Erin Swanson-Davies Emerald
Sophomore Keenan Howry is the Ducks’ leading receiver and has come up with several big-time catches in his two-year Oregon career, including the game-winning grab against Minnesota in the 1999 Sun Bowl.
Keenan Howry
Year: Sophomore
Position: Receiver
Hometown: Los Angeles
In Brief: Despite being slightly undersized for a receiver
at S-foot-10, Keenan Howry has caught 33 passes for 569
yards this season, good for first place on the Oregon
team. His heroics are as recent as last Saturday, when he
grabbed two touchdown passes to keep Oregon close to
Arizona State. Howry made an immediate impact when
he started for the Ducks as a freshman, capping his first
season by catching the game-winning pass from quarterback joey Harrington to
beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 1S99 Sun Bowl. Howry should be
recovered from a hip injury when he faces Washington State Saturday.
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Beyond his years
■ Oregon’s sophomore
receiver steps into a larger
role and helps the Ducks put
points on the board
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Keenan Howry was hurting
when he entered the Arizona State
game at the start of the second
quarter on Saturday.
Even walking onto the field took
a solid effort from the sophomore
receiver, who hurt his hip*when he
took a knee from an Arizona play
er on a blocking assignment the
weekend before.
The morning after the Ducks
beat the Wildcats, the pain surging
through Howry’s hip was enough
to keep him in bed. He didn’t prac
tice at all that week. Even walking
was an aching chore.
So, before the Arizona State
game, the coaching staff told
Howry they wanted to rest him as
much as possible. But the minute
the Sun Devils jumped to a 21-7
lead with six minutes, 56 seconds
left in the second quarter, Howry’s
brief rest ended.
The 5-foot-10 receiver took the
field and it didn’t take long for his
presence to be felt.
“My first touchdown came in
the second quarter. It was a really
basic play, and they gave us a little
funny look,” Howry recalls, sitting
in a chair in the Len Casanova
Center after Tuesday’s practice. “I
ran the flag and kept the flag really
skinny because the safety came
down and the corner was really
wide.
“Joey [Harrington] made a great
throw and hit me right on stride,
right on the end zone.”
Howry’s touchdown sparked an
Oregon surge that left the game
tied 21-21 at halftime. Howry
pulled down another touchdown
catch later in the third quarter/ tv
ing the game at 28 apiece and
keeping the Ducks within striking
distance.
Another Oregon win, 56-55 in
double overtime, and another
clutch performance on the books
by the Ducks’ young receiver.
“With the loss of Tony [Hartley],
we knew that we wouldn’t have
any true receivers coming back ex
cept for myself and Marshaun
[Tucker],” Howry said. “So we’ve
had a lot of playing time. We’ve
stepped up our roles in the sense
that we’ve pretty much been the
go-to guys this whole year.”
Harrington, who entered the
Ducks’ starting lineup at quarter
back midway through last season
as a sophomore, knows how it
feels to cope with high expecta
tions at a young age.
Harrington said that Howry has
elevated his performance to match
his role without difficulty.
“Keenan plays beyond his years
— he’s shown that from the second
he came in here,” Harrington said.
“He’s done a tremendous job of
coming in and learning a brand
new system. He came in early and
was studying with the coaches and
studying with the players and he
was ready to play. He came in and
that’s what he’s done, and he’s be
come a very solid receiver for us.”
Bom Keenan Rashaun Howry on
June 17, 1981, in Los Angeles, the
Los Alamitos High School phenom
joined the Ducks in 1999 after ac
cumulating 73 receptions for 1,320
yards and two touchdowns his
senior year.
He failed to snag a catch in his
Oregon debut against Michigan
State, but by the year’s end, he’d
tied the team lead in touchdown
catches and finished third in re
ceptions.
This season is shaping up to be
even better for the young receiver.
In eight games, he’s caught 33
f>asses for 569 yards and four
ouch’downs.' HeValscTbeebme’the
Ducks’ top punt returner, averag
ing 6.7 yards per return.
“He’s got marginal size, but hon
estly, he makes up for that with his
ability to go get the ball,” head
coach Mike Bellotti said. “Hope
fully he’ll put on five or 10 pounds
in the next couple years and pro
vide a little bit more padding for
that body of his. He’s become a
great punt returner, and I think
he’ll get better in all aspects as he
gets bigger, faster and stronger.”
How’s this for playing beyond
his years: Oregon gets possession
of the football in the 1999 Sun
Bowl, down by three points with
. time winding down.
, The defining moment of the
drive was a fourth-and-11 pass
play from the Gophers’ 44-yard
line, when Harrington connected
with Hartley, the Ducks’ senior re
ceiver, for the game-saving first
down with three minutes left.
It was the last great catch for one
of Oregon’s most clutch players.
Fittingly, the next great catch
was the game winner — a 10-yard
pass with 1:32 remaining — and it
fell in the hands of Howry, who
could, by his senior year, very well
be the Ducks’ next Tony Hartley.
“He’s matching Tony’s perform
ance at this point very well,” Bel
lotti said. “As a freshman, they
were very close, and as sopho
mores, he may have already ex
ceeded Tony in that regard. Tony’s
legacy was the clutch catches he
made and the consistency over the
course of his career, and certainly
with Keenan, that is still to be an
swered, but I’m sure he’ll do those
things.”
For now, Howry complements a
passing offense which is balanced
by Tucker, a senior. Tucker has
caught 31 passes for 518 yards and
is a close second to Howry on the
team in receiving yards per game.
“So far this season, we’ve caught
* almost everything,"'Howry sa'id. ‘