Riley on paying players:

Riley

I do have some thoughts. Really, I’m just interested in what that will all mean someday. I know we’re in for some big changes through the years. I just don’t know what that all means right now.

You can sense the apprehension in his words. He knows this would be the end of the sport, officially (it died unofficially several years ago via ESPN/SEC).

And a player’s perspective:

Running back Terron Ward

This is a job. We put in a lot more hours than a lot of teachers do. I feel like yeah, we shouldn’t be paid like professional athletes, but the scholarships that we have now, we’re barely eating off that. So yeah, I’d say getting paid more than what we are right now would be very, very nice and very, very helpful for people that don’t have outside help. You know, people that don’t have money coming in from their parents or other supporters. So I think that’d be very, very good.

Most people have to pay for their own college (including room and board and food), so for players to be crying about not having enough money for food the last few days each month doesn’t sit well with me. They also get to be the big men on campus while possibly earning a shot at the NFL. Yet, we are supposed to feel bad they have to dip into private money for a few meals? After all fringe benefits, they have ~ a 50k per year standard of living, while the average non-scholarship student is losing close to that.

Terron Ward’s view is short-sighted and selfish. It would be good for him for a few years, but bad for fans of Oregon State. Since scholarships are booster funded,there will simply be an arms race from the big donors at the big schools, but once that process peeks and players are still crying that they don’t receive enough, then private money will come in from NFL teams.

Anyway, I encourage college football to go down this path. It will blow up the sport for good. Better to burn out than fade away, and right now it’s a slow fade. I expect that NCAA football will become minor league baseball mixed with the corruption of boxing. I think Riley suspects this, too. One thing he does understand is the game is under attack. It’s why he was lukewarm about expansion. With the money comes added problems, as every middleman in America suddenly wants his cut.

Thanks to member “Bone”:
Another day with no pads and just helmets, so again there was no interaction between the offense and the defense.  So for me at least, it is difficult to make a judgment on  which players are standing out and who is not performing well, because pretty much everyone looks like a good player without pads and going against air.  So today I decided to pay close attention to John Garrett to kind of get a feel for how he coaches and how he is different or similar to Langsdorf.

My first impression was that his coaching style is more similar to Brennen than Langs. Garrett brings a little more energy to the practice, not as much as Brennen, but noticeably more so than Langsdorf. Will his energy have a better effect than Langs? Time will tell.  But I liked the energy and I am sure the players like it also.

Practice was very similar to what it has been in the past with a couple of small changes.

• Offensive players whenever they caught a pass or received a hand off, finished their runs all the way to the end zone, and all the players that were involved in the play went and celebrated the touchdown.  Garrett got on a couple of linemen who did not run the whole way there.
• The term “Chin” was probably the term that was probably yelled the most often. Wanting the player to really keep the ball high and tight.
•  A couple time, the offensive huddle to re-break the huddle to be a little crisper and quicker to the line of scrimmage.  Possibly a little hurry-up action.
• The overall tempo of practice was a little quicker than I have seen in the past.  But there would still be breaks in the action to have some teaching moments.
• Another change is the 15 minute ball security circuit.  Position groups rotated to different stations and participated in various ball security drills.  These drill aren’t new, I have seen these same drills or slight variations of the drill in previous practices I have attended,  However, the 15 minute circuit is something I haven’t seen.  THEY DO AND HAVE PRACTICED BALL SECURITY.

Quarterbacks were one position that was fairly easy to break down was quarterbacks.  Mannion is head and shoulders above the rest—Stronger and more accurate arm, better command at the line of scrimmage.  Del Rio has a nice quick release like, much like Cody Vaz had, I think Del Rio may have the quickest feet out of the quarterback.  He was a little inaccurate and missed some receivers, most likely due to lack of chemistry and familiarity with the playbook/receivers. I liked his arm better than Vanderveen and Kempt, but needs time to get better acclimated with team and playbook.

Good to see players like Garrett Weinreich, Roman Sapolu, Michael Doctor, and DJ back practicing.  Hamlet and Isaac did not practice today, but each of them stayed very engaged in the drills and offering advice to players. Brandin Cooks and Brandon Hardin were both spectators at practice today, Cooks looks to have added a little muscle from when he was suiting up for the orange & black.

No sign of Peko at practice today (although didn’t see much of the defensive side today).

Hearing it was a “laid back” practice without much to report.

Here‘s some info on Garrett fitting in. More on him and Mannion. I’ll reserve judgment on Garrett until we see the offense. Sounds like Riley will continue to call the plays. While in the past I thought Riley was an asset as a play-caller, I don’t feel as strongly about it after last year.