Cliff Kirkpatrick

The offensive line gets instruction from coach Mike Cavanaugh during training camp.

As the Oregon State football team’s offense improved you noticed QB Sean Canfield having a career season, RB Jacquizz Rodgers doing what he usually does and WR James Rodgers becoming one of the top WRs in the nation.

However, during training camp it was a question if the offensive line would be able block enough to allow them to do their thing. Two new starters, true freshman LT Michael Philipp and walk-on LG Grant Johnson, had to get up to speed.

During early games it was questionable if it was going to happen. Canfield was sacked regularly and Quizz didn’t reach 100 yards three times.

As the Beavers turned the season around and are on the verge of bowl eligibility, it’s the line that made the difference. Philipp and Johnson grew up and work well with veterans C Alex Linnenkohl, RT Mike Remmers and RG Gregg Peat.

“We’ve improved, but we haven’t arrived, yet,” line coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “I’ve seen improvement and we are working hard every day, trying to develop our technique and get on the same page. We need that consistency and that chemistry you are looking for. We’ve had our moments where we’ve done some good things and some where we’ve done bad.”

Coaching the underclassmen was a big challenge for Cavanaugh, but he knew how important their play was for the team’s success. He credits their intelligence for understanding everything they needed, and the strength staff for getting them in good enough condition to compete.

“What I loved about the two guys there is they are smart guys,” Cavanaugh said. “For a true freshman to come in and learn everything he has, it’s a great tribute to him. And Grant Johnson, I put the pressure on him to make sure he knows what he is doing in case he has to help out Michael Philipp. It now comes downs to communication, and we can be better at that.”

Using young linemen can be a problem in communication because they are shy. Cavanaugh rarely hears Philipp speak. Philipp and Johnson usually defer to the other three to talk in games.

“We’ve gotten a lot better,” Remmers said. “Our communication has developed so much. With the left side being young guys, now they understand the offense and they know what to do on every play. And we are working well together.”

The good thing for the Beavers is they only lose Peat to graduation next year. They’ll have to break in either Michael Lamb or Burke Ellis to take his place, but they’ve been around for three years.

In theory, the line should be able to start faster. And that’s more important more than usual since the Beavers will have a new QB, Ryan Katz or Peter Lalich.

“Our potential, there’s no limit on it,” Remmers said. “We can go as far as we want to go this year and next.”

On the road
I’m traveling old school, meaning I’m leaving the afternoon before the game. I did my part of saving the company money in these tough economic times by leaving the day of the game the first three games.

However, I thought Saturday’s game at No. 23 Cal had the potential to be a midday start so I didn’t want to cut it that close. The good part about that is I’ll be awake when I get to Memorial Stadium, and not dragging.

Remember to check the blog throughout the day Saturday. There will be updates before, during and after the game. And of course there’s always twitter.com/cliffgt.

I usually leave you with how I updated the iPod, but not this time. Check out what people at OSU do for fun in Reser Stadium when the football team is not around.

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How the Oregon State football team, or any team for that matter, plays depends on how the offensive line performs to move the ball. Four of the five spots are set for the Beavers.

There’s an open competition at LT with true freshman Michael Phillip, walk-on sophomore Grant Johnson and redshirt freshman Colin Kelly. Read more about this situation and Philipp in Saturday’s GT.

Here’s the projected OL two-deep for the other four spots. C: Alex Linnenkohl, Johnson; RG: Gregg Peat, Burke Ellis, RT: Mike Remmers, Kelly, LG Ryan Pohl, Michael Lamb.

Here are some comments from position coach Mike Cavanaugh:

On Linnenkohl
“I want to see Alex finish more. He and I talked about it. He understands the offense, and will grow there. He’s smart. If he wants to play and continue this career, because of his (short 6-2) height, he has to be a devastating finisher. He has a mean streak in him.”

On Peat
“He’s a veteran guy. He’s kind of what a Beaver is all about. He worked his tail off and made himself a great player for us.”

On Wilder McAndrews (wrist) contributing this year.
“He’s going to be out a while. His wrist is still pretty bad. There are going to be other guys in the fold because of the longevity of his injury.”

On the overall group
“I like them. It’s going to be a fun group. We’ll take time to develop. It’s a work in progress as always, but a good work in progress. I expect us to get better and better.”

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Oregon State football players have their final week of option summer workouts coming up. Then it’s a brief break before training camp.

I ran into a few of them last week, and they all say the training has been going well. They always say that, but I saw some of the workouts strength coach Bryan Miller was doing with them and it was intense.

“We’ve been working hard this summer,” WR Casey Kjos said. “Our conditioning and strength has gone up. They pushed us this summer to take us to the highest level, yet.”

“We’ve been doing a lot lifting and running and a lot of football (passing drills) at nights to keep our timing down with the offense,” TE Howard Croom said. “The DBs have been doing their drills and then we go one-on-one. We’ve worked against each other. It has been a good environment of getting better.”

Offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh used a special motivational tool one afternoon last week. He swung by before the workouts in Reser Stadium when the linemen were there.

He drove around the field in his car saying they weren’t going to be good because Andy Levitre and Adam Speer are gone, and then left for them to think about that. The guys then worked hard, so we’ll soon see if that approach gets them going.

Cavanaugh may come across as having a tough exterior, but he’s a really funny, nice guy.

QB Sean Canfield was supposed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Corvallis Knights game Saturday night. But he won’t be doing it. The Knights scrambled for an OSU athlete Friday night to fill in, and I think they found a gymnast.

Many of the football players will be in attendance with the incoming athletes of the BEST Program there. There will be an opportunity for autographs, I’ve heard, since it’s OSU Night.

If you go, you’ll see some pretty good baseball. If you are not from the area you may not follow the Knights. They are dominating the West Coast League and are ranked the No. 3 collegiate team in the country by Perfect Game Crosschecker.

Read about Friday night’s game here. It was an exciting finish in the bottom of the ninth.

“It’s really a lot of pride,” C Rocky Gale said of why the Knights keep playing well. “We take pride in what we are doing, and with the preparation of the game. We just want to get better each day, and we haven’t peaked, yet.”

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