Martin Stadium, Rising & Grinding
Happy Friday Cougs, as we roll into the end of another week/month/quarter/etc. Yep, it's the last Friday in June for 2013, and in just a few days the calendar flips to July (can you believe it??). It's gonna be a nice warm stretch of weather around the great NW too, so, get out and enjoy it! We're still working on plans for the big holiday weekend next week, not exactly sure what that will entail but it will likely involve 1) sun, 2) fireworks, 3) adult beverages, and 4) water, like a lake or a pool of some kind. So there you go.
Speaking of water, this last winter was tough on the old RV. We absorbed some H2O damage due to some poorly patched roof areas and a less-than-adequate tarp covering the roof, and needed to replace a lot of the ceiling areas due to some leakage. But we got it all fixed up and now she's up and running! And that means that we really want to roll out a tailgate this fall, for a chance to eat and drink and enjoy some Coug football with YOU and yours.
We will put all the details together later, but we are hopeful for one of the September home games as a likely tailgate opportunity. Oh, and if you happen to have an RV pass just laying around? Let's talk.
Moving on to some quick links…
As part of the onslaught of preview season this time of year, the Cougs were ranked in something…and we weren't LAST! I know, right!? PacificTakes.com rated the top WR units in the Pac-12, and the Cougs were rated as the fourth best group out of the entire conference. NICE.
And it's hard not to agree with their "take" on WSU's wideouts, easily the deepest unit on the team and yeah, you know they DO deserve to be rated in the upper half of the conference. Even without Marquess Wilson, the quantity and quality is there.
And now, for some not-so-great rankings from the same site, PacificTakes.com – recruiting rankings (hat tip to Cougcenter for the link). The list has some pretty good hits (Andy Mattingly, Michael Bumpus and Tyron Brackenridge), and, well, some misses (Terry Mixon and Randy Estes for starters). I guess it's just the reality of what helped contribute to WSU's current state of affairs, where we are still in dig-out mode from recruiting misses along the way? I know every school has their "list" of hyped guys who never made an impact, and even Athlon's runs an article every year in their annual preview mag where they review the top recruits from four years ago. That list of even the national recruits has about half of them as major hits, but, also about half of them as huge misses with guys who basically did nothing at the college level.
But that's all in the past, and there's no use crying in our Coug mugs over it. All I know now is that this current set of coaches are doing a good job in bringing in fresh talent to fit their schemes, and the new/updated facilities are going to go a long way in helping build out a deeper, stronger program from top to bottom.
Speaking of Athlon's, they rolled out their top Pac-12 Heisman candidates for 2013. Some usual names are sitting atop the list (Marcus Mariota, Ka'Deem Carey, De'Anthony Thomas and Marqise Lee for example), but hey, they even listed a COUG in their list!
19. Connor Halliday, QB, Washington State
Year No. 2 under Mike Leach has to better than Year No. 1, right?
Just good enough for the top 20, but who knows if Halliday will even be the guy by the end of September? But beyond just the Coug angle, I think overall the list was a good reminder for the amount of talent that will be coming back for the 2013 season in the conference. It's going to be a strong, tough grind of a Pac-12 this year, no doubt about it.
Alright, that's it for now. Enjoy what looks to be a warm weekend around the great NW, and of course, GO COUGS!
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