RISE and Shine

Greetings Cougs, and it’s a RISE and shine Monday for you.  And I emphasize RISE because I’ve now had TWO geek-gasms the last couple of weeks, as I’ve now seen the Dark Knight Rises twice, on IMAX even!  I know, I know, if you see a superhero movie twice in the theater, well, the word GEEK among many does come to mind.  But it’s a great flippin’ film, and an unbelievable close to the great Bruce Wayne story arc. 

Sadly, we all know there was a seriously disgusting tragedy surrounding this movie with that madman in Colorado.  And it was really hard to get too excited over a movie after that senseless act.  But all that said, I honestly hope you all can venture out and still take this thing in on the big screen with what’s left of this summer, because it is quite a ride (and I admit that my eyes defintely teared up on several occasions!).  And even with that horrible tragedy, the movie is doing well in theaters, now over 700 million worldwide ($733 million to be exact).  I won’t spoil anything for you, God knows there are enough spoilers out there online where you can seek that stuff out yourself, but just great work by Christopher Nolan on finishing out the trilogy.

That out of the way, let’s get to today’s links, shall we?

RG5 at wideout, wtf!?  Apparently Rickey Galvin worked out with the receivers during Sunday’s practice, per Joe Doyle at Cougfan.  The article is premium, but apparently RG5 worked exclusively with the wideouts.  I guess my first thought is “hmmm”.  I don’t quite get that one.  Not to suggest that Galvin couldn’t be a receiver, I mean you know a player with his skill set could probably excel at a slot position in this offense, getting the ball out in space and using his speed and moves in the open field.  But he just seems like such a great fit at running back, and showing quite a bit of skills at running back in his first full year last year (602 yards, 5 TD’s).  But Leach 1) loves to throw, and 2) loves to spread the wealth amongst his skill guys, so, maybe Galvin to WR just means more chances to make plays?  We’ll see how it plays out as we have several weeks left until camp, but still, hmmmm.

Christian Caple recaps yesterday’s practice here on his blog post.  No mention of RG5, but there was some good news on the O-line as Wade Jacobson and Jake Rodgers returned to practice.  Rico Forbes is hobbling right now, but it’s good to see Jacobson and Rodgers back in action up front.  And Leach sounded pleased with the effort yesterday, calling it “the best practice of camp so far”.  Caple also has the WSU official Youtube videos in his post from yesterday, with Mike Leach and Marquess Wilson on film.

So they are still putting the finishing touches on Martin Stadium.  One change that sounds small but looks pretty good is that they have outlined the midfield logo in white.  Check it:

Not really a huge deal, but it still looks better than it did last year.  Thanks to the Cougar Football Project Facebook page for the photo. 

And, unfortunately it doesn’t sound like we’ll see crimson endzones this year(!).  Even though it was said earlier by Bill Moos that they were going to do it for 2012, now it sounds as though they will wait one more year before going through with it.  With the next phase of Martin Stadium set to begin construction after this season (pending approval?), the word is that they will install brand new turf as part of the next phase.  And that is when they will finally get the crimson endzones!  But we’re not there yet. 

That’s it for now, but look for something from LucasCoug later today.  Enjoy your Monday morning and of course, GO COUGS!