I ran into the head strength coach for the Oregon State football team, Bryan Miller. He and his wife Jen had a baby girl on Jan. 31. Miller is bouncing between his growing family and whipping the Beavers into shape.
He said players to look for making major improvements are DE Gabe Miller, RB Will Darkins, S Cameron Collins, OL Ben Motter and CB Brandon Hardin.
Greyshirts who impressed him have been WR Kevin Cummings and WR Obum Gwacham. “Both of them are extremely athletic,” Miller said. “Obum, that kid, for being new to the program has picked up everything we are doing at an extremely high rate. He’s proficient in what we are doing. He’s very coachable.”
Miller is still running his volunteer special forces-style work out on Saturday mornings with the players. Last week 47 players showed up on their off day.
On a side note, Miller sees the players more than the coaches at this time of the year. So I asked him who the leaders of this team are. He said LB Keith Pankey (before the injury) and DT Stephen Paea were pushing teammates hard on defense.
Offensively, C Alex Linnenkohl and OT Mike Remmers are at the forefront. Sophomore QB Ryan Katz, who is expected to be the starter in the fall, has come on strong taking the reins from Sean Canfield and Lyle Moevao.
The obvious first pick was WR Damola Adeniji since he grew up in Eugene. The others are OG Burke Ellis and WR Markus Wheaton because family members played for the Ducks.
Here’s a funny story OT Mike Remmers told about Ellis that didn’t make the story. Remmers is a diehard Beavers fan. When the Ducks sent him recruiting letters, he didn’t even open them. He was either getting a scholarship with the Beavers or walking on.
Anyway, Ellis and Remmers are good friends. Ellis’ brother is Remmers’ current roommate. Now that the buildup to the Civil War has begun, there’s a different vibe around the apartment.
“I don’t talk to him right now,” Remmers said of Ellis’ brother. “It’s an agreement. You don’t say anything to me, and I won’t say anything to you.”
Remmers plans to go duck hunting on his family farm on Thanksgiving to put food on the dinner table that night. And of course he’s taking Ellis with him.
“We do have to kill those ducks,” Ellis said with a smile.
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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