Moving on, good write-up by Howie Stalwick on this year’s frosh class. Some strong quotes from Gino Simone as well:
“I’m enjoying this so much, I can’t even began to describe it,” said Simone, who missed two days of practice with the flu this week. “This is unbelievable, the opportunity that’s been presented to me.”
Simone and Tuel were two of the featured attractions in the first recruiting class Wulff and his staff had a full year to put together. Simone said the freshmen are loaded with talent, camaraderie and determination.
“We’re going to be the class to bring this program back to national prominence,” Simone said.
Nice. And in that same theme, recruiting, it’s not too difficult to envision what, exactly, the Coug coaches are saying out on the road these days? The pitch probably goes something like this: “Son, you come to Pullman, not only will we provide for you a safe, structured environment where you will get a very good education, but if you are good enough, you WILL play right away.” I would imagine that is music to a lot of young ears, and their families. For you not only have to win the kid’s heart in recruiting, but you have to win the couch in the living room as well. Simone is right though, as far as the opportunity. It’s right there on a weekly basis, for all to see. And it’s awfully exciting for fans like us to see them laying the foundation, ala Dick Bennett with the Derrick Low-Kyle Weaver-Robbie Cowgill class!
I know this was brought up before, in the idea of playing Jeff Tuel now. And for good reason, as even though it’s awfully early, Tuel looks like he has something goin’ on. But Grippi raises a good thought, and it’s something that’s been batted around, but you start to project down the road, the QB situation is shaping up nicely. When you have a true frosh in Tuel followed by what will probably be a decorated QB in Halliday when the year is complete, well, you want some distance between the two. Now, you can look at Halliday coming in next year and redshirting, while hopefully Tuel has taken full flight as a true sophomore. By the time Tuel is a junior, Halliday will be a redshirt frosh. Anyway, it’s a good thing on many levels that Tuel is starting, that much we know right off the top. But when you think about who’s coming after him, it’s an even better idea to play him now.
Finally, the game tonight. IF you aren’t in an area that will actually broadcast the game on your various cable/satellite provider, there is good news. Oregon will be streaming the game live on their website, for a one-time fee of just $1.99. Not too shabby. However, the bad news is you actually have to go to their website and sign up. I know, I know. Going to goducks.com isn’t easy. But just think of it as tearing off a band-aid. Count to three, and tear that sucker off. It will hurt for a moment, but then it’s gone, and it’s mission accomplished.
All for now. We’ll be back later. Enjoy your Saturday, and drop by during the game if you wish. Oh yeah, GO COUGS!
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