Washington State football chat transcript - 11/8

srchat (Admin): Alright, thanks for joining everyone. I’ll be here for the next hour. What’s on your mind??? Nov 8, 10:01 AM GoCougs (Guest): The boa from Samoa is the greatest nickname in the history of our football program! Go Luvu! Nov 8, 10:02 AM srchat (Admin): Not “The Messiah” or “The Continent?” Nov 8, 10:02 AM Uncle Larry (Guest): What was the difference with Speed D against Stanford compared to Arizona? Nov 8, 10:04 AM srchat (Admin): The offensive scheme they had to defend against. Stanford’s done one thing all season - and they’ve done it really well - but not all that imaginative compared to what Arizona does with the RPO stuff. Nov 8, 10:04 AM Guest1047 (Guest): Chances of Dotson returning for the game this Saturday? Nov 8, 10:05 AM srchat (Admin): A chance, maybe. He’s been listed on the depth chart every week since the injury. This week, there’s an OR listed between he and Justus Rogers. Nov 8, 10:05 AM BigBallerBrand (Guest): You think my brand will take off after the news from China? Nov 8, 10:06 AM srchat (Admin): Sorry, LaVar. I think Klay has the China shoe market anchored. Nov 8, 10:06 AM socalcoug (Guest): Throwin Samoan! Nov 8, 10:06 AM srchat (Admin): Ah, another great one. Yeah, “Throwin Samoan” probably takes the cake actually… Nov 8, 10:08 AM Guest8618 (Guest): Feel like this was the game to get Luke over the hump and back to being more decisive in finding guys open? Nov 8, 10:09 AM srchat (Admin): Possible. Then again, I kind of thought Colorado was that game after the Cal loss. And no need to explain what happened in Arizona… Nov 8, 10:09 AM BigBallerBrand (Guest): you think the team is going to be focused on this road game in Utah? The past last years they have been playing great on the road but this year they have been pretty bad. Also this Utah team kind of reminds me of the AZ team in regards to mobile QB and running game. Nov 8, 10:11 AM srchat (Admin): I’d be surprised if focus was an issue. There’s a lot to play for this weekend. Tyler Huntley can run, but they won’t design as many keepers for him as Arizona does with Tate. Nov 8, 10:11 AM socalcoug (Guest): Pac 12 officials are horrible but I am guessing 10 reviews on Saturday? Any chance we just let the coaches have 2 challenges and keep the game moving? Nov 8, 10:14 AM srchat (Admin): 10 reviews? Let’s hope there aren’t 10. Would be nice to see the game move a little faster. Nov 8, 10:14 AM Guest5919 (Guest): Where do you see Falk and O’Connell going in the NFL draft? Also, any other potential prospects….? Maybe Morrow? Nov 8, 10:17 AM srchat (Admin): I think O’Connell goes before Falk. I know scouts are drooling over O’Connell’s size. I’d bet he goes in the top four rounds. Falk might, too. I think the scouts like Cole Madison, too. Not sure about Morrow, but I think he could find a way to be effective in the NFL if he had a chance. Nov 8, 10:17 AM Guest8618 (Guest): Haven’t seen much of Utah. We have to defend RPO again, or more of a traditional style from them on offense? Nov 8, 10:18 AM srchat (Admin): They’ll do a little bit of RPO, but they’re more traditional than Arizona. Definitely have to account for Tyler Huntley’s feet, though. Nov 8, 10:18 AM socalcoug (Guest): Do you think Luke dives next time for the marker instead of sliding? Nov 8, 10:19 AM srchat (Admin): Personally, I’ve never seen him dive. He either seems to slide, or just kind of fall down. Nov 8, 10:20 AM BigBallerBrand (Guest): Is Utah a hard place to come in and play for opposing teams? Nov 8, 10:21 AM srchat (Admin): I think it can get pretty rowdy, but I’m not sure it compares to Autzen if you’re talking pure crowd noise. Nov 8, 10:21 AM Not WSU 04 (Guest): How’d Riley Krenz look in Thursday night football? Nov 8, 10:22 AM srchat (Admin): Forgot to ask about him last week. Dang, I let you down… My bad. Nov 8, 10:22 AM Uncle Larry (Guest): Do we see any of Kieth this weekend if Gerard can’t go? Nov 8, 10:23 AM srchat (Admin): Possibly, but I’d guess they’d just stick to the strict two-man rotation like they’ve done much of the year. Nov 8, 10:23 AM Harvey__Road: IMO, Madison is a potential NFL prospect and I think Herc is leaving after this season and will change positions in the NFL due to size. Nov 8, 10:24 AM srchat (Admin): Agree with Madison. Regarding Herc, think he’ll definitely have to switch positions but I’m not sure he comes out this year. Granted, he’s looking more and more attractive as the season goes on… Nov 8, 10:24 AM Guest4113 (Guest): In your opinion, who starts at QB next year? It