Aug. 19, 2010

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The action turned a little more serious and a little more real on Thursday as the Oregon State football team participated in its first scrimmage of the fall. The 132-play workout could be summed up with the word “balance” as both the offense and defense made their fair share of plays during the afternoon workout.

“I’m sure there are some good things (we did today),” head coach Mike Riley said, alluding he would need to go back to the tape to be more specific. “Ryan (Katz) looked poised and made plays. I thought there was some good effort by the backs. I thought the precision by the offense was good for a time. Cody Vaz also looked good.

“There were certainly some good things and some good hitting on defense. There’s a lot of stuff we will look at.”

Each of Oregon State’s four quarterbacks – Katz, Cody Vaz, Jack Lomax and Sean Mannion – led drives during the scrimmage, and Katz commandeered the team for an approximate 27 plays according to Riley.

The scrimmage was held without Jacquizz Rodgers, Stephen Paea, Darrell Catchings, Markus Wheaton and Michael Philipp.

The offense scored on its first two drives and five of the first eight drives. However, the defense from that point stepped up and held the offense scoreless on the last eight drives of the scrimmage.

Katz led the first drive of the afternoon and culminated a seven-play drive with a 34-yard touchdown pass to James Rodgers. The wide receiver caught the ball in the back of the end zone after it had been tipped by safety Suaesi Tuimaunei.

The next three scoring drives belonged to Vaz. He first led an 11-play drive that ended with a 9-yard pass to Mitch Singler. Three drives later, and the fifth one of the afternoon, Vaz found Obum Gwacham for the wide receiver’s first of two touchdowns on the afternoon. The first was a 7-yard score that also capped off an 11-play drive, and went 70 yards – each of the drives started at the offense’s 30.

The offense attempted a 38-yard field goal on the sixth drive of the afternoon, but the defense made its first big play of the afternoon. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Jordan Poyer, and recovered deep in the defense’s territory by Lance Mitchell, who was able to return it to midfield.

But Vaz and the offense responded on the next drive. From his own 46, Vaz floated a pass over the defense and found a streaking Gwacham for a 54-yard score. It was the second-biggest play of the afternoon, behind only a 65-yard Mannion pass to Micah Hatfield. It was the third of five receptions thrown to Gwacham by Vaz.

Lomax led his scoring drive a little bit later, capping a six-play drive with a 24-yard pass to Mitch Singler. It was made possible by two 21-yard receptions by Kevan Walker and 9 yards of rushing by Malcolm Marable.

With ‘Quizz not participating in the scrimmage, the snaps were spread somewhat evenly among running backs Ryan McCants, Jordan Jenkins and Malcolm Marable. Each got at least 10 rushes, with McCants posting a team-leading 59 yards. Jenkins tallied 53 yards rushing and Marable posted 10 attempts for 31 yards.

Vaz ended the afternoon 17-of-29 for 215 yards and three touchdowns. Katz, meanwhile, was 12-of-17 for 134 yards and the touchdown score to Rodgers.

Mannion, appearing in his first fall scrimmage, was 4-of-10 for 97 yards, including a lofted 65-yarder to Hatfield down the right sideline. Lomax was 5-of-8 for 79 yards and a touchdown strike.

Gwacham led the team in receiving, catching five balls for 98 yards and two scores. Hatfield had two catches for 76 yards, while Walker pulled in four passes for 72 yards. Jenkins added to his 53 yards rushing with 42 yards of receiving, tying Gwacham with five catches.

The defense was credited with four sacks, highlighted by a 10-yarder given to Scott Crichton toward the end of the workout. Dax Dilbeck also intercepted a pass and returned it for 37 yards. Shiloah Te’o, James Dockery and Evan Hull each broke up pass attempts.

A good number of media were in attendance during lunch interviews and the scrimmage. Paul Buker and Molly Blue were in attendance from The Oregonian, as was Bob Clark (The Register-Guard), Cliff Kirkpatrick and Kevin Hampton (Corvallis Gazette-Times) and Gary Horowitz (Salem Statesman-Journal). Mike Parker from KEJO 1240-AM did interviews afterwards, alongside the three Eugene television stations – KEZI, KVAL and KMTR.

Holly Rowe, who is working the sideline at Oregon State’s game with TCU in Dallas, attended the workout to do some homework on the Beavers, while a reporter and photographer spent the day talking and shoot James and Jacquizz Rodgers.

Earlier in the day as well, Riley appeared taped an interview with Colin Cowherd (ESPN Radio) and appeared live on the Jim Rome Show.

SCORING PLAYS
James Rodgers, 34-yard pass from Ryan Katz
Mitch Singler, 9-yard pass from Cody Vaz
Obum Gwachum, 7-yard pass from Cody Vaz
Obum Gwachum, 54-yard pass from Cody Vaz
Mitch Singler, 24-yard pass from Jake Lomax

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING (No-Yds-TD)
Ryan McCants, 13-59; Jordan Jenkins, 10-53; Malcolm Marable, 10-31; Ryan Katz, 2-(-11); Cody Vaz, 3-(-21).
 
PASSING (Att-Comp-Int-Yds-TD)
Cody Vaz, 29-17-1-215-3; Ryan Katz, 17-12-0-134-1; Sean Mannion, 10-4-0-97-0; Jack Lomax, 8-5-0-79-1.
 
RECEIVING (No-Yds-TD)
Obum Gwacham, 5-98-2; Micah Hatfield, 2-76; Kevan Walker, 4-72; Jordan Jenkins, 5-42; James Rodgers, 3-41; John Reese, 2-40; Kevin Cummings, 4-35; Aaron Nichols, 3-35; Mitch Singler, 2-33-2; Joe Halahuni, 1-23; Brett Ackerman, 2-10; Ryan McCants, 1-9; Jordan Bishop, 1-6; Will Darkins, 1-3; Clayton York, 2-2.