Scholarship offer a snap for Canaday.

Byline: Steve Mims The Register-Guard

If the recruitment of Kameron Canaday flew a little under the radar, well, such is the life of a long snapper.

The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Canaday was a first-team all-Southwest Conference defensive lineman while helping Sheldon reach the Class 6A football championship game last month, but he made his biggest splash with colleges as the long snapper for the Irish.

He got a boost when he was ranked as the No. 5 long snapper in the nation by the Rubio Long Snapping, a camp and recruiting service for the position, and Portland State, Montana and Idaho State began contacting him.

Canaday committed to Portland State last month, joining a long list of in-state recruits for the Vikings this year. He will get on the field first as a long snapper while trying to work his way into the lineup on offense or defense.

"I will be the long snapper next year and as I get bigger, I will play either tight end or on the defensive line," Canaday said.

Canaday has been perfecting his craft as a long snapper since long before high school.

"He's been long snapping since he was in Pop Warner at age 10," said his dad, Bob Canaday. "He went to a lot of camps and he has gotten good at it. He is considered one of the fastest snappers in the country and that is what catches people's eye.

"That's his niche, not to mention that he has the size and the frame that college coaches like."

Canaday, who is a reserve post on Sheldon's boys basketball team, is heading to a Rubio camp in Las Vegas this weekend.

"We work on technique," Canaday said. "Speed and accuracy is the key and what really separated me from the rest of the guys is my size. I've been playing basketball, so I may be rusty, but we will see how I do."

Canaday is one of three Irish players to get a scholarship offer from PSU and the first to commit. National signing day is Feb. 1.

Lineman Sam McCaskill, who also has an offer from Montana, is scheduled to visit Oregon State next weekend before selecting his college.

Linebacker Dawson Housley is expected to make his college choice next week.

Kyle Smith, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound lineman from Elmira, will join Canaday at Portland State. The Class 4A defensive player of the year committed to the Vikings earlier this month.

"I wanted to get into business and they had one of the best business schools around here," Smith said. "It is local and all the coaches are really cool."

Smith is expected to play on the offensive line for the Vikings, but they have also mentioned the possibility of playing him on defense.

"They recruited me for offense, but I have been thinking about defense too because it is more fun, more enjoyable," he said.

Marshfield's Dalton Milburn committed to PSU in October as an offensive lineman.

6

Weeks that South Medford's top-ranked girls basketball team could be without 6-foot-5 post Tess Picknell, who has signed with Stanford. Picknell suffered a sprained ankle and is expected to miss 2-6 weeks, according to the Medford Mail Tribune.

20

Catches by Mapleton senior Tyler Krueger in a 72-22 loss to Mohawk this past season that were recently verified to be a state eight-man football record. Krueger, who had 179 yards and two scores in the game, eclipsed the record of 19 catches set by Steve Goss of Wallowa against Culver in 1992. Krueger's mark is tied for the second in the national record book behind Jim Smeal of Snyder, Neb., who had 25 catches in a game in 1977.

1

Finish for three South Eugene racers during Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Jamboree at Diamond Lake on Saturday. Anne Ramey won the junior/senior girls skate race in 11 minutes, 40 seconds, and Henrik Morseth won the freshman/sophomore boys skate in 10:47. Natalie Mosman won the girls freshman/sophomore pursuit in 27:22.

COMING UP

Junction City is at Elmira in a Sky-Em League basketball doubleheader tonight beginning with the boys game at 5:45.

Churchill, Thurston, Lowell, Harrisburg, Central Linn and Marshfield are among the wrestling teams at the Oregon Classic in Redmond today and Saturday.

Willamette is at Marist in Midwestern League girls basketball on Tuesday.

POLL POSITION

Sheldon is tied for ninth in the Class 6A girls basketball poll; undefeated South Medford is the unanimous No. 1.

Springfield and Willamette remain tied on top of the 5A girls poll; Marist is eighth.

Sutherlin is ranked fourth in 4A girls basketball; Banks is No. 1.

Churchill is ranked No. 1 in the Class 5A boys poll; Wilsonville is No. 2.

North Bend is ranked eighth in the 4A boys poll behind top-ranked Phoenix.

NEXT LEVEL

Junction City graduate Blair Wheadon was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball player of the week after scoring 45 points in two games. The senior guard scored 29 points, including 7-for-8 shooting on three-pointers, in an 83-73 win at Western Washington. Wheadon was 9-for-15 on three-pointers in two games and 12-for-12 from the line while adding 12 assists and four steals as the Wolves improved to 6-0 in conference play.

Article Details

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Title Annotation:	Prep Roundup
Publication:	The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Date:	Jan 13, 2012
Words:	875
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