A final spring football Sunday post
COUGARS
It's Sunday morning in Spokane, the sun is out and the birds are happy. All's right with the world. And well it should be. Spring football is officially over. We have more on the denouement, Saturday's spring game at Joe Albi Stadium, and some other thoughts, so read on.
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• Washington State: Reading through the stories from other Pac-12 school's spring practices, it really hit me yesterday. The Cougars got through spring darn healthy. Oh, sure, there were 22 or so players not suited up yesterday for a variety of reasons, but only one of them, receiver Blair Bomber, will have surgery between now and the fall (Bomber will have his injured ACL repaired sometime after finals). Most players will get a full off-season of work in and almost all should be healthy to go once fall camp starts in early August (and no, I don't know the exact date yet, though I have asked). It's hard to emphasis enough how important this is for WSU's improvement. A full group of players working out over the summer should engender large strength gains up and down the roster. And a fall that at least starts with everyone should help produce competition for positions and be a foundation for progress. ... We had our story and notes up last night but we didn't link the rest of the S-R's report. John Blanchette had this column and Dan Pelle posted this slideshow. ... Outside of football, CougCenter had this piece from Brian Floyd yesterday concerning DeAngelo Casto's decision. ... Back to football, thanks to Jared Prenguber and the WSU video department, we can pass along highlights and interview videos below. ... The memory I'll keep from yesterday: Just before I could ask Jeff Tuel a couple questions on the field afterward, four small children, three boys and a girl, who was dressed in her soccer uniform, came up to him and asked for autographs. Each held a pen and a piece of white paper. None were older than probably five. And each was as polite and as nice as could be. Tuel tried to sign the first autograph using one boy's back as a writing desk, but that wasn't working. So I lent him my reporter's notebook. He signed Jeff Tuel #10 and passed the paper back. Each child said thank you and walked away. Gotta love kids.
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• Here is the highlight video ...
• Here are the interviews of Paul Wulff, Tuel and Jared Karstetter ...
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• Around the Pac-12: Nothing conference-wide today. ... Washington: The Huskies scrimmaged yesterday and the defense dominated. That seems to have been the theme around the conference the past couple weeks ... Oregon State: Nothing. ... Oregon: The Ducks' coaching staff is pretty tight knit. ... Colorado: The Buffs best basketball player is still contemplating his future. ... Utah: Defense rules the day at the Utes' spring game. ... California: The Bears practiced Saturday in San Jose. ... Stanford: Nothing. ... USC: The offense doesn't score until the 73rd – and final – play of the scrimmage. ... UCLA: Nothing. ... Arizona State: The offense and defense both had there moments in the Sun Devils' scrimmage. ... There is an air of excitement around one basketball recruit. ... Arizona: The Wildcats' spring game was well attended (an estimated 4,500 fans) and the offense dominated. But UA also lost another starter to a major injury bringing the number of major contributors lost this spring to three. ... The Wildcats' basketball look is going to change.
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• That's it for this morning. A quick note. Today is the first official day of a three-week vacation, which, I hope and pray doesn't repeat the awful experience of last year's vacation (for you long-time readers of this blog, you know what I mean). The morning posts will stop, but I have to keep my hands in a few things, like Klay Thompson's decision and his subsequent NBA workouts (if he declares, of course) and D.J. Shelton's letter of intent, which still has yet to be officially announced by WSU. Other than that, we'll try to ignore what's going on in the Inland Northwest and enjoy some southern hospitality (and that gives you a hint where Kim and I are headed). Until later ...