would appear that Hilinksi has a great chance, but may be too much of a gunslinger like Halliday. With Tinsley, Neville, and Cooper (not to mention Gordon and Bledsoe), could be a fun battle to watch!! Nov 8, 10:26 AM srchat (Admin): Until one of the others proves they can take the job, I’m going with Hilinski. Felt like there was a significant gap between Falk/Hilinski and the others during fall camp. We’ll see how Cooper looks, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t want to redshirt him. And I think Hilinski has a pretty high ceiling… Nov 8, 10:26 AM socalcoug (Guest): Liked Leach’s comment on targeting. Think a running back will ever be called for lowering their head to take on tackler? Nov 8, 10:27 AM srchat (Admin): I don’t. I think the rule was created to protect offensive players and you hardly ever see a skill player whistled for targeting. Leach did make some good points the other day. Nov 8, 10:27 AM Guest8618 (Guest): Any chance of Wicks playing? If not, does Harrington pick up those reps? Nov 8, 10:27 AM srchat (Admin): See above answer. Nov 8, 10:27 AM Guest1047 (Guest): I heard Leach mention in one of his interviews recently about how Falk had put on too much weight at one point, which I was surprised to hear. Leach thought that had affected his play a bit. Thoughts on that? Nov 8, 10:29 AM srchat (Admin): My takeaway is that he’d put some on during spring camp, then took it off before the fall. That was brought up a few times during fall camp. Leach seemed pretty content with the weight he came into the season at. Nov 8, 10:29 AM Uncle Larry (Guest): Which receiver has improved the most so far this season? Nov 8, 10:31 AM srchat (Admin): From the start of the season to now, probably Tay Martin. From last season to this season, I think most would say Renard Bell (even though he redshirted). Nov 8, 10:31 AM Guest4113 (Guest): How about a little basketball…? Is Ernie Kent coaching the basketball team next year? Just haven’t seen enough improvement in my mind. Nov 8, 10:34 AM srchat (Admin): Yep, gladly taking hoops questions if you have them. Well, here’s the thing. They don’t expect to have a new AD until February and I can’t see that person firing a MBB coach within a month/two months of their arrival. And with the deficit the dept. is currently in, can’t see the school wanting to buy out the remainder of Kent’s contract. Nov 8, 10:34 AM socalcoug (Guest): Do we get any 4 star(is that the Highest?) recruits this year? Nov 8, 10:37 AM srchat (Admin): Here’s a breakdown of the current commits. The WR they just signed, Drue Jackson, is considered a 4-star prospect by a few services but believe he’s the only one. http://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/school/_/id/265/class/2018 Nov 8, 10:38 AM Guest8618 (Guest): Harper Jr starting or still first off the bench at CB? Nov 8, 10:39 AM srchat (Admin): Molton and Strong are the starters, but I think we’ll see plenty of Harper on Saturday. Nov 8, 10:39 AM Uncle Larry (Guest): Other than injury do you think regardless what happens over the next two games that Leach sticks with Falk? Nov 8, 10:41 AM srchat (Admin): Not necessarily. I don’t think Falk will give him a reason to let it happen again, but they can’t afford to lose either of these games so I’m sure Leach will take the steps he feels necessary. Nov 8, 10:41 AM Guest2563 (Guest): Is the UCLA game actually an indicator of Utah improvement, or would anybody beat UCLA now? You have them above OSU in your power ranking this week, but wouldn’t the beavs beat them if they played now? Nov 8, 10:43 AM srchat (Admin): UCLA goes as Josh Rosen goes. Seems like Rosen is healthy enough to play this weekend, hence having them there. And even without Rosen, I like their chances against the Beavers. Nov 8, 10:43 AM socalcoug (Guest): Does your statguy chart official reviews? I thought we had around 10 last Saturday. Nov 8, 10:44 AM srchat (Admin): I don’t think they chart reviews. I’ll go back and look. Nov 8, 10:44 AM Guest1047 (Guest): Your predecessor, Jacob Thorpe, mentioned that he had gotten chewed out by Leach for some question he had asked when he first started covering the Cougs. Have you gotten a tongue-lashing from Leach yet? Nov 8, 10:45 AM srchat (Admin): I think I asked one too many questions about injuries the week after Pelluer got hurt. He didn’t like that. That’s the only one I can think of… Nov 8, 10:45 AM JFM COUGS (Guest): The basketball team clearly has the worst talent in the Pac 12, the recruiting by Kent has been awful, we just lost 4 seniors on a team that was