Nothing But Air -- When Chasing Stroughter
That mischievous was at it again in practice on an unusual blustery and cool mid-April day at the Tommy Prothro Football Complex. Actually, mischievous isn’t the right description, super-talented is.
The senior receiver once again turned the veteran Beaver secondary inside out in a “situational” scrimmage. On one long pass play he took a perfectly thrown strike from down the sideline, made a nifty cut back that caused and to whiff on the tackle attempt. To add insult to near injury Payton and Afalava collided, causing the rest of the team to hoot and holler. On the very next play, Sammie got a little help from his tight end who tagged linebacker with the biggest hit of spring to date. Coach Riley stopped practice for a short team huddle after Reese’s block, meanwhile athletic trainer Barney Graff gave Pankey a good once-over before he got back into the action.
It was a day for the quarterbacks, the really young quarterbacks to shine, as both of the starters from 2007 sat out – joined on the sidelines. Moevao has a bruised thumb on his throwing hand from hitting a helmet Wednesday, but is expected to be back for Monday.
One scary moment in practice when running back Jeremy Francis got hit, forcing him to be assisted to the sideline. He remained at practice to watch and encouragingly was standing at times putting weight on the knee.
“I don’t think it’s serious; more of a knee sprain,” Riley said.
Sophomore tight end is expected to be sidelined for the remainder of spring with a dislocated bone in his left hand – which occurred near the end of Wednesday’s practice.
Making a surprise visit to practice Friday was , who is in state for some business. The former Beaver standout will be in his second season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this fall. He joins a growing number of recent and not-so-recent Beavers who have made it to practice this month.
“It’s really good to see those guys,” Riley said. “They come back because they care about the program and that’s important to me and this team. It’s really a nice gesture by those guys.”
One former Beaver footballer will be on the mound a week from today for the opening game of the series with the Arizona Wildcats at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. has agreed to throw out the first pitch.
“Fastball, curveball, I’ve got them all,” Bernard said. Remember, he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 30th round as a senior at
Congratulations to offensive linemen and , who are two of 10 Pac-10 players on the Outland Trophy watch list – read more .
The beginning of the last half of spring practice resumes Monday.
For the second consecutive year the spring game will be available on
Getting to Know Stephen Paea
The Beaver football team lost several very good linemen from last year’s top rush defense in the nation. One of the newcomers who expects to fill the void is junior college transfer Stephen Paea from
Paea has been on campus since December and had a chance to go through the offseason workout schedule in preparation for spring football.
The osubeavers.com staff had an opportunity to catch up with Paea recently for his thoughts about spring football and the season ahead.
Q. What brought you to
A. “The community really impressed me on my visit. I had chances to go to other Division I programs, but there are a lot of Polynesians on campus and that was a big draw.”
Q. As a native of
A. “I learned about the game three years ago. I only played one year in high school (Timpview
Q. What has Coach Riley and Coach Seumalo told you to expect playing at this level.
A. “Everything is fast.”
Q. Rumors have it that you are quite an accomplished rugby player. How did that come about?
A. “I grew up playing rugby. It’s a little different than football, but very physical.”
Q. What do you think of the campus?
A. “It’s pretty nice. It’s a small campus, so it’s not hard to walk around.”
Q. Have you decided on an academic path?
A. “I’m majoring in speech communications right now, but I’m considering changing that to civil engineering. Ultimately, I want to be an architect.
