PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -Sammie Stroughter is having fun again.
After missing much of fall camp and Oregon State’s first game because of personal issues, the senior receiver appears to be back in his groove.
In the Beavers’ 61-10 victory over Idaho State last weekend, Stroughter caught nine passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
Coach Mike Riley said Stroughter was loose before the game.
“He was excited and laughing. It was definitely shades of his personality that haven’t always been there in the last month,” Riley said.
Indeed, Stroughter was smiling broadly when he finally sat down in the third quarter.
“It felt great,” he said. “Each day is going to get better.”
Stroughter sat out of the Beavers’ opener against Utah, and there was talk that he could be redshirted. He returned in the road loss to Cincinnati, but looked rusty and did not catch as pass. Then came his breakout against the Bengals.
During an 18-day absence from the team this fall, Stroughter issued a statement through the university saying that he was grieving the deaths of two family members and longtime Beavers assistant Jim Gilstrap.
Since then, Riley has asked reporters to respect his privacy. However, Stroughter, one of the more personable members of the team, appears to be healing.
“It’s good to see Sammie first of all just growing from where he was a month ago. That was fun to see. I saw that before the game even started,” Riley said. “I think the next part of that is that he was productive. He has had games like that before but it was the first time this year that we saw those plays coming from Sammie.”
A third-team All-America selection, Stroughter caught 79 passes for 1,293 yards last season. He scored eight touchdowns, three of them on punt returns.
The Beavers (2-1) were gearing up this week to visit Arizona State and former coach Dennis Erickson on Saturday.
Oregon State has lost 15 in a row against ASU at Sun Devil Stadium – a streak dating back to 1969.
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