Oregon State Beavers 2009 Offensive Preview

As was true of last season, the Rodgers brothers should display their skill prominently but the question is who will make plays to take the pressure off these two stellar players and allow them to shine?  

Last season, defenses had to fear the considerable skill of Sammie Stroughter in the passing game, and opened up passes to James Rodgers, and the sure-handed catches of Shane Morales ensured the chains kept moving.  Who will replace those senior wideouts, and who will back up Jacquizz Rodgers at tailback with the untimely loss of Jeremy Francis due to family issues?

These questions, and more, plague the Beavers at the opening of the 2009-2010 season, who hopes their offense can carry them while their defense gets the time they need to gel with all the losses from last season.

Quarterback

Two senior quarterbacks, a redshirt freshman, and a highly touted transfer.

Questions?

There really aren’t many. Sean Canfield looks to be the starter for Portland State, barring miraculous recovery by Lyle Moevao and Canfield suddenly becoming severely limited.

Reportedly in camp, Canfield has been completing 70 percent of his passes, and Riley has been saying he hasn’t seen anything like it from a quarterback in camp before.

Questions for the Oregon State secondary does limit just how warm and fuzzy this feels.  The truth, however, is Canfield completed two-thirds of his passes last season with two starts and backup time. 

Do I expect him to do the same this year, over the course of the year? No, but better than 60 percent is good and we CAN expect that from the senior signal caller. No major worries, which is something that cannot be said about either of the teams in LA.

Running Back

Jacquizz Rodgers was the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, as a freshman.  Do we expect him to get better? Yes, but he really doesn’t need to be for the success of the team. 

The questions here are about who will back him up, and spell him after 25-30 carries. He is a workhorse, but even Steven Jackson, Ken Simonton, and Yvenson Bernard needed help from time to time. 

Ryan McCants is injured, although he will be back a few games into the season. How long he will be out will depend on how fast he manages to heal. All reports give good signs he will be ready early in the season, but someone else will need to be the backup for the PSU game, and most likely the UNLV game as well.

Freshmen Jovan Stevenson and Ashton Jefferson will vie for that backup title, but so will Jordan Jenkins, a redshirt freshman playing without a scholarship.  I see Riley playing Jenkins and redshirting both Stevenson and Jefferson until McCants comes back unless a backup is actually needed to ice the game. 

Undue risks to Jacquizz will not happen, but he has shown himself to be remarkably durable, despite his season-ending injury to his shoulder last season. 

Wide Receiver

Three positions, a number of candidates, and only one proven star. 

Replacing veterans Shane Morales and Sammie Stroughter will be difficult, but practice so far has been promising.  James Rodgers returns to his flanker spot, where he will continue to make heads turn with the fly-sweep, and make daring grabs, as well as going long far more often than he did with Lyle Moevao as the signal caller. 

Darrell Catchings had a scary injury while practicing blocking, and the split end position has been in flux ever since.  Catchings being able to return will guarantee someone can create a bit of room for Rodgers to do his thing, but the two who are being groomed as his backups (and starters at the beginning of the year), Damola Adeniji and Markus Wheaton (a highly sought-after recruit) have been making some noise. 

Wheaton is a speedster, and is being groomed to backup Rodgers.  He is still awaiting being cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse.  Adeniji has showed sure hands and has the size to be a real threat, especially in the red zone. 

The slotback position is in a completely different state than the two other wideout positions.  Two viable candidates, two playmakers. 

Casey Kjos should get the primary job, but redshirt freshman Jordan Bishop has been making some serious noise.  Seems to me that Bishop should garner some time, but history would say Kjos gets the important late-game minutes every time the game is on the line with his additional time in the system. If Kjos falters, however, Bishop will be able to quickly spell him. 

Tight End/H-back

Once again, a hearty group of solid performers without a shining star. 

With new faces at wide receiver, they should get more work as receivers, but their blocking will be needed with the young parts of the offensive line.  No problems here, but not much hope for big performances. 

Sorry to Howard Croom, Brady Camp, Joe Halahuni, and John Reese; you won’t be a major factor this season, but as any old-school tight end will tell you, if no one notices you, you’re doing something right.  One big completion a game out of this group, solid blocking and a diversionary presence, and the entire offense will be far better for it. 

Offensive Line

The oft-quoted issue with the offense this year. 

Players like Andy Levitre don’t grow on trees, despite the fact that he is built like one.  Adam Speer and Tavita Thompson will both be sorely missed as well, but Thompson’s absence early last season saw the offensive line grow without him. 

The most noise has been made about true freshman Michael Phillip, who will likely anchor the line at left tackle.  However much of a man-child this boy is, he will be a true freshman, and here’s hoping his lumps don’t take the form of blown assignments that cost Oregon State games. 

Faith in offensive line coach Cavanaugh is high however, and doubt should be removed about this based upon his production year after year turning raw talent on the line into one of the best units in the Pac-10. 

Young players make mistakes, Cav will be angry at times this season, but by the time the Beavers face USC, the line should be gelled and again one of the most physical units in the Pac.