Good morning and Happy Hump Day, Cougs! It’s good to be back in the saddle after being sick somehow prevented me from typing last week (this blogging stuff is tough, you know). By my count, we are now a mere 10 weeks away from the Spring Game at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane. How excited am I about this? Let’s go with “opening the mail and finding a package from Bridgeport” excited, nay “watching Lucas and Longball shotgun beer” excited, nay “Sutra adding a new wife to the harem” excited. I’m so excited, in fact, that I will be busting out one of my favorite methods of counting down to a big event: the advent calendar. Instead of opening a little door and getting mediocre chocolate, though, you get open This Here Blog every Wednesday and read mediocre posts that loosely use some sort of countdown theme. Let’s be honest, I just like gimmicks and using a countdown gives me a finite number of things to have to think about, which is for the best. For this week, in honor of there being 10 weeks left until the Big Game, I offer to you the 10 players I am most looking forward to seeing at Joe Albi on April 21. After that scintillating intro, you must be on pins and needles, so just click that “Read More” button already, would ya?
Being that we’ve been in the nickname game around here lately, I was also going to assign each of those 10 guys a shiny new nickname, but at least 7 of them would have sounded like something Chris Berman would come up with and I only want to have something in common with Chris Berman in the grotesquely overpaid department so I scrapped that plan. Instead, I’m throwing the gauntlet out to one of my Twitter followers, @cpsands023, to come up with nicknames. He astutely pointed out after the Bridgeport Pumped-O-Meter post that 2012 recruit Sam Jones looks like a larger version of former Coug Greg Trent and we coined the nickname “Giant Greg Trent” for him. That, friends, is how you become a special guest nickname assigner. I expect greatness, @cpsands023 (or at the very least pointing out who guys look like and throwing an adjective in front of it). Am I rambling? I think I’m rambling. Let’s get on with this thing. The 10 players I’m most looking forward to watching at the Crimson and Gray game 2012.
10. Henry Eaddy – Even though nothing has really happened to warrant referring to it as an era, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Henry Eaddy era. From the time he committed, Henry has been super gung ho about being a Coug and for some reason he’s the only player that generates an email from Cougfan every time he’s mentioned in an article of theirs so he’s a pretty big deal. Now he gets to play in an offense that is seemingly a perfect fit for his prodigious skills. Prodigious! Yeah, I said it.
9. Dominique Williams – I’m looking forward to watching him play, but I’m more looking forward to seeing the glorious head of hair in person. If he doesn’t look like Kid circa “House Party 2”, I’m going to be thoroughly disappointed.
8. Xavier Cooper – You’re probably thinking, “Ol’ Huddy is going to make some sort of ‘Hangin with Mr. Cooper’ joke here” and you’re absolutely right! I mean, I just did it with that last sentence. For serious, though, I’m curious to see how big Cooper is and where he lines up. If he’s somehow managed to get really huge, will he be a tackle? Or does he fit the mold of an ideal 3-4 end? And when will he find time to coach high school basketball in Oakland?
7. Darryl Monroe – Dude looked like the real deal before going down with an injury last season. With the losses of CJ Mizell and Louis Bland, Monroe figures to be in the mix for a starting linebacker spot. I hope to see Darryl healthy and flying around.
6. Spencer Waseem – My reasoning is basically the same as with Monroe. The difference here is that it would feel like an even bigger boost if Waseem can step in and play well given the lapses that our secondary had last year. I actually like Simmons, Washington and Horton quite a bit and look for them to step up as well, but Waseem will feel shiny and new again. The more talent that can be rotated in there, the better.
5. Andrew Furney – I always get a kick out of seeing Andrew Furney. Kick! Get it?
4. Sekope Kaufusi – Not only is he a critical member of the “Hair Raid Defense”, in a football sense, I can see our guy Sekope filling some sort of Swiss Army Knife role in Coach Breske’s D. Blitz as an outside backer? Sure! Middle linebacker? Why not? Defensive end? OK, maybe a little. Cut the oranges for halftime? You bet! Kaufusi is another guy that falls into that mix of players I’m intrigued to see how they are used by the new staff.
3. Marquess Wilson – Sure, this one’s obvious, but look folks, he’s the best player we have and – gulp – we may be heading into the last season of watching him in the Crimson and Gray. Let’s soak it all in while we can.
2. RG5 – For those that don’t know, RG5 is the WSU Football Blog name for running back/rap star/soon to be all purpose Air Raidin’ super duper star Rickey Galvin. I hope Mike Leach loves the idea of using this kid in his offense as much as I do. I see him catching a lot of balls and making a lot of dudes look silly in space.
1. Jeff Tuel – Just call me Captain Obvious, folks, but let’s take a look back to last year when we were gearing up for the 2011 version of WSU Football. Whether in the spring or in the fall, the dude that everyone was excited about was our quarterback (the non red-headed one). We all know how that turned out with a season lost to injury and the out-of-nowhere rise of Connor Halliday. I’m fine with these guys competing for the starting job, but I fully expect Tuel to win it and we can all go back to being excited about what a tremendous player and leader the Cougs have. I also want to see Halliday healthy and slingin’ it, but for now I’m a proud member of Team Tuel.
There are already rumblings around the WSU Football Blog offices (read, email) of a return tailgate engagement at Joe Albi. As plans come together, we’ll be sure to let you know. We are men of the people and love getting the chance to meet our loyal readers. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen my forehead or Longball’s beard in person.
Go Cougs!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
