Pac-10 Stuff

With some trickle of news here and there, thought it was good to check around the Pac-10 and see what’s going on.

First off, WSU news – another commitment? That’s right, defensive end Chris Mastin from L-C in Spokane has committed to Malik Roberson and Paul Wulff. According to the story, Malik developed a good relationship with Mastin. In fact Malik went to L-C himself so he can speak first-hand to what’s in store for Mastin. But Mastin is an interesting speed-rushing prospect. A little undersized at 6-1.5, 205, but really quick off the edge, he could be in that Isaac Brown-DD Acholonu mold. He’s a 3-star guy per Scout.com and a top-50 defensive end prospect for the upcoming class. If you are scoring at home, that’s four commits for the class of 2009. Yes, that’s one more commit in July vs. the three that Wulff had when he took over in December. Keep it up fellas.

What up with UW? Still no commits. It has to be said, that uncertainly around Ty has to be having an effect. Rumors are that Ty has made a little noise about a contract extension, citing the uncertainly as a main obstacle in landing some top-shelf talent. It’s hard for an NCAA coach to come up on the last year of their deal without any assurances. But they are still without an AD, since Todd Turner announced he was stepping down in December and Scott Woodward has passed on the job (or has he?). Maybe more than any other sport, NCAA football and NCAA hoops rarely see a coach enter the final year of their deal. You either see the coach fired or extended at that point. We’ll see what happens, but the situation bears watching. The pressure has to be high right now, especially with the new energy in Pullman? I’m not flat-out suggesting that we’ll out-recruit UW, but, things are a little different this summer vs. last summer?

UCLA’s Ben Olson is taking baby steps to return to the field. If you remember, Olson broke his foot one play after QB Patrick Cowan blew out his ACL in the final spring practice. Brutal. But Olson has made significant progress, to the point that he could be ready to go when they start fall practice on August 5th. UCLA has issues offensively right now, with 8 of their top 10 linemen on the 2-deep who haven’t had any significant playing time. They also lost a projected starter for the season at right tackle in Sean Sheller to an ATV accident a few weeks ago.

Oregon State is down a couple of safeties. First Al Afalava, who got into some hot water with a DUI accident and fleeing the scene on foot, destroying a city bus stop in the process. Afalava will be suspended for the opener vs. Stanford. Now safety Bryan Payton has suddenly quit the program, with very little explanation. Payton was a pain to the staff over the years, getting sent home from the insight.com bowl a few years ago and had some academic issues over his career, but he definitely had ability. His biggest moment was a huge game vs. USC in their monumental upset a few years ago, where he made some big plays, including a big INT. Oregon State has already lost their entire front-seven to graduation, so the last thing they needed was more losses in the secondary.

ASU is copying us. They now have a practice bubble too, but for very different reasons. It’s the oppressive mid-day heat from August through October that forced the team to practice at night only. Now, they can head indoors and come up with a regular practice schedule, just like everyone else. And it’s even potentially a “green” structure, as they’ll look to solar power for the AC. Hooray Dennis.

An LA Sheriff rammed Pete Carroll. Seriously. Carroll was cruising in the fast lane through Malibu when suddenly a Sheriff pulled right in front of him to make a U-Turn, crushing his car in the process. The rock star wasn’t hurt, and even made it to a camp the next day.