Spring Break
Beaver offense heats up spring football practice field
Quarterback Sean Canfield throws for nearly 500 yards in Oregon State's first scrimmage of spring football practice
Terry Horstman
Issue date: 4/20/09 Section: Sports
Week three of spring practice concluded with the team's first mock game of the season, highlighted by the explosive Oregon State offense.
"We made some long throws which is exciting to me," Oregon State head coach Mike Riley said. "Because when you lose Shane Morales and Sammie Stroughter, to see somebody step up and make plays I think is important for our whole team to see, and a lot of guys did that today."
A lot of those big plays were made in the passing game as Sean Canfield threw for nearly 500 yards on the Beaver defense. Most of those yards came on two deep strikes to Darrell Catchings, who also enjoyed one of his best showings as a Beaver.
"Since Sammie's gone a lot of the pressure is on me to step up," Catchings said. "So that's what spring ball is about, just coming up and making plays. So that's what I'm trying to do."
Catchings did plenty of play-making on Friday as he hauled in six receptions for an astounding 251 yards and two touchdowns, as he was able to get behind the Beaver secondary with ease all day.
"I'm not going to worry too much yet," Riley said of the secondary, "It's competition making a play, and I think [it] was good to play in a competitive situation for both our receivers and our defensive backs. So all that will all mix together to elevate everybody."
Despite the secondary, the defense looked solid as they held the upper hand for the first portion of the scrimmage behind great play by the team's front seven. That did little, however, to blemish the performance by Catchings, who was clearly the star in the team's first scrimmage.
"I'm proud of him for his approach in the off-season and his approach to spring ball," Riley said. "He's mature enough, smart enough and talented enough to know he's got to step up. So I'm proud of how he did, but we got a long way to go to get to the games, but I really do appreciate the approach he's taken."
Nearly as impressive as Catchings was the guy throwing him the ball. Canfield is making the most of the opportunity to put himself ahead in the quarterback battle. He's had an impressive spring so far and got even better on Friday.
"We made some long throws which is exciting to me," Oregon State head coach Mike Riley said. "Because when you lose Shane Morales and Sammie Stroughter, to see somebody step up and make plays I think is important for our whole team to see, and a lot of guys did that today."
A lot of those big plays were made in the passing game as Sean Canfield threw for nearly 500 yards on the Beaver defense. Most of those yards came on two deep strikes to Darrell Catchings, who also enjoyed one of his best showings as a Beaver.
"Since Sammie's gone a lot of the pressure is on me to step up," Catchings said. "So that's what spring ball is about, just coming up and making plays. So that's what I'm trying to do."
Catchings did plenty of play-making on Friday as he hauled in six receptions for an astounding 251 yards and two touchdowns, as he was able to get behind the Beaver secondary with ease all day.
"I'm not going to worry too much yet," Riley said of the secondary, "It's competition making a play, and I think [it] was good to play in a competitive situation for both our receivers and our defensive backs. So all that will all mix together to elevate everybody."
Despite the secondary, the defense looked solid as they held the upper hand for the first portion of the scrimmage behind great play by the team's front seven. That did little, however, to blemish the performance by Catchings, who was clearly the star in the team's first scrimmage.
"I'm proud of him for his approach in the off-season and his approach to spring ball," Riley said. "He's mature enough, smart enough and talented enough to know he's got to step up. So I'm proud of how he did, but we got a long way to go to get to the games, but I really do appreciate the approach he's taken."
Nearly as impressive as Catchings was the guy throwing him the ball. Canfield is making the most of the opportunity to put himself ahead in the quarterback battle. He's had an impressive spring so far and got even better on Friday.
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