Oregon State QB talks about his injury, rehab and Beavers replacement Cody Vaz

CORVALLIS — Sean Mannion hasn’t gotten any official word from team doctors, trainer Ariko Iso or coach Mike Riley on whether he has been ruled out of Oregon State’s Saturday night game against Utah at Reser Stadium.

“I’m not ruling myself out,” OSU’s sophomore quarterback said after Monday’s practice at Prothro Field.

It seems unlikely that, 10 days following arthroscopic surgery to repair torn meniscus in his left knee, Mannion would be able to play in a football game.

But Mannion — walking normally and wearing only a wrap, not a brace, on the knee while watching Monday’s workout — would seem to have a good chance to return to action when the eighth-ranked Beavers visit CenturyLink Field for a date with Washington on Oct. 27.

“The way I feel now, I would imagine so,” said the 6-5, 215-pounder, who missed last Saturday’s 42-24 victory at Brigham Young. “I don’t want to say too much, though, because it’s day-to-day, week-to-week.”

Mannion isn’t sure he suffered the injury during Oregon State’s 19-6 victory over Washington State on Oct. 13. He woke up the following morning with some pain and swelling in the knee. Doctors told him it may have been aggravation of an old injury.

“They weren’t entirely sure,” Mannion said. “It’s kind of a fluke deal. You could say it’s just bad luck.

“But since then, everything has been going well. Doctors are happy with where I’m at. It’s hard not to be able to go, but I’m rehabbing as much as they’ll let me do. I feel like the knee is really coming along. If I could, I’d be out here now. The doctors and Ariko don’t want me to rush anything, but I’ll be back soon. I’m dying to get back.”

Mannion hasn’t tried to run since the surgery.

“Not yet,” he said, “but that’s coming very soon.”

Mannion smiled when told his replacement, Cody Vaz, earned Pac-12 offensive player of the week for his performance in Saturday’s win at BYU. The junior threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against the Utes in his first career start.

“Good for him,” Mannion said. “I told him at the beginning of the week, ‘I’m your biggest fan.’

“It’s hard to watch and not be in. I hadn’t done that since I was redshirting. But it was really fun to see Cody go out there and do so well. I was fired up for him.”

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