- Jeff Tuel IS a little bigger, by roughly five pounds (now at 211). That’s good news. He looks bigger and who knows, maybe by fall he’s up around 215, ready to take the poundings expected from a Pac-10 QB.
- Brandon Rankin is starting out listed officially as a defensive end on the strong side, an impressive 6-5, 271. As has been reported previously, however, you can expect that Rankin is going to get some action inside.
- Speaking of action inside, none other than Toby Turpin is listed as a starting d-tackle after all. As Grippi has reported, Turpin is actually appealing an academic situation, but, for now, he’s eligible to practice with the team. I know we were down on the odds of him being on the field this spring when we looked at the d-line a few weeks ago, but who knows, maybe this will turn out OK after all?
- Anthony Carpenter was thought of as a contender at corner, but, at least for now he’s showing up as a free safety. Good size too at 6-0, 190, so it makes some sense.
- Mike Ledgerwood gets the starting call at MLB, due to a couple of things – Alex Hoffman-Ellis officially sliding over to weakside linebacker, and, Louis Bland on the shelf until the fall. Ledgerwood’s up a few LB’s himself, now weighing in at 233 pounds, certainly big enough to handle the middle in the Pac-10. We like Ledgerwood, and you can bet if he isn’t the starter he’s first off the bench in the middle.
- Back on offense, looks like Logwone Mitz has packed on some pounds, now listed at 232 (up almost 10 from 224 last year). The running back situation looks to be WIDE OPEN this spring, especially with James Montgomery out of the mix for now.
That’s what jumps out anyway. Looking forward to progress reports from here on out!
Some other links:
From Teddy Miller: Wulff: Hot seat?? WHAT hot seat??
From Cougfan: Atofau cleared (good news on what could have become an ugly situation!)
Finally, if you are wondering about strength, this from Cougfan’s message board….
We’ll have more later tonight or tomorrow morning but in terms of strength gains, wanted to share now this little nugget from Paul Wulff.
Last spring, Washington State had a mere five guys that could hang clean 300 pounds or more. The hang clean, like the power clean, is a good indicator of core strength. And five is not a good number. This spring, is different. Markedly different.
This spring, WSU has 30 guys who are putting up 300 pounds or more in the hang clean.
From five – to 30.
Plus, there are 17 more Cougs who are now in the 285-295 pound range and knocking on the door of the 300 pound club in the hang clean.
STRONG LIKE BULL! Nice work by the kids hitting the weights and the training table as well. You know, I mentioned this to our own Sutra the other day, but they really might take a big step forward when it comes to able-bodied depth next year, if nothing else. Wulff’s got a lot of “his” kids now fully engulfed by his program, and things are turning around in the “behind the scenes” department. Here’s to another step forward as the program continues to rebuild.
All for now. GO COUGS!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
