WSU hits a little bump on Friday
COUGARS
There is a time and a place to write that a team is injury free. The time is never and the place is fantasyland. Read on.
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• Of course it looked like last night was the time and place too. Oh, there were a few minor injuries that were ongoing for the Washington State Cougars but nothing too bad to any crucial players. Then Travis Long walked out to practice Friday. Well, limped out is a better description, his right leg in a knee brace. Turns out Long, the two-time All-Pac-10 defensive end, sprained his MCL at some point Thursday night, though he looked fine leaving the field. According to WSU coach Paul Wulff, the sprain isn't serious, Long is expected to miss 3-to-5 days and should be back in time for Idaho State. We'll see. I can report that during Friday's workout, Long spent some time on the exercise bike, and he used both legs to pedal, so his knee can't be all that bad. Usually, if a player has a bad leg injury, they prop that one up while they pedal with the other one. ... The defensive line was thin to start Friday, what with Long, Lenard Williams (tooth extraction) and freshmen David Davis (shoulder) sidelined by injury, along with two frosh, T.J. Poloai and Darryl Paulo, not going, part of a group of four freshman that had to sit out due to some paperwork issues. All four are expected back Saturday. As for the d-line, the position also lost Skylar Stormo midway through practice when he banged heads with Jared Byers and had to take a knee. Stormo kneeled down for a while, got up and was helped off by the training staff. He sat in the shade the rest of the day. ... The play of the day award goes to Deone Bucannon, who made an acrobatic interception of a Connor Halliday pass intended for Henry Eaddy. ... The Cougars will practice in the morning Saturday as it's picture day. They'll have a team lunch following practice then spend the afternoon getting all the video and pictures done for the season. Sunday is their off day, then they get into the usual game-week schedule with a late Monday practice.
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• That's it for tonight. As always, we'll be back in the morning. Until then ...
