“Blogoptimist”

Happy Thursday Cougs! 

Last week I gave a shot at grading the Cougs’ depth, and as Longball put it got “raked over the coals by more than a couple commenters for having the audacity to suggest we may have decent depth this year.” All I have to say is thank you! That was, hands down, the most commented article I’ve ever written.  If you think I’m full of mularky, always feel free to let me hear it.  

That being said, I stand behind my “homer” assessment of the current depth in our program.  I’ll admit, I began to second-guess myself a bit after publishing the article.  I thought to myself, “How dare I have the audacity to dole out A’s and B’s to a team that has done nothing yet to deserve them.”  Then I looked over the same roster I used to assimilate the depth grades, and was reminded of why I was so optimistic the night before.

Consider this…

Marquess Wilson, C.J. Mizell, Nolan Washington, Deone Bucannon, Damante Horton, Sekope Kaufusi, Kristoff Williams, Ricky Galvin, Aaron Dunn.  All of these guys will either start or see considerable playing time this season at positions I gave a B or higher to.  This doesn’t include Chester Sua, Dominique Willams, Daryl Monroe, or Henry Eaddy, all true freshman who look ready to play on Saturdays.  ALL OF THEM are either freshman or sophomores.

Youth was a huge factor in my grades, because as talented as the previously mentioned players are, they will still be in the program 2 to 3 years from now.  Which means from here on out, we can build around them and hopefully stock up on our lines.  Yes, some of them haven’t played a down that matters yet.  Yes, we struggled mightily through their growing pains last season, and we will likely see more this season, but together they comprise the core of this team.  And call me an optimist, but I think it’s a talented core and for the first time in a long time, we’re not patching holes with true freshman, see Ted Miller.  Now, call me bat-sh** crazy, but I also think we have the talent and depth that is FINALLY going to translate into some wins for this program.

One other thing I’m optimistic about, Brandon Gibson is going to have a huge season for the Rams.  In case you missed it, B-Gibs caught an 83-yard TD pass in the Rams second preseason game.  I found the highlight to be eerily reminiscent of his catch in the 2007 Apple Cup which sent chills down my spine.  Gibson has continued to garner praise for his work in training camp and it’s looking like he and Sam Bradford are building a great chemistry with each other.  Is it enough to take the “go-to-guy” label from Danny Amendola?  Maybe, maybe not, but even as the number two guy on a thin receiving corps with a rookie QB last year he amassed 53 catches for 620 yards and 2 touchdowns.  

I found this little diddy from Mike Sando, the NFC West blogger for espn.com. Gibson is labeled as the surprise of camp saying he “showed up for camp ready to build on a 53-catch 2010.”  If Bradford takes a big step forward, which all signs indicate thus far, don’t be surprised if B-Gibson eclipses the 1,000 yard mark this year in his 3rd NFL season.  Best of luck to you Gibby!

Now one thing I’m not so optimistic about, the eligibility of Alex Mitchell and Rahmel Dockery. Some pre-mature stories came out about Mitchell being good to go, but as of this morning, he and Dockery have yet to be cleared.  Vince Grippi wrote a rather educational post on the matter here about the NCAA Eligibility Center (formerly the Clearinghouse).

Why does it seem that we always get screwed by the Clearinghouse?  Remember Al Lapuaho? The big man became a late addition to the 2010 class from Snow College in Utah.  If you don’t remember him, it’s because he wasn’t cleared academically in time and had to go back to JC. Then he subsequently committed to Utah State and is expected to be huge contributor for them. There is probably a 1,000 examples of this happening but this is the most recent one I can remember.  

Losing Dockery and Mitchell would KILL the 2011 class.  They were our redemption on signing day for losing out on Stephen Nembot, Brandon Tuliaupupu, and “he we shall not speak of.”   Wulff said we should know for sure by the end of this week so let’s cross our collective fingers.   Go Cougs!!!