Spring Practice Report (Day 2) -- Bernard is a Hero
Two-point conversion at the Sun Bowl, big deal; 168 yards rushing, ho-hum; picking the right piece of paper – HUGE! Running back made the biggest play of his career Wednesday after practice by blind-drawing the “get out of jail free” card.
To set the stage – if you remember back to Monday’s report the state of the locker room was discussed and its lack of cleanliness. In the meantime, equipment coordinator Arnold Alcantar devised a “conditioning” plan that the coaches agreed to implement after each practice to improve the house-cleaning. Alcantar placed seven cards in a helmet, head coach selected Bernard to pick the conditioning drill. The senior from
Bernard was interviewed by several media members following practice and made his wish known that he wants to participate in the upcoming scrimmages and spring game, to which Riley responded “oh, he must have been talking to you (laugh). He is going to carry the ball 300 times this fall; I don’t think he needs to be tackled in spring ball.”
Some other observations from Wednesday included defensive end , who is out with an injury, working with on technique. Receiver continues to work on his impression of by catching everything in sight. Coach Riley asked freshman defensive lineman Carl Sommer how he has handled his first three days as a college student-athlete – remember, Sommer could be in his final term of his senior year at Wilsonville High School. You will see his name on a very short list in an edition of USA Today this week.
Linebacker remains out with back spasms, but offensive guard was back in gear today.
Speaking of gear, full pads for Friday’s 3 p.m. practice and Saturday’s 10:30 a.m. drills.
Media in attendance today included Bob Clark of the Register-Guard, Cliff Kirkpatrick of the Gazette-Times, Paul Buker of The Oregonian, Candance Lockhart of KEZI and Blair Johnson of KVAL. Numerous stories will be out in the local papers and TV stations over the next couple of days;
did a phone interview with Sports Illustrated’s Austin Murphy – Murphy has attended several OSU games over the years and is currently working on a book titled “Saturday Rules.” The book is a celebration of college football and the angle with Stroughter was the win over then No. 3 USC at Reser Stadium.
Coach Riley will be a guest on KFXX Thursday.
Outside of football – KPAM (860-AM) in Portland, KEX (1190-AM), television stations KATU, KGW and Fox12 in Portland, and Rachel Bachman and Ryan White of The Oregonian were on hand in Portland Wednesday for the official . They also had a chance to speak with Director of Athletics Bob De Carolis, head baseball coach Pat Casey and head softball coach Kirk Walker, who were all in attendance.
There racket coming from the south side of campus Thursday will be more than the construction crews working at Reser Stadium as the Gill Annex project gets into full swing.
Stay connected with Beaver football by accessing . Today BNO features an interview with Coach Riley. You can also access several interviews with players previewing spring ball and you have the opportunity to email questions to players which will be asked on BNO.
Fans also are reminded of the special for the ticket office in April and that the season ticket deadline renewal date is April 16. For all your ticket needs you can access this at any time.
