With the conclusion of the 2011 college football season last night, it’s officially apropos to begin the countdown to the 2012 season and the Mike Leach Era!
Only 234 Days to go, but who’s counting?!
Today, I am not here to bore you with a recap of last night’s slug fest down on the Bayou, but rather, turn the page and look ahead to all the changes and the sure-to-be wild finish in this recruiting cycle.
If you are ready for more, to steal a page from Huddy because he’s pissed me off and not used this one yet, WSU Football Blog readers, jump, jump on it!
Now I would never be so stupid as to consider myself a recruiting expert, and try to project how much a kid will contribute by time he leaves Pullman, but the recruiting front is the first thing I want to look at today.
Yesterday, four new football players enrolled at WSU. But that article says three Lucas, clearly you are an incompetent fool.
Not so fast, as the great (err, foolish) Lee Corso likes to say.
In addition to Linemen Denzell Dotson, K Michael Bowlin, and RB Teondray Caldwell, former Curtis HS (Tacoma) DB/WR/KR Rahmel Dockery has made his long awaited debut in the classroom. Glad to see Dockery didn’t let the Clearinghouse (or whatever the hell they go by nowadays) deter this young man from persuing his dream.
I could see Dockery competing immediately at CB for playing time as the 2012 class has yet to reel in an officially graded CB, and we aren’t too deep on the current roster with CB talent. I would also imagine there will be a fierce challenge between Dock and Henry Eaddy to be our Punt Returner. Hopefully our PR in 2012 will do more than just waive for fair catches.
One day into class and Dock is already Tweeting that he has come down with Strep Throat. When I replied and told him “just wait for Pink Eye,” he said “Pink Eye? SMH. Heeeckk noo hahaha im NOT getting that.”
For those of you not on Twitter, “SMH” is anagram for shaking my head. Thanks to Scout Analyst Jake Worthern for these pics! If you don’t follow Jake, I highly recommend doing so. In the decade I’ve read Cougfan, there hasn’t been as good of an unbiased, honest, in-depth, analyst who provides as much content on Washington prospects as Jake.
In addition to Dock, it appears we have solved our kick off depth issues.
Michael Bowlin originally enrolled at Oregon, and comes to us after spending the last two seasons at Saddleback JC in southern California. Bowlin has a monster leg and is highly respected by World Renowned Kicking Coach Chris Sailer.
Teondray Caldwell is a 5’10”, 185 lb RB coming to us after originally committing to Nevada; but he never enrolled. His current stature makes him the tallest scholarship RB on our roster. I believe he has 5 to play 4.
Finally, Dotson has graduated early from Cactus (AZ) High School and will join either the OL or DL. Dotson was a OG (that’s Offensive Guard, not Original Gangster), but recently told Cougfan “I’m not sure where I’ll line up, wherever they want to put me is fine. But I think they’re going to give me snaps at center but keep me at guard.”
Moving on, it appears this weekend is going to be a barn burner for Official Visits in Pullman, as Cougfan is reporting that 8 guys will be making the trek to Pullman. Only one on that list is a solid verbal right now, the other, RB Thelon West is a soft verbal, although it looks as though he will wind up in C&G when all is said and done.
In addition to West and WR Brett Bartolone, highly touted CB/WR Gabriel Marks, WR Jaydon Mickens, and WR Robert Lewis will be in town. So will Bellevue HS OL Jake Eldrenkamp (who has narrowed his choices to WSU and UW), as well as another OL, a CB and a LB.
Despite how deep our current roster is at WR, Coach Leach wasn’t joking when he told Seattle Times readers in an online chat last week, “You can never have too many of those guys.”
In addition to the aforementioned names and visitors, the Cougs have shot up the list for the 43rd ranked WR Kenny Lawler. According to a recent Cougfan report, Lawler now has WSU in his Top 3, after narrowing his list (which also includes Oregon St and Oklahoma St). He also holds offers from UCLA, UW, ASU, Cal, Michigan State, Arizona, Nebraska and SMU. According to the report, WSU wasn’t even in the mix for Lawler’s services just two weeks ago!
Ahh, the power of Mike Leach!
I am not going to even attempt to look at our current scholarship math. Not only do I have better things to do with my time, but you never know how many players on the current roster will stick around after Spring Ball. Whether they get buried on the depth chart and leave in search of more playing time or don’t make grades, it’s too much of a moving target right now. Another factor that will impact how many guys we take is how many members of the current class will opt to Grayshirt.
Mike Leach took 33 guys in his final class at Texas Tech. Here is to a successful and exciting finish to Leach’s first class at Wazzu!
Just an FYI, if you haven’t attended A Night With Cougar Football in the past, I highly recommend you do this season. It’s unprecedented access to the program we love, and is worth every one of the 10,000 Pennies it costs to register. If you would like more information, please visit the official athletics website.
My final stop on the day will be a note that I want to pass along on our new Defensive Coordinator. By now, I am sure you have read all the various reports on Mike Breske. If not, you can scope them, here, here, here, and here. So much for my “I don’t have that much time” comment.
The notes I have on Breske actually come from my Cousin Tom, who is a lifelong Montanan, and avid follower of football in that state. Cousin Tom is my dad’s cousin, and I haven’t seen him in years, so an unsolicited email about Breske when he was still only a rumored candidate caught me off guard.
“Breske’s good. All UM had last year was defense for the first nine games. We, MSU, were favored by 10 and at home and they just shut us down and had us confused. The UM players all gave him all the credit for getting them prepped. MSU came in averaging 35 pts and close to 500 yds a game. Held us to 10 and 250. Very aggressive. He could bring a good asst with named Ty Gregorak. I think he’s a good match for Leach. He’s done well every where he’s been. Beat them Dawgs!”
Even Montanans dislike the UW, I love it. Have a great day! Go Cougs.
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