CORVALLIS -- Sean Mannion Watch 2012 continued on Thursday when coach Mike Riley announced that the Beavers' starting quarterback would dress down and be available Saturday night for OSU's game against Utah.

It is a remarkable turnaround for the sophomore quarterback, who had

, on Oct. 10. Mannion did not play or travel to BYU last weekend --

-- but he says if called upon, he is ready to go vs. the Utes.

"I feel great," Mannion said. "I feel like I could have gone a little earlier (than Wednesday), but it felt wiser to leave it in the doctors' hands. But right now I feel awesome, I feel 100 percent."

Vaz,

, still is expected to start. Mannion joked that, if necessary, he would elbow third-string quarterback Richie Harrington out of the way on Saturday if Vaz needs a break.

"I was obviously really excited for my team (vs. BYU), but it's hard to watch and not get to be there and be a part of it," Mannion said. "It's different to watch a game on TV, so I'm very glad I'll be able to suit up and participate."

Mannion returned to practice on Wednesday, taking snaps and throwing against the scout team. Riley called it "a miracle" that Mannion was able to come back so quickly, and said on Thursday that Mannion had no symptoms of a setback.

"I don't let anybody dress down that can't play in the games," said Riley, dismissing the notion that Mannion will be there just for looks.

Mannion shrugged off any talk of a quarterback controversy, saying that he and Vaz are completely supportive of each other, and that they both recognize the bigger picture.

"There are a million people who can say whatever they want, but on this team, everybody knows that it's all about what we can do as individuals to help the team," Mannion said. "It's about getting better as a whole."

-- Lindsay Schnell (I came, I saw,

)