Riley names starting RB, defines other roles

CORVALLIS -- After months of waiting to hear the name of who will officially claim the No.1 tailback role for the orange and black, fans and pundits alike finally have their answer. A 'first-down and third-down crew' were also defined.

"Right now, and through all the stuff (practice) that we have done, we are going to start Storm Woods," Mike Riley said after he broke the practice huddle Thursday afternoon.

"We had a really good battle, as you know -- Malcolm Agnew and Terron Ward are right in there, and that is our first-down crew. On third down, we will have Storm and Jordan Jenkins.

"We anticipate redshirting Chris Brown."

It was a see-saw position battle this fall camp at the running back spot, and that preceded months of evaluation and analysis. In the end, Woods came out on top.

"I'm pretty happy," Woods said, a look of stunned disbelief still etched on his face. "It just goes to show you that hard work pays off. I'm still soaking it in. I didn't anticipate this at all. I'm just proud to be the starter now."

Not surprisingly, Woods saw ample time on the 1's today. He has been seeing consistent looks at the No. 1 tailback slot since Monday.

We'll have much more from Thursday's practice a little later on...