Happy Monday Cougs. After some time away from this space, here's hoping you and yours are hanging on in your corner of the world.
Ya know, I thought about the blog quite a bit lately, about losing some passion here and there and how it's a slow/dead time at the moment for all things WSU football. And you know what? I realized something that is pretty important – whether it's a dead period or not, whether it's slow or not, you just can't have a blog if YOU DON'T WRITE(!), know what I mean? But some time away can be a good thing, and not just in a recharge-the-batteries kind of way either. I know our content is down and likewise, the blog traffic right along with it. But it is what it is, and this is a blog where we share thoughts and ideas and such. It might not be life-altering content on a regular basis around here, but this space is here for what it is. And if you don't write, well, what's the point of even having a blog to begin with??
Anyway, while I can't fully speak for the rest of the writers around here, I will do my best going forward with posting in the morning hours with "stuff" that might be interesting to you and yours? It probably won't be every day, but I can say it will be more than it has been in the last few months. So there's that.
With that, happy SPRING FORWARD MONDAY (read: today sucks). It's weird but in years past, the first Monday after the time change isn't the hard one for me. Where I usually feel it is on Tuesday for some reason. Maybe it's just that you are in the mode of "I can get through this" on that first work day after the change, but then reality hits the following day when you realize your body clock just isn't quite there yet? I guess we'll find out tomorrow, but in the past today isn't usually too bad.
Moving on to your morning drip stuff……
WSU's Brandon Gibson is a free agent, and is being looked at as a guy who some desire as a receiver who might get paid once NFL free agency officially kicks off tomorrow and players can start signing deals. Gibson has been linked heavily to the AFC East for some reason, as he's viewed as a fallback for the Miami Dolphins and will reportedly also draw interest from New England, Buffalo and the NY Jets among others.
What''s cool is that I guess one could look back to the Cougs of 2006 and say that out of the exciting trio of Jason Hill, Michael Bumpus and Brandon Gibson as the wideouts, Brandon Gibson might have been the "least heralded" of the group. I mean here we had Hill, who was the all-time pass catching TD leader at WSU, and one of the top Pac-10/12's TD catchers of all-time. And Michael Bumpus had the school's career receptions record, playing well all four years in Pullman as a dependable receiver who always seemed to find open spots in the secondary despite lacking the game-changing explosive size and speed of the top receivers in the country. But it's Gibson who has gone on to the next level and quietly turned into a solid NFL receiver, while Jason Hill has somewhat sputtered around and Michael Bumpus is no longer on an NFL roster. While it's unlikely he would ever be a #1 guy in an NFL offense, he certainly can fit the bill as a solid #3 in any passing attack. Gibson topped 50 catches last year for the second time in his young career, and had 5 TD catches in a decent season overall. Here's hoping he strikes free agent "gold" in the days ahead!
Speaking of Cougs and the next level, Jeff Tuel's "Pro Day" at WSU was reportedly strong, throwing the ball well and surprising many with a reported 4.55 in the 40 (note that this was a hand-held clocking of the 40, and somewhat "unofficial". It's very difficult to say how accurate that time actually was compared to the laser-recorded times you get at the NFL combine, but still, a QB running 4.55 is pretty impressive!). I think we all had a good idea Tuel could run, but 4.55 is like, the same as RGIII and Russell Wilson at the 2012 NFL combine (WOW). This just in – those guys can move!
As Tuel said in the article at Cougfan, all he needs is that one team to fall in love with him and perhaps he'll get drafted.
Personally I WANT to see his name called, even if it's in the 7th round or whatever. But I have felt all along that he's likely headed for NFL free agency, and that he'll sign on with someone after the draft. It's not that he doesn't have the tools, in that he has shown some accuracy and throws a nice deep ball. it's just that his injury history might be enough to scare teams enough to not spend a draft pick on him, and he doesn't have the absolute GUN of an arm that you might see from an RGIII or Russell Wilson or Andrew Luck or whatever. But who knows, maybe his performances this offseason has done enough to get him high enough to be selected. CBS Sports for example has him as a 7th rounder or undrafted/Free Agent, which might be pretty accurate.
Finally, so there's a basketball game on Wednesday night between the Cougs and Dawgs. WSU has made some kind of a recent push after the season was left for dead, and now a lot of Cougs are talking sh*t after a sweep of the LA schools. Meanwhile UW has played better lately, transforming a lost season into a solid #6 seed in the Pac-12 tourney and many UW'ers are already looking past WSU and even past Oregon in the second round (what a surprise). I don't know what's going to happen, I mean the Cougs have played UW tough in the two times they've met this year and the old saying is that it can be hard to beat a team for the third time in the same season when the margin of victory has been close (WSU has lost by a combined total of 9 points over the two games, most recently a 72-68 game in Seattle a few weeks ago).
I don't know what's going to happen, I mean to be honest I have barely paid attention to hoops this year. I haven't been big on Bone over the years, but I don't exactly hate him like so many others appear to based on the social media reactions every game? But I do know that it sounds like WSU is playing better ball all of a sudden, and some are quietly saying that the Cougs might be the "best 11 seed ever!" or something like that. But they are still an 11-seed, so it's hard to have any expectations for Wednesday night . I can say this however – as uninterested as I have been all year long? I will be watching Wednesday night! Call me bandwagon or a bad fan or whatever, but I really don't care. At least a fringe hoops guy like me will be watching, and that's a W for Bone and his campaign to return for next season……right??
Maybe the sweep of the LA schools, combined with a lot of returning players for next season, is enough to buy Bone more time. We'll see.
All for now. Enjoy your spring forward Monday, and as always, GO COUGS!
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