Gazette-Times Reporter

LOS ANGELES — There was a chance to sit down with Oregon State football coach Mike Riley during the Pacific-10 Conference media gathering Thursday.

He gave a glimpse into his mindset headed into the sixth season of his second tenure with the Beavers. Riley is eager to work with this group because he sees vast potential.

The first practice is 2 p.m. on Friday, and the season opener is Aug. 28 at Stanford.

OSU is coming off back-to-back third-place conference finishes. There are many holes to fill in starting lineup, mainly on both sides of the line, in the quest to improve on recent success.

Riley said he believes in the program he established and has full ownership of the team now that every player on the roster was recruited by him.

The following is a Q&A with him at the end of the day:

G-T: How was your summer?

RILEY: “It was good, very good. It always goes too fast.”

G-T: Did you do anything interesting?

RILEY: “We did do some interesting things. We went to Birmingham, (Ala.) to see my wife’s dad. We went to Texas, we always go down there. I do a lot of paperwork there, the agenda for the fall camp and the season.”

G-T: How excited are you for this season?

RILEY: “The whole picture of the program is exciting to me. We have a program in place. Guys have been into it, know it. And I think they have a good feel for each other. Now we just have to get ready in fall camp and compete hard in games.”

G-T: What are your expectations now this is the first year every player on the roster has been recruited by you?

RILEY: “I never have put a lot of stock into it, or thought about that. It’s not important to me. What’s important is the growth of those in the program and the expectations in it. And it always takes time, if you recruit them or not. It takes time to be who you are. But it is nice to have that continuity, and have those years behind you.”

G-T: What are your concerns going into the season?

RILEY: “I think solidifying some spots, some real key growth in the offensive line in fall camp. That’s big. Getting continued growth of the front seven on defense and the backups so we can continue to play a number of people defensively. A big concern in a general way is getting a good start. We have to get out of the gate fast. We play Stanford right away in a conference game, which is weird.”

G-T: How do you do that?

RILEY: “We have to try to solidify the parts you want to be your identity, try to make a good assessment of what you have and then focus on what enhances your team. You have to do that earlier. And then get a lot of repetition.”

G-T: What’s the strength of the team?

RILEY: “Definitely our secondary and I think receiving corp.”

G-T: How concerned are you about breaking in a new running back?

RILEY: “I feel good about the guys in the picture there. It’s a changing of the guard. It’s always got mystery to it. Yvenson (Bernard) was such a great all-around player. He brought a lot to what we did. We’ll have to grow up fast. And it will fall to more than Ryan McCants. We could play a lot more guys.”

G-T: What does Sean Canfield or Lyle Moevao have to do, or not do, to win the starting quarterback job?

RILEY: “It’s a kind of process type thing that is not any one thing that all of a sudden happens,” Riley said. “It’s a process you get a feel for. I’m just glad to have both of them play last year, and did some good things. Then learn from the bad things that happened. And they are all better for it.”