Pac-10 media day leftovers
July 25th, 2008, 12:41 am · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
With 21 speakers at the podium over nearly three hours, it is impossible to cram every pertinent utterance at Pac-10 football media day into a single story and notebook. Here are some of the goodies from Thursday that did not make it into the newspaper.
The conference returns seven starting quarterbacks, but — as commissioner Tom Hansen noted in his opening remarks — some of those first-stringers might not make it out of training camp atop the depth chart.
Perhaps the most intriguing QB battles are in the Bay area. At California, former star-in-waiting Nate Longshore and 2007 Armed Forces Bowl hero Kevin Riley are vying for the starting job, and the position jockeying at Stanford involves three riders.
After an inconsistent second half to the 2007 season, Nate Longshore’s grip on the starting quarterback job at California is no longer secure.
Longshore, a senior, was nagged by a sore ankle much of the second half of last season, throwing six touchdowns with eight interceptions down the stretch. He was relieved in the second quarter of the bowl game by Riley, who threw for 269 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Golden Bears to a 42-36 win against Air Force.
“We feel like we have a great situation at quarterback,” California coach Jeff Tedford said. “Nate has won a lot of games for us and is a talented guy, and Riley showed he can do the job. We’ll pick a starter the week of the first game, and we might need both of them this year. They both will get some game time.”
Tavita Pritchard — who called the signals in Stanford’s stunning upset of Southern California in 2007 — is being pushed by Alex Loukas, who had an impressive spring, and Jason Forcier, a transfer from Michigan, the alma mater of coach Jim Harbaugh.
“We have three guys we feel we can win with,” Harbaugh said. “It’s a competition in the truest sense of the word. The other players feel that competition, too. Every snap is important to them. I wish we had that kind of competition as every position, to be truthful.”
At Oregon State, Lyle Moevao and Sean Canfield will resume their QB duel from last season, with the job Moevao’s to lose. Life as a Beavers passer was made significantly easier by the return of Sammie Stroughter, perhaps the Pac-10’s most dangerous receiver and kick returner.
Stroughter missed much of the 2007 preseason dealing with weighty personal issues and played in just three games before suffering a kidney injury against Arizona State. He was granted a medical hardship by the Pac-10, which restored his senior season.
“Things tend to work out for the best, and this is one of those stories,” Oregon State coach Mike Riley said.
Cornerback Brandon Hughes is Stroughter’s roommate.
“It’s always a great opportunity to practice against the best wideout in the conference,” Hughes said. “He’s a good guy. It was tough to see him go what he went through. Having him back is a blessing. I’m excited to have him back on the field, but I’m more excited to see him be a strong person again.”
Todd Doxey
There will be heavy hearts when practice commences at Oregon, which is still mourning the July 13 death of redshirt freshman defensive back Todd Doxey in a drowning accident.
“You really don’t know a guy until you see how they have touched teammates and the others around them,” Ducks coach Mike Bellotti said. “He will still be a part of our team. We still have an uphill climb on players dealing with it. I don’t want to say that it’s a rallying point, but players still have him on their hearts and minds.”
In injury news, Oregon running back Jeremiah Johnson (knee) and quarterback Nathan Costa (knee), California RB Jahvid Best (hip), UCLA quarterback Ben Olson (foot) Stanford tight end Jim Dray (knee) and Arizona State cornerback Terell Carr (knee) were forecasted to be ready for the season by their coaches.
Carr underwent surgery to repair cartilage earlier in the summer, ASU coach Dennis Erickson said.
Washington center Juan Garcia (Lisfranc sprain) will try to heal without surgery, coach Tyrone Willingham said. If an operation is needed, he will miss the season. Stanford offensive lineman Allen Smith (patella) is questionable for the season, and UCLA quarterback Patrick Cowan (knee) will miss the entire year.
Washington State coach Paul Wulff said that running back Dwight Tardy has been academically cleared to participate in fall workouts. The academic status of Oregon State defensive end Simi Kuli, a junior-college transfer, is a “waiting process we feel good about,” Riley said.
Arizona defensive end Johnathan Turner, who was arrested for sexual assault in May, remains on scholarship and is taking classes but is suspended from the team indefinitely.