Coug Roundup

• A lot of good pub lately from the newest WSU QB commit, QB Cody Clements from La Habra high school in La Habra, CA.  Clements just led his team to a passing camp title over the weekend, and looked great doing it as they won 25-24.  As Cougfan reported yesterday, Clements’ coach threw around some praise for the young man, stating:

  “Clements threw fantastic. Those colleges who were border line on him missed out. He can make all the throws,” said Frank Mazzotta.

  Most of you have seen the video on Clements, but if you haven’t, here it is again:

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtgFcgPums8&w=400&h=340]

  It isn’t hard to see some of this anyway and not be excited.  You don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself, after all it’s only JULY.  A lot can happen between now and signing day.  But the kid looks like he has some moxie, I guess, is the best way to say it.  Maybe the lack of offers are based on the measurables, or in Clements’ case, lack thereof?  He’s about 6-1 1/2, 190 right now.  He’s well put together and looks strong, not exactly like an Alex Brink, who showed up in Pullman as a frosh looking like a cross-country runner.  But he might have some room at add a little more size and strength without losing his mobility. 

  
  

  
  He doesn’t blow you away with his frame, and might not have the 90-mph fastball that makes the scouts drool.  But he does move well, with a lot of his throws on those designed rollouts and such.  But there are some good ones who have come through the NCAA who didn’t have the arm and height of a Peyton Manning, and they did just fine, thanks.  I don’t know, but the kid just makes plays, racks up impressive stats, and oh yeah, his team WINS games.  Sounds good to me!  Moving on….

• NCAA ’11 drops tomorrow.  HOORAY videogame dorks!  LucasCoug and I will be getting together later this week to get our game on, and we’ll give you an uncensored review after we have a little time with it.  I’ve been playing the demo quite a bit, and the game is looking considerably better than last year’s version.  Speaking of NCAA ’11, a screenshot has come out showing WSU’s top seven players:
  

  Let’s see, looks like, in order, the best overall players are Steven Ayers (#78), Jared Karstetter (#84), Alex Hoffman-Ellis (#43), James Montgomery (#21), Chima Nwachukwu (also #21), Chris Prummer (#57), and Micah Hannam (#76). 

  Not to get crazy over this….it is a videogame…..but you wonder where the likes of Travis Long, Kevin Kooyman, Jeff Tuel, Gino Simone, Brandon Rankin, etc, all rank in this?  Chris Prummer is a nice backup at center, but wouldn’t you put Andrew Roxas, the projected starter, ahead of him?  Hmm.

  EA Sports has also made some good Martin Stadium updates, which is cool.  They added the end zone changes to the Stadium Way side of Martin, and the new scoreboard has been added (scroll down a bit to the Martin Stadium section):

  

  

• Ted Miller is rolling out his “Best Case/Worst Case” series on Pac-10 teams, and guess who’s first?  WSU.  Now, the Best Case/Worst Case is NOT a prediction, but rather a look at what the best – and worst – that we could likely expect from WSU this year.  Miller’s best case?  5-7.  Worst case?  1-11, injuries everywhere, Wulff resigns.  Your basic nightmare from a Coug POV.

• One last thing from Cougfan – on their latest Seen-n-Heard column, they update the Seattle game idea with a quote from Bill Moos:

  TURNING TO FOOTBALL, MOOS said the idea of bringing Oregon or Oregon State to Qwest Field to play the Cougars, perhaps as soon as 2011, was gaining steam until the Pac-10 expansion process put everything on hold.  “We’ve been in discussions with the people at Qwest. We were ready to make a move — but then the conference expanded so we’ve got to take a time out here for a couple months,” said Moos.
  

  We have all heard some of these details lately, that Moos was confident a Pac-10 game was coming to Qwest.  And you can bet that once the dust settles, they will firm it all up (and Oregon is still the likely opponent).  But if you were wondering why no announcement yet, well, they need to let things come together post-expansion, specifically in regards to divisonal alignment, before they can make it official.

• Oh, and the picture of the Cougar above?  It’s none other than the Cougar in the bar in Hills Resort, in fantastic Priest Lake, Idaho! 

All for now.  Enjoy your Monday, and GO COUGS!