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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Our late Thursday WSU post


COUGARS

A quick evening post, as WSU's Thursday practices don't have any hitting and are mostly spent getting the game plan down pat. Besides, the players and coaches are off limits. But we have a couple things to share.
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• With all the changes this week, some planned – like the quarterback situation – and some unplanned – like Jeshua Anderson's decision to quit football – the depth chart for Saturday has changed. Everyone who reads this blog knows Marshall Lobbestael will start at quarterback. That's a given. Kevin Lopina is listed as the No. 2, but Jeff Tuel took a lot more snaps this week. ... James Montgomery has yet to practice this week, but he will play Saturday, though coach Paul Wulff said Thursday Dwight Tardy will get the start. ... Brian Danaher is listed as the starter at left guard, but there's a good chance Steven Ayers, the starter the first two weeks at left tackle, will play some guard and Tyson Pencer will man the tackle spot. ... Jared Karstetter was not feeling well Thursday and didn't practice, but is expected to be ready for Saturday. ... On the defensive side, Casey Hamlett is listed as the left end starter but I wouldn't be surprised of Dan Spitz goes at that spot. Jesse Feagin, a valued defensive end reserve, missed his second consecutive practice with the flu. Of course, starter Kevin Kooyman is still out with his knee injury. ... Andy Mattingly was moving better with his deep thigh bruise, but Louis Bland is ready to go as needed. Mattingly has practiced off-and-on this week. ... Eric Block earned praise from Wulff on Thursday and I'll second that. The sophomore safety had his best week of practice I've seen him have in three years.

• We've mentioned it before, but Reid Forrest leads the Pac-10 in punting, with a 47-yard average and two over 60 already. Nico Grasu finished practice Thursday by nailing four of five field goal attempts from varying lengths. He also works on his accuracy during Thursday practices by putting the ball on the back end line of the endzone in the far right corner and aiming at the goal posts' narrow uprights. He hits them more than you might think. Grasu worked on his kickoffs Thursday and may replace Pat Rooney on Saturday. One of Grasu's kickoffs went at least 5 yards into the end zone. ... The two captains for this week: Lobbestael and senior linebacker Jason Stripling, who has emerged as a team leader after playing sparingly the past four years. The captains are chosen each Wednesday after practice by the team Unity Council.

• One thing Cougfan and the rest of the Scout web sites do extremely well is keep track of high school players and their commitments. The Cougars received their 11th verbal commitment this week – safety Tyrone Duckett from Alemeda, Calif. – the most early commitments at this point they've had since the website has been keeping track. ... A couple of those early commitments are four-star tight end Aaron Dunn of Mead High – the first commit of 2010 – and three-star quarterback Connor Halliday of Ferris. Those two squared off this evening at Spokane's Albi Stadium and Wulff was there to watch, though he couldn't say anything about it. But we do happen to have our connections in Spokane and we know he was there.

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• That's it for tonight. We'll be back in the morning. Until then …



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

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