Rambling Through a Thursday

“You got what you want CoHagen. Give those people air!”

—Yes, I’m stealing from Ted Miller and his penchant for opening some of his posts with movie lines. But you’ll see why in a moment.

Some odds-n-ends to tie up on a Thursday.

First off, ESPN’s own Bruce Feldman stopped by a pretty cool site called inthebleachers.net for some podcast-action analysis of the SEC and PAC-10. Yes, he talks Cougs, and yes, he thinks the they will absolutely stink. What, did you expect he LOVES US in ’09?? I’m not even sure we love “us” in ’09….

Anyway, the WSU stuff is towards the end of the interview. Still worth a listen (and thanks to Adam Nettina, a former colleague at AOL Fanhouse, for the tip).

A big-time camp is underway at WSU. Cougfan’s report claims over 500 high schoolers are in Pullman for a four-day, full-contact football camp. Per the report, some pretty good names have come out of this thing:

Last year, Justin Clayton, Chris Mastin and Aaron Dunn earned scholarship offers after impressive sessions in Pullman and/or verbally committed to the Cougs.

Mastin and Clayton are part of WSU’s incoming class of freshman and Dunn, a senior-to-be at Spokane’s Mead High, will be in the 2010 class.

Other notables over the years who attended the WSU camp and then went on to suit up for the Cougs include Marcus Trufant, Erik Coleman, Brandon Gibson, Mkristo Bruce, Rien Long and Will Derting.

Certainly bears watching to see what, if any, recruiting news comes out on the other side of this thing?

I know this broke a few days ago, but Ferris High QB Connor Halliday gave his pledge to Paul Wulff Friday last week. Halliday is regarded by some as a bit of a late bloomer, but has some decent tools to work with. Already 6-foot-5 and full of muscle (wasn’t “6-foot-4 and full of muscle” a lyric from Men at Work?? Anyone? Reep, you out there?). Well, OK, not exactly full of muscle. More like skin and bones. He’s listed at 180 lbs, so he’s got room to add the right kind of weight.

While Cougfan and Scout.com like him a bit, giving him the three-star treatment, ESPN.com? Not so much. They do break down with some good scouting details, including their analysis of his three-quarters delivery that could cause him some issues down the line. But to summarize:

Overall, Halliday is an adequate prospect with redeeming qualities and may be a better fit for the lower level non-BCS conferences.

Ouch. Or, maybe he’s really good, but it’s all part of an elaborate anti-redhead campaign?

Nah, probably not. We’ve already got a redheaded QB in place in Lobbestael, and that’s working out just fine. Oh, and there’s video from the ESPN.com story, although it’s shot from about 10,000 feet away from the action. Anyway, he is still several years from seeing the field at the next level, so anything can happen. Maybe he hits the weights, adds a few inches and suddenly he’s 6-7, 240 and throwing 95 MPH fastballs down the middle of the field?

Speaking of which, aren’t we all just a little guilty of declaring verbal commits this early as either hits or misses? All these verbals that are coming in, I mean these guys haven’t even played their senior year in high school yet.

I know, I know, it’s a new age, and the early commit is THE thing to do. But man, it seems like getting the commits this early might actually work against some schools? Is it enough time to really analyze a kid? I know some are slam dunk, can’t-miss types, but it seems like the early commit can lead to more misses that hits. But God knows we missed on kids we got late as well, so it can go either way. But hmm, maybe Doba was right after all with his disdain towards the early commits?

Finally, one last thing to lighten up your day…wait for it….

Maybe you’ve seen this already, but, how about the top 100 movie lines in 200 seconds!?

So many ways to go. Some great choices, some, not-so-much. Just one line from Caddyshack? No “how about a Fresca?” They couldn’t include “it looks good on you though”? And nothing from Fletch!??!? Unreal. Still, a little something for everyone.

ENJOY your Thursday, and as always, GO COUGS!