Top O’ the morning to you Coug Nation. Wow, Thursday already? A scrimmage tomorrow, a FanFest on Saturday, and next week = GAME WEEK. Wow, just wow. Look for an announcement from us in the next day most likely with some details for the Stanford game. Should be fun, we hope?
I wish there was some good news on the field right now. Now, obviously being young and thin is a good thing in today’s society….but not necessarily on the football field, know what I mean? We even like ’em thick and meaty along the offensive and defensive lines! But with Brandon Jones now officially hobbling about Pullman in a walking boot, trying to quickly heal from a sprained ankle, the Cougs’ secondary just got younger and thinner. Per Grippi, Chima Nwachukwu has now slid over to corner. While not exactly a surprise, given that Chima has floated back and forth between corner and safety since starting immediately as a true frosh in ’07, clearly he’s the one of the most experienced, versatile players in the secondary. It’s a logical move when you think about it.
But you can’t exactly like the sound of an injury already to Brandon Jones. Grippi has mentioned it a few times during camp, but in his words, Jones is “quite possibly the Cougars’ best cover corner”. It’s not like they are four-deep with five-star specials either. Earlier this week, coach Chris Ball broke the news that some of the exciting true frosh in the pipeline, Nolan Washington and Anthony Carpenter, would redshirt this year. Now? Who knows. If it’s a war of attrition, they may not have any choice but to play the kids.
And you hate to move your best option at one of the safety spots back to corner, where’s Chima is adequate but certainly not the best cover guy on the team. Then when you consider how much they are going to need Chima’s ability to make tackles roaming the secondary, while teaming up with Xavier Hicks? Combine all that with the deal that redshirt frosh Daniel Simmons and Terrance Hayward are going to play a LOT, but also have the “dnp” next to their names on the depth chart??
All I can say is I really, really hope the front seven comes to play against Stanford and that power running attack. If Toby Gerhart and company can get through the first wave of defense, it could get scary.
Some other quick things today:
LOTS of audio lately. The aforementioned Chima? He hopped on the air with Furness at KJR. Give it a listen here, it’s worth it. Chima talks about moving to corner, plus about Brandon Jones and James Montgomery, as well as “not buying in” to the coaches when they first arrived. A very honest and open interview. What a great kid, so check it out.
Co-DC and safeties coach Chris Ball did the same, talking to Furness on Tuesday. Ball broke the news that the two rising young corners in Washington and Carpenter would redshirt. Again, injury news can change plans in a hurry, and Nolan Washington sure has generated some good feelings……
But we’ll see.
Hey, WSU’s old ball coach Jimmy Walden hopped on – again – with Furness. God bless Jim Walden! Always entertaining, maybe a little homerish and rambling, but you have to respect the way he goes about his business. Very little BS with coach Walden, and it’s all right there on his sleeve for the world to see.
Nice work Furness! Always a Coug, he’s in the heart of the Husky mothership at KJR, fighting for Cougar Nation. Thanks Ian, as always.
Jim Moore of the P-I had this on the Cougs. Don’t be afraid to be optimistic? Really Jim? I heard Jim on KIRO earlier in the week and he didn’t sound real optimistic then. But there’s some good quotes from Wulff on what happened last year:
“Finding out details, if you knew, you’d understand,” Wulff said when I spoke to him earlier this week. “If you didn’t know, I could see why people would have opinions (like) ‘What the hell is going on?’ If you took the time to find out the truth, you’d understand.”
Finally, Grippi’s got a look at the younger, thinner secondary, so check that here.
That’s it for now. Enjoy your Thursday, and GO COUGS!
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