It was a good show out of the gates for this year, with a lot of positive, optimistic (mostly) views from Paul Wulff. Read on for the bullet-point style recap, as we hit on the best things to take from the first show of the year….
To get things started on our end, here’s the deal – we’ve done this kind of thing for the last few years now, but in the past I’ve tend to run a bit long on these things. I promise that won’t happen this year. But while whomever of us actually does the radio show recaps, just know that we will do our best to pass on the most relevant things from the show, that much we can promise you! So with that, here we go:
Of course, Bud Nameck in the big boy host chair, another year strapped in and ready to go in guiding coach Wulff. Nameck does an excellent job, by the way, and deserves the accolades thrown his way.
- Leading off, Nameck of course asked him about the first game of the year. Wulff said they “are excited at the opportunity to go down to Oklahoma State and play our hardest”, you know, usual coach speak. He said it will be tough, but that they are excited and Wulff “can’t wait” to get down there and get started on the 2010 season! More on OK State later….
- Nameck directed the show towards positional type previews, that sort of thing, so they started talking right away about the QB’s. Nameck brought up the idea of last year, they really wanted to give Marshall Lobbestael at least a series or two, even after Jeff Tuel became the starter. Is that going to be the case this year? “No, that isn’t the plan right now” Wulff said. “We just want to win games, and if it takes Jeff Tuel taking every snap, then that’s the way we’ll go about it.” Not any shocker here, this has been Jeff Tuel’s team all along, but there appears to be absolutely no plan in place to give Lobbestael a set amount of playing time.
Anyway, Nameck asked what they are seeing out of Tuel right now. Wulff said “Jeff is bigger and stronger this year, now after a full year in the program, and we really like what he can do for us. Jeff has all the right “stuff” to be extremely successful at the quarterback position.” There is no doubt that from hearing Wulff talk, they really do BELIEVE in Tuel! I know I’ve been saying it all along, that I cannot wait to see what kinds of strides he takes this year, but there is every reason to think that Tuel is going to lead these guys back into, well, relevancy I guess is the best way to put it.
- In talking about the running backs, Wulff is just so pleased with the progress shown by James Montgomery. Everyone knows the story, where not only could Montgomery have lost his leg last year, he was even in a life-threatening situation with compartment syndrome of his calf! But Wulff and the rest of the staff are excited to get James back on the field where he belongs. Wulff also touched on the fact that they actually have some really good depth this year, with some seniors in the mix like Monty and Chantz Staden. But WOW, are they excited about Rickey Galvin!
You could hear it in Wulff’s voice, but they are really, really excited about what’s to come with young Rickey. While he’s not a huge guy at 5-8, 172, Wulff says he “has it all. Smart, strong, tough, fast, he’s got a chance to be a really SPECIAL player at Washington State!” And Galvin has earned his spot on the depth chart, and without question, “he will play” according to Wulff. - They talked about the offensive line a bit, and Wulff said there are some “extremely athletic, exciting, young players on the line, as athletic and versatile as maybe any line that has ever come through Washington State”. Wulff did have good things to say about the new JC guys, David Gonzales and Wade Jacobson. While they didn’t get overly specific, Wulff did say that in “3-4 years, people are going to have a very different perspective when it comes to line play at WSU, and the type of line we are going to have will be considerably better than what we have seen recently”. John Fullington is a guy that has everyone excited, and he had a very good camp. But it wasn’t just Fullington, but Wulff just has a very strong belief that the line is going to take a big step forward.
- Speaking of taking a big step forward, Bud asked what would be different with the team this year. Wulff said “we have more depth. We are bigger, stronger and faster than we’ve been since I’ve been here, and that will show itself out on the football field.” He repeated the bigger, stronger faster mantra a couple of times, and so it’s clear they are fully believing that the talent level has taken a step forward with this year’s team.
- In talking about the wideouts, Wulff was quick to praise the youngsters. Marquess Wilson had a great camp, and they are very excited for what he brings to the table with his physical skill set and abilities. But Kristoff Williams played extremely well this camp as well, until the turf toe injury slowed him down a bit. They really like both Wilson and Williams, as well as Blair Bomber, and Wulff said “They are going to do some really great things at WSU”.
- On defense, they talked about the defensive line. Wulff said that they are really happy with the front four, but, “they have to now go out and show it in games.” It didn’t sound like a challenge, but, you kind of get the sense that maybe he was calling them out a little bit? Wulff did say that “With Kevin Kooyman back healthy, and both Brandon Rankin and Bernard Wolfgramm, we have some age and experience for the first time” and that is really going to give them a boost. Add in Travis Long, and you have the makings of a very good front four. Wulff mentioned Sekope Kaufusi, Anthony Laurenzi, Justin Clayton, and even Steven Hoffart as guys who will play as backups, and that overall, “we feel we finally have some good depth” on the defensive line. Speaking of Wolfgramm, Wulff pointed out that for the first time in two years, Wolfgramm is actually HEALTHY for the first time, and that he could be a big boost up front! People forget but Wolfgramm has battled injuries for the better part of two years, so it will be interesting to see how he does as a healthy senior, and, with some decent players around him as well.
