COUGARS

It's funny. During the Washington State football practice yesterday, the No. 1 topic of conversation wasn't who was winning the quarterback battle, who was hurt and who was healthy, or about the Cougar chances in the opener against Oklahoma State. No, the main topic was the NFL draft. Yes, a non-event (OK, I know that will rile some of you up, but so be it) that has brought the world Mel Kiper Jr.'s hair and Rich Eisen's droll humor – not to mention about 100 guys-that-everyone-thought-would-be-stars-but-weren't. So be it. We don't care. We have WSU news. College stuff. Read on.
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• By the way, the Seahawks' first day was sweet, huh? An offensive tackle and a safety. Wow. Next stop Super Bowl. ... Speaking of improving a team, we found this Orlando Sentinel story about four guys in Florida the Cougars offered scholarships to last week. The irony is they are Olympia High guys. Funny. Wonder how they'll like their trip to Pullman this fall. ... Here's the edited version of our practice story. We had the raw story and notes on the blog last night. ... Around the Pac-10, UCLA has a tradition called "going over the wall," in which the seniors skip out on a day of practice. But offensive tackle Micah Kia killed that idea. ... Former Pullman High star Aaron Pflugrad is enjoying himself playing for former WSU coach Dennis Erickson at ASU. ... Injuries are limiting a USC receiver this spring. ... Switching over to basketball, with the NCAA looking at expanding the tournament to 68, we tried to find the most in-depth story we could to explain the thinking. ... Oregon's coaching search seems to be switching emphasis.

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• That's it for this morning. We'll be back in the afternoon with some news about Saturday's spring game. We have the format and some Paul Wulff thoughts on what he wants to accomplish. Until then ...

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