Offense shines as Beavers scrimmage

Senior quarterback Sean Canfield passed for 278 yards and four touchdowns in the first of three spring football scrimmages for the Beavers. A trio of quarterbacks led the Beaver offense for a total of nine touchdowns and 751 yards in total offense in the 100-play workout at Reser Stadium.

Canfield's favorite target was junior receiver Darrell Catchings, who snared six of the lefty's passes for 251 yards, including touchdown receptions of 71 and 70 yards. Canfield, who was 12-for-21 (3 drops), also had a 10-yard scoring pass to receiver Damola Adeniji and a 3-yard touchdown to tight end Joe Halahuni.

"Sean showed a lot of poise today and made some really nice throws," Beaver head coach Mike Riley said. "He showed a lot of confidence and understanding; he's got a great grasp of what we are trying to do with the football with each pattern that we call, and that's really encouraging. He threw some very catchable balls on the deep routes -- a lot of times quarterbacks lacking poise will overthrow or just miss the deep balls, but he conquered all those things today and did a nice job."

Canfield wasn't the only quarterback who had a banner day, as redshirt-freshman Ryan Katz and sophomore Justin Engstrom each tossed two touchdown passes. Katz, leading the second team predominately, connected on 9 of 18 for 198 yards and two touchdowns. He had touchdown passes of 70 and 27 yards to Jordan Bishop. Engstrom was 18 of 26 for 163 yards with 2 and 3-yard scores to receiver Kevan Walker while leading the third team.

"I just wanted to play today," Riley said of the scrimmage. "I had no real plan, I just wanted to call plays and let guys play football today. We probably don't do this enough."

Walker ended the day as the leading receiver with eight receptions, followed by Catchings, with Bishop and running back Jordan Jenkins each having five. Jenkins had 37 yards receiving and 40 yards rushing on 17 carries. Ryan McCants carried the ball nine times for 27 yards and true freshman Jovan Stevenson had 35 yards on eight attempts, including the only rushing touchdown of the day on a 6-yard scamper.

Oregon State will have the weekend off before resuming action Monday for the fourth week of spring practice. The team is expected to scrimmage April 24 at 3:30 p.m.