- Wulff sounded optimistic on the linebackers as well. He mentioned the starters like Myron Beck, Mike Ledgerwood and Alex Hoffman-Ellis, as well as the strength of their backups in Hallston Higgins, Darren Markle and Arthur Burns. But Wulff was sad that they will be missing Louis Bland for this year. However, he really did rave about Hoffman-Ellis. He said “It’s hard to believe he’s only been playing football for THREE years (high school senior, one year of JC ball, then last year at WSU).” Bud mentioned that Hoffman-Ellis was really a basketball player early on, and when he came to WSU, he had “basketball player arms”. But Bud said “I saw him out at practice this fall, and I said “You don’t have basketball player arms anymore!”
Wulff said “Alex has definitely put on a lot of muscle, and he’s now up over 240 pounds. And he can run so well. We like that we were able to move him outside (to weakside), where now he can use his speed more effectively and actually play sideline to sideline, which is his strength.” Personally, as much as I’m excited to see Jeff Tuel’s improvement on offense? I can’t WAIT to see what Hoffman-Ellis looks like out on the edge on defense!
- In the secondary, Wulff talked up the newfound depth with young players like Nolan Washington, Anthony Carpenter, etc. He was saddened by the loss of Leandre Daniels, but said “the worst thing about Daniels is that he has lost the ability to play football, but that’s really ALL he’s lost in this. He still has a lot ahead of him.” But Wulff did say that there are some other youngsters they are really excited about, especially when talking about Deone Bucannon and Damante Horton. Wulff said both Bucannon and Horton have really opened some eyes this camp, and they look like they could be something else in the near future.
And, according to Wulff, Nolan “did practice today, he made it through practice. We are hopeful he’ll be ready to play on Saturday.” As you may recall, Nolan Washington has been slowed recently by a hip injury, but if he was able to practice then things might be improving in the health department.
- Special teams will be much better this year, according to Wulff. “We have more depth and you’ll see improvement with our coverage units, and this is the best we have been with our special teams.” Ah, yes, special teams – so easily overlooked, but sooooo important. Think back to the OK State game in ’08, and some huge breakdowns in special teams play that cost WSU any legit shot in that game. Granted OK State was probably going to win anyway, but the special teams breakdowns by WSU made things that much worse on the Cougs that day.
- More on Oklahoma State – Wulff said that they have watched a lot of tape on the Houston Cougars, the program where Dana Holgorson, the new OK State OC, used to run the offense. He said that it really is a version of the Texas Tech offense, as Holgorson comes from that coaching tree. Wulff said the offense is “Sort of a safer, ball-control offense only it’s through the air, with quick, high-percentage passes. And their goal every week is that they want to run 100 offensive plays, it’s just what they do.” When asked about defending them, Wulff said that they believe they will be better prepared to face an offense like that this year compared to years past. For example vs. Hawaii last year, they had lost Kevin Kooyman prior to the game, and “we lost our ability to get pressure on the opposing QB without Kooyman. When that happened, we just couldn’t defend them properly.” But overall, they feel they are better up front and have much more depth, speed and athleticism defensively than in year’s past.
- Bud asked about Oklahoma State’s defense, and he pointed out that other than a couple of starters, OK State is really starting over on D. Bud asked about the excellent safety Markelle Martin and defensive end Ugo Chinasa, probably the two best players on D, along with senior linebacker Orie Lemon. Bud said that even though they are young, the word on OK State’s D is that they are “among the fastest defenses Oklahoma State has ever had.” But they are young. Six first-time starters will make their debut on Saturday, and both starting corners – Andrew McGee and Brodrick Brown – both made just one start last year. Overall on both sides of the ball, OK State will be starting 12 first-time starters on Saturday. Anyway, Wulff said “When we played them two years ago, we were very impressed just by how they looked. But they have some good looking young players, and we’ll be seeing many of them on Saturday”.
- Finally, Wulff said this: “Whether we come out and play really well on Saturday and get a win, or if we play good and come up short with a loss, it is still just one game. We are going to keep improving every week and work hard to get better, every single week.”
Not exactly inspiring, that last part, but it’s true – it is just one game. And again, we can’t forget where this program was just a year or so ago. Yeah, it’s ground that has been covered beyond belief, but it is still something to consider when you watch on Saturday.
I guess that’s about it for this week. Oh, one more thing – Joe Nickell posted the Paul Wulff press conference for this week, which you can see here (very cool by the way, to actually get video highlights of his weekly presser!):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbG_OgL97ZU&w=400&h=250]Enjoy your humpday, and as always, GO COUGS!
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