught 7 passes for 81 yards. Fellow wide receiver Roddy Tompkins caught 5 passes for 64 yards. Ainsworth caught 49 passes last year and Tompkins 46.
Alexander, making his debut this spring as a wide receiver, caught 3 passes for 30 yards, while JC transfer Sorenson had 4 catches for 142 yards, thanks to his 80-yard TD grab. 2-2-2
Other Beaver players making receptions included Turner Byrd (4-53); Pete Campbell (5-64); Robert Prescott (2-30); Martin Maurer (3-16); Brandon Reynolds (2-190); Mark Walsh (1-5); and Ken Simonton (1-3).
OSU's starting defensive unit had 7 sacks during the afternoon with Jamil Braithwaite and Inoke Breckterfield accounting for 3 apiece and Brian Rogers got the other one.
Defensive end Kyle Rosselle had one interception, as did Bo Marthaller and Keith Heyward-Johnson.
Oregon State will hold its next major scrimmage at Parker Stadium next Saturday at 1:30 p.m., following a morning coaches clinic featuring former USC and Los Angeles Rams' head coach John Robinson and Don Read, who led Montana to the NCAA Division 1-AA national title in 1995.
