Just 1 week after having surgery to clean up damage to the meniscus in his left knee, Oregon St.'s Sean Mannion was back in pads, and taking reps in practice today.

Mannion's status is day to day, according to head coach Mike Riley. How Mannion's knee responds after today's workout will tell us a lot more. Riley wouldn't rule Mannion in or out of Saturday night's Homecoming contest against Utah as the backup quarterback at this point.

Next Saturday night at Washington certainly looks like a possibility, though.

Meanwhile, Cody Vaz remains the starter, and his performance against BYU certainly makes that a comfortable prospect.

Running back Storm Woods, who sprained his knee in the BYU game, is also working at full speed in practice. Woods sat out the first part of Monday's practice, but when an MRI done earlier in the day revealed no problems, Woods was able to convince the coaches he could go, and got on the field for the latter part of the day. He's been active in both practices since then.

Finally, and fortunately, Brandin Cooks has shown no lingering ill-effects from the turned right ankle he suffered in the first quarter Saturday. Cooks returned to have the best receiving day of the game, after having his ankle re-taped, but there are always concerns about how a joint may respond a day later after such an episode.

Cooks certainly won't want to miss the opportunity to perform in front of James Rodgers, the star he's doing such a good job of replacing, Saturday night. With a bye on the Atlanta Falcons' schedule this weekend, both James and Jacquizz Rodgers are making the trip back to Corvallis for Homecoming.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com