already bad. Is there any reason to be optimistic this year? Nov 8, 10:50 AM srchat (Admin): I think this could be a down year for the Pac-12 in general, so maybe that helps the Cougs a little bit. There’s a clearly defined top four in my opinion (Arizona, USC, UCLA, Oregon), but none of the other eight seem too impressive. Robert Franks looks twice the player he was last year, I’d expect Malachi improved a touch from last year and based on what I’ve seen from Milan Acquaah, he could be a pretty good player for them. They’ll get Drick Bernstine back soon, too. Anyway, feel more optimistic now? Nov 8, 10:50 AM Uncle Larry (Guest): Leach have a soft spot in his heart for Mele? Or is he just that good of a recruiter that they have to keep him around? Nov 8, 10:51 AM srchat (Admin): I think he’s a great asset for them, personally. Know there have been some slipups in the return game this year, but he’s turned Powell into one of the Pac-12’s best kickers and the punting situation isn’t AS bad as it was a few weeks back. Mele is also a big reason Luke Falk is here, so the recruiting side of it doesn’t hurt. Nov 8, 10:52 AM Guest3453 (Guest): A few things..Unless you have an inside scoop I think Hercules stays, the 2 kids who got booted, are they still in school or go back home ?..any chance they come back ?..Who is behind Harrington at RB ? is he a walk on ?.. Kingston or Begg seeing much PT ? lastly saw Collins thoughts on KO return, I would imagine they will make some changes, thoughts ? Nov 8, 10:55 AM srchat (Admin): Think you’re right about Hercules. Not sure about Zaire Webb and Anthony White. Believe they’re still in school. Solomon Cooper’s the RB behind Harrington. He isn’t a walk-on. Kingston hasn’t played since OSU, Begg is seeing time as a backup. Think they have to tweak some things on special teams, certainly. Nov 8, 10:55 AM Guest2563 (Guest): Followup on UCLA - Rosen didn’t play last week. Does that game really tell us anything about Utah? Nov 8, 10:57 AM srchat (Admin): Oh right… Yeah, maybe not a ton. Utah’s been all over the map this year. Maybe tougher to peg than anybody else in the conference. They played USC and Stanford close during that four-game slump, then got blown out by ASU and Oregon. Nov 8, 10:57 AM Not WSU 04 (Guest): There was a lot of talk about the 2nd team OLine struggling during fall camp. Should we be concerned for the future? Nov 8, 10:58 AM srchat (Admin): Always reason to be concerned when you lose three starters, including an All-American and another all-conference caliber player. The backups haven’t had much PT this season, either. Will get back to you on this in fall camp. Nov 8, 10:58 AM srchat (Admin): Err, spring camp 2018* Nov 8, 10:59 AM socalcoug (Guest): Sweet had a nice average but those 5-12 yarders every game are killers. I am guessing this is it for the rest of the year? Nov 8, 11:00 AM srchat (Admin): Feels to me he’s been a little more consistent the last few games. Nov 8, 11:00 AM Harvey__Road: Mark my words: Flynn takes a step back this season. Nov 8, 11:00 AM srchat (Admin): We’ll see. He wasn’t outstanding in the exhibition opener and he’ll have a lot on his plate this year. Nov 8, 11:00 AM JFM COUGS (Guest): To be successful at WSU in basketball and football we need a coach that can bring in a systmem that will make up for the lack of talent that we have compared to most of the Pac 12, (Bennett’s & Leach) not sure what Kent is doing different to make up for the lack of talent. No, not more optimistic Kent is 14-40 in Pac 12 play! Nov 8, 11:01 AM srchat (Admin): Ah, well I tried… Nov 8, 11:01 AM Guest3453 (Guest): How has Valencia looked ?…any updates on Carrington playing ? James Williams does not look as explosive as last year , thoughts ?…. Nov 8, 11:02 AM srchat (Admin): Not able to watch practice so can’t answer that first one. Kyle Whittingham said Monday he expects Carrington to play. Williams has had his explosive moments, imo. We’ll see a lot more of them next year w/o Morrow in the picture, I’d think, Nov 8, 11:02 AM socalcoug (Guest): 12 yarder by Sweet on Saturday. feast or famine. Nov 8, 11:03 AM srchat (Admin): Yeah, those are tough to swallow. But hey, maybe that’s one way to prevent Dante Pettis from bringing one back in a few weeks! Nov 8, 11:03 AM BigBallerBrand (Guest): Mark my words: Flynn way mo betta than last year…..Signed LaVar Nov 8, 11:04 AM srchat (Admin): And with that last thought from former Coug LaVar Ball, we’ll close the live chat. Thanks all for joining. The live chat won’t take a bye week. Same time and place next Wednesday.