Cliff Kirkpatrick

First off, I apologize to those having a hard time finding my blog. From the Web stats, 90 percent of you haven’t found it, yet.

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On to the notes
The Oregon State football team practiced in the indoor center Friday afternoon. Coach Mike Riley moved it in there due to rain in the morning, but it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.

“I made a really bad decision there,” Riley said. “I didn’t do my usual and follow my instincts that it was going to be nice.”

LB Keith Pankey (back spasms) sat out of practice. He was hurt during a morning weightlifting session.

The team practices at 10:45 a.m. Saturday morning. Then it’s 3 p.m. Monday and until further notice. That’s the normal practice time when school starts.

Now that training camp is over, Riley said the injuries at WR were his biggest disappointment.

“I think not having continuity of players to work together in a group (has been a problem),” Riley said. “I think it’s a good group. I wish we could see them all together at one time. That’s the biggest (disappointment). We’ve had disappointing injuries.”

Now that the Beavers are getting ready for the season opener, it’s sinking in. They are starting true freshman Michael Philipp, walk-on Grant Johnson and former walk-on Mike Remmers on the OL. Riley says they look good, but only game experience will tell how good they’ll be.

“We have to prove we can do it in the game,” Riley said. “I do see some good things about this group. We’ll see how we do it. Physically, they are all capable.”

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Oregon State QB Lyle Moevao threw passes to receivers and ran the offense some during Thursday’s practice for the first time since shoulder surgery in March.

The senior had a long workout throwing passes to receivers running routes Wednesday night. When his arm didn’t hurt the next day, he split time running the second team with Ryan Katz.

Whenever he tried to throw for a long period of time before, his arm hurt the next day.

“It felt really good,” Moevao said. “It’s getting to the point that the majority of the throws are starting to feel comfortable. The ones that were uncomfortable before, the deeper routes, are starting to come along, too. According to what the coaches and trainers told me there was a lot of zip on it.”

Coach Mike Riley said Moevao is still a long way from being the full-time backup. He needs to string together more days like that before he gets a full practice.

“He’s doing great,” Riley said. “I think he’s getting better and better. The doctors are going to check him one more time. And when they say go, to me it’s just a matter of strength.”

Moevao threw short and medium range passes, was accurate and had the timing down. All his opportunities came when the offense ran against air with no defenders.

“I still have some memory of how the timing goes from when I used to play,” Moevao said. “For the most part, I still have a lot to work to do.”

Riley felt if he keeps this up Moevao could be the backup in the second or third game of the season.

LaGrone out
Redshirt freshman safety Josh LaGrone is out for the season, following knee surgery this week. He was injured last week in practice.

LaGrone was expected to be a second-string player and contribute on special teams. Redshirt freshman Anthony Watkins takes his place on the depth chart.

“It’s a shame,” Riley said. “He was doing well, working hard and was outstanding.”

Rough day
The OL had a rough day all the way around. There were procedure issues and stopping the latest blitz package was difficult. Then it got worse.

“We always have days like this where we take a beating and take a look at it, and protect it better the next day,” Riley said.

Line coach Mike Cavanaugh wasn’t as forgiving. He had his guys doing bear crawls again and extra push ups. He pushed his guys to the limit.

OT Mike Remmers; we will just say he tasted his lunch again, and OT Michael Philipp first, and then others, were crawling on their hands and knees to the finish line on some of the crawls.

For those of you who don’t know what bear crawls are, you have to walk on your hands and feet for a set distance. It was 5 yards, then 10 yards here. If you haven’t done them, they are brutal at any time and so much worse an hour into a workout on a hot day.

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Oregon State RB Ryan McCants continues to make progress in healing from his offseason knee surgery from three months ago, and said Thursday the goal is still to be back to practice by the end of September.

That leaves the Beavers a ball carrier short for at least four games. McCants, a sophomore, is supposed to be the backup to Jacquizz Rodgers.

In his place until he returns will be the combination of true freshman Jovan Stevenson and redshirt freshman Jordan Jenkins.

“We are still in the wait-and-see mode,” McCants said. “We are still hitting our goals in my progress. I’m starting to run a little faster. I haven’t done any serious cutting drills. But I’m happy with my progress, and I’m ahead of schedule. I’m still a couple weeks out.”

Tapering down
The Beavers are starting to prepare for the regular season and the opener against Portland State on Sept. 5. Players are on their regular school schedule, not the long days of traning camp.

Practices are shorter and start at 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday, an hour later than usual. Saturday’s workout begins at 10:45 a.m. Meetings begin soon after noon, not in the morning anymore.

“We’ve toned it down now we starting up on Portland State,” QB Sean Canfield said. “We are starting the transition into the regular season. Camp went by pretty quick.”

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