Spring Practice Day 9 -- Mannion Goes 100-Plus with Limited Options
April 15, 2011
Rain misted down on Reser Stadium as the Oregon State football team wrapped up week three of spring practices with a second scrimmage for the last 90 minutes of practice, this time with officials.
“I think they handled it pretty well,” head coach Mike Riley said. “We are woefully thin at receiver. We’ve got two starters hurt and three more guys out today. In lieu of all that, it was pretty good.”
Quarterbacks sophomore Cody Vaz and redshirt freshman Sean Mannion took the majority of the snaps with glimpses of sophomore Jack Lomax in the mix. Mannion, running the second unit, finished the two-part situational scrimmage completing 7-of-19 for 106 yards, while Vaz was 9-of-21 for 68 yards and one pick, courtesy of junior safety Anthony Watkins.
Despite missing five, the remaining members of the receiving corps ran with all three units with redshirt freshman Obum Gwacham coming up with the biggest numbers – five receptions for 69 yards. Redshirt sophomore Brett Ackerman was a favorite target of Mannion early, tallying a pair of receptions for 33 yareds, while junior Markus Wheaton finished the day with three catches for 33 yards.
Junior tight end Colby Prince had the biggest reception of the day, totaling 48 of his 50 yards on the day, breaking wide open down the field for a deep pass from Mannion.
On the ground, senior Ryan McCants led the three backs with seven attempts for 48 yards, while redshirt sophomore Jovan Stevenson had 46 yards on 10 rushes. McCants had a long of 16, while Stevenson tallied 15 yards for his furthest carry of the day. Redshirt freshman Malcom Marable finished the day with seven carries for 17 yards. Missing from action was freshman Terron Ward, who suffered from a hurt knee from earlier this week in practice.
With referees in the mix, flags flew only when holding occurred at the line.
“It just puts an emphasis on some stuff that I think is important because we would have had some plays called back that would have gotten us first downs today,” Riley said. “That is just kind of an emphasis for us. There were some pretty good runs; some pretty good cuts. Everything is inconsistent. There were some bright moments in all of this.”
Kickers freshman Trevor Romaine and redshirt freshman Max Johnson combined for four field goals from 35 yards out.
Former Oregon State safety Greg Laybourn was in attendance at Friday’s scrimmage. Laybourn, a three-time Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week selection and Pac-10 All-Defensive Second Team in 2008, spent some time playing in the UFL and will be heading to Montreal to compete in the CFL.
The Beavers are back at it on Monday at 2:30 p.m. for the fourth week of spring practices. Only five more practices before the Spring Game on Saturday, Apr. 30.
