Oregon State football notebook

By Cliff Kirkpatrick
Corvallis Gazette-Times

Two Oregon State football players were suspended indefinitely from the team Tuesday for violating team rules, coach Mike Riley said.

He wouldn’t be more specific, or say if this falls under OSU’s code of conduct of automatic suspension if they return. Riley does have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to drugs and alcohol.

While this is an open-ended, long-term punishment, whatever senior Marcel Love and redshirt freshman Anthony Crosby did was not bad enough to terminate their scholarship agreements for the school year.

Both are wide receivers who could have contributed this season. Love was considered the No. 1 backup at all three positions, and Crosby a playmaker of the future.

Love was already in jeopardy of not being academically eligible for the second straight season. He missed last season as he took classes at Linn-Benton Community College and returned to the team in the spring.

“It’s a tough thing to have to do,” Riley said. “It’s somewhat (of a distraction). It takes away from the normal routine of training camp. It’s part of the deal. There’s always something.”

Moore returns

Starting quarterback Matt Moore returned to practice after back spasms ended Sunday’s practice early and kept him on the sidelines Monday. He wore the don’t-hit-me vest and did limited work, while fighting the pain.

“I’m still a little sore, real sore,” Moore said. “I couldn’t go full speed today. I tried to get back as fast as I could. But it’s kind of nice to slow down a little bit.”

Bending to make a handoff hurt. Most of what he did was throw the football, which he said wasn’t a problem.

“If it feels the same (today), I’ll be out doing the same stuff,” Moore said. “I should be at practice every day from here on out.”

Tough practice

Tuesday was the first practice with full pads, and Riley deviated from his norm. He allowed full contact when the offense and defense scrimmaged against each other at the end of the day.

The highlight was tailback Yvenson Bernard and safety Al Afalava getting into it verbally and physically within the context of the game.

“It was fun to get started,” Riley said. “These guys are so anxious to tackle and finish plays. It’s the first time I had a scrimmage like that on the first day. I feel like our group is far enough along that we can get something going. The more you do that, you get used to playing. I think it was a good thing.”

There were two players shaken up. Defensive tackle Naymon Frank hurt both his knees returning a fumble when Ruben Jackson hit him, but returned to practice. Running back Dan Weis had his bell rung and needed help off the field.

“That’s a thing we always worry about,” Riley said. “We want to get every guy to the season. He looks like he’ll be OK in a little bit.”