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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Blog matters

A sampling from the past week of blog entries in The Spokesman-Review Sports department blog, SportsLink. See daily offerings at spokesman.com

/sportslink.

Cougars

Christian Caple

The Pac-12 released its early television schedule, and with it, three kickoff times for Washington State games this season.

They are:

• 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7 at USC (FOX Sports 1)

• 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31 vs. Arizona State (ESPN)

• 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29 at Washington (FOX)

• WSU’s Sept. 14 game against Southern Utah will be broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks, though no kickoff time has been announced yet.

I’ve seen some consternation over the fact that the Aug. 31 opener at Auburn hasn’t been selected for TV yet, but I wouldn’t read too much into that. Since it’s an SEC home game, the TV information will be dictated by the SEC and its television contracts, not by the Pac-12. So a kickoff time and/or TV listing should be available when the SEC announces its own TV schedule.

Commitments: Washington State picked up its fourth known verbal commitment of the 2014 recruiting class, as multiple outlets reported that receiver Zaire Andre of Inglewood, Calif., has said he will play for the Cougars.

He’s listed as a three-star prospect.

• Make it five known commitments for Washington State in the class of 2014, as multiple outlets reported Thursday that  Keith Harrington, a 5-foot-8, 165-pound prospect from St. Petersburg. Fla., has committed to play football at WSU.

Harrington plays running back for his high-school team but projects as an inside receiver for WSU.

Interestingly, the Scout.com story  noted that Andre committed without taking a visit to Pullman.

Vandals

Josh Wright

Eric Brown and Bam Hardmon have joined Paul Petrino’s staff at Idaho, replacing two former Vandals who left after spring practice ended.

Brown will be linebackers coach (a position held by Mike Anderson) and Hardmon will be defensive line coach (formerly Patrick Libey’s post).

Brown was with UI defensive coordinator Ronnie Lee at Indiana State. He played at Fresno State and is the son of the late Dan Brown, a longtime Bulldogs coach.

“He’s probably one of the greatest young minds in college football,” Petrino said in a release.

Hardmon played at Florida from 1999-2002 and spent last year at Charleston Southern. Petrino mentioned Hardmon’s “great connections” in Florida and the Southeast as a recruiter.

“Bam is a great young coach,” Petrino said. “He’s fiery, he’s excited and he relates well to the players.”