Good morning, Cougs! Another new week is upon us and this one is a doozie. For those of you scoring at home, this is the last week this year that we will not have real honest-to-goodness Cougar football to talk about. With fall camp opening this coming Sunday, welcome to “Go Time”, folks. No longer is everything hypothetical or speculative. It’s time to deal with the concrete. Which of those guys on the academic bubble are in camp? Did the offseason weight program pay dividends and how much? All our questions will start to be answered in less than seven days. I am fired up. How fired up? I’m 13-year-old girl at a Bieber concert fired up (or in the interest of full disclosure, I’m Tim Huddleston at a Bieber concert fired up). This is my first fall camp writing at this here blog, but I’ll try to not go overboard with how good the team looks. Realistically, it’s difficult to glean too much about how the team will look from camp. That is to say, if the offense looks great, it’s against our defense and vice versa. I tend to focus more on individual performances and for that reason the opening of camp is still a big deal. There are a few things that I’ll be watching very closely…
I mentioned it earlier, but the academic bubble has me highly concerned and it should be one of the first issues resolved. Specifically, I’m looking for three players: Toni Pole, Brandon Rankin and Rahmel Dockery. If Pole and Rankin are both out, consider my optimism seriously damaged. Depth at defensive tackle is a little bit iffy to begin with. Take away two of the best three players at the position and…yikes, I just peed my pants a little. Even though I’d love to see all the incoming freshmen arrive in Pullman with no issues, I’m especially hoping for Dockery. Even if he doesn’t contribute this year, it’s huge that he remains a part of the program. I’d hate to see the win we got on Signing Day turn into a loss in the fall. Recent history has conditioned me to bad news this time of year so let’s just say I’m not optimistic. How about a pleasant surprise for the first time in a while? Can we get one of those?
On the position battle front, there honestly isn’t a ton of intrigue for me. The secondary should be fun to track as there figures to be a good deal of competition, but even once four starters are named, I expect that those behind them will still play key roles as the season goes on. If there’s a single position I’ll be monitoring closely, I’d have to say it’s middle linebacker. In a perfect world, C.J. Mizell will grab the position by the throat and dominate. In the real world, that may not happen. The problem for Mizell this season compared to last is that he won’t get the reward of playing on Saturdays should he get beat for the position. Last season, there weren’t many places to turn after Mizell so he could coast (allegedely, reportedly, whatever) during the week and play on Saturdays. If spring ball was any indication, a healthy Mike Ledgerwood will be right there to pick up the slack should Mizell falter. It’s a good problem to have from a fan’s perspective to know that there is a capable player ready to go, but the potential superstar needs to be the one to rise to the top.
One of my favorite things about fall camp (aside from the slightly creepy fascination with weights being released and seeing pictures of dudes) is hearing about the new guys. We’ve already gotten a glimpse of Henry Eaddy, Isiah Myers and Darryl Monroe, but now it’s time to get looks at the rest of the Class of 2011. Will Marcus Mason’s speed be as advertised? (The answer so far seems to be “yes”.) How big is Cody Clements now? Names like Paulo, Sua, Mayes, Waseem and Davis that were so important in February are now names of Washington State football players. We now get to find out what they can really do.
If there is one thing I can label as the “most important” item of fall camp, it’s the health of the offensive line. Come Sunday, the starters left-to-right figure to be David Gonzales-John Fullington-Andrew Roxas-BJ Guerra-Wade Jacobson. It is critical that at the end of fall camp, the starters are Gonzales-Fullington-Roxas-Guerra-Jacobson. They may miss a day here and there, but in my opinion thos five must be ready to roll when the Cougs kickoff against Idaho State. As excellent as Jeff Tuel and the weapons around him are, they will not be able to overcome continued deficiencies on the offensive line. If the line is constantly in flux or first time starters are asked to playing huge roles, those deficiencies will persist.
Not that I have much of a social life, but in six short days, whatever life I do have is going out the window. It’s almost football season, Coug fans.
Go Cougs.
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