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A highly motivated and confident Sean Canfield enters
spring camp fully healed from his shoulder surgery of a year ago.
Junior Peter Lalich,
whom coach Mike Riley calls the wildcard, and redshirt freshman Ryan Katz, who has impressed the coaches with his decision making ability and arm
strength, are both set to get extra snaps due to Lyle Moevao's shoulder
surgery. |
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Moevao was scheduled for
arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder yesterday and will miss spring drills. An MRI
showed tears in the rotator cuff and in the biceps. Recovery time is anywhere
from six weeks to four months. The
coaches, however, expect him to be
ready by fall camp.
One other potential negative is the team
has a large number of quarterbacks (7) on
the roster and finding them all reps could prove
difficult indeed. |
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Who will emerge as the backup in the
spring? |
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Sean Canfield. His slow to heal
labrum of this past offseason is now a thing of the past. With Canfield
saying the shoulder feels stronger than it did even before the
injury, and with some new perspective having served
most of 2008 as the backup, Canfield is focused and determined to take the
starting spot and not let
go. He won over a large number of
fans last season in leading the team to victories over ASU, UCLA and Arizona,
and got the start for the latter two wins when Moevao was injured. He can make all the throws - including the deep
pass which Moevao lacks. |
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The team is deep in
quarterbacks -- four are on scholarship,
three are walk-ons and two more scholarship players are scheduled to join the team in August provided one of them doesn't grayshirt.
Canfield will get the most
repetitions this spring. Lalich and Katz,
set to battle for the starting job in
2010, are very likely to get the second most.
Riley did say the Beavs will practice longer in the
spring than they do during the year but it would seem a tall order for the
coaches to also find loads of snaps
for Justin Engstrom, Brennan Sim and/or Zach
Anderson.
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On Moevao -
“The downside is, he has an injury. The upside is, he is a veteran and will be
ready for fall camp. I’m glad we caught it now, so he has time to heal. I feel
really good about how Lyle will handle this and how hard he’ll work through the
rehab process.” On Katz - “Ryan has a
lot of ability, and he’ll have two spring practices under his belt by the time
we go into the (2009) season. His main deal will be the art of quarterbacking.
Can he perform and function as a quarterback in our
system?” |
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- Sr. Sean Canfield
(6-4, 220) - 11 career starts...completed 56 of 84 passes for 703 yards, six
touchdowns and two interceptions in five games (two starts) last
season
Sr. Lyle Moevao
(5-11, 220) - 15 career starts...11-4 as a starter... surgery on right
(throwing) shoulder yesterday...not expected to be
as severe as Canfield's shoulder
injury...expected to rehab 6 weeks to
4
months and Riley expects him to be fully
healed for the season...completed 214 for 361 passes (59%) for 2534 yards, 19
touchdowns and 13 interceptions last year...ranked third in the Pac-10 among quarterbacks
and 33rd in the nation in passing yards per game
RFr. Ryan Katz
(6-1, 208) - redshirted and will compete with Lalich for backup role in
2009, and starting spot in 2010...this is
his second spring with the Beavs -- he
graduated from high school early last
year...excellent arm strength...has put
in lots of time studying the playbook
Jr. Peter Lalich
(6-2, 229) - sat out last year following
transfer...had two career
starts at Virginia where he completed 39
of 74 (52%) passes for 359 yards, zero touchdowns and three
interceptions...still petitioning the NCAA to have another year of
eligibility...an appeal to the NCAA to make this past season his
redshirt year was not filed according to various news reports. If the appeal
isn't granted, Lalich has three years to play two starting in the fall...unless
Canfield gets hurt and Moevao is still recovering, he may
redshirt
So.
Justin Engstrom
(6-5, 208) - saw action in three games in
2008, but did not complete a pass
Jr.
Brennan Sim (6-2, 205) -
spent 2008 on the sidelines recovering from shoulder surgery...could compete for
number three spot on depth chart
So.
Zach Anderson
(6-4, 222) - has the least amount of
experience headed into the
spring
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