Piercing Intensity Surfaces Cougars Show Their Fight In Crimson-Gray Game

Ryan Tujague and Melvin Camarena were ejected for fighting.

Yes, believe it or not, from the Crimson and Gray game on Saturday.

And in a normal spring this might just be enough to put a little crimson in the faces of the coaches and players.

But this spring was far from normal. The Cougars were coming off a 3-8 season. So the linemen’s actions didn’t draw that much anger. Sure, they will still be disciplined for their transgressions.

“I’ve already been told I’ll be up at 6 a.m. running,” said Tujague, a senior on the offensive line.

But their intensity also drew some praise.

“Getting ejected, I know it’s something that’s not supposed to happen,” said quarterback Jason Gesser. “But it was intense out there. I even got into it, trying to jump over those guys on the sidelines when I shouldn’t have.

“But that intensity - that’s what this team needs,” he continued. “We need somebody that is willing to go out and put his helmet on somebody. And get in there and make the plays. We didn’t have it last year.”

Last year all the Cougars had were inexplicable mistakes and hanging heads.

“Coming into this spring there wasn’t a guy who wasn’t thinking about last year,” said running back Jeremy Thielbahr. “Everybody remembers Cal and Stanford, that fourth-and-1 play we didn’t get.

“And to be honest, last spring, I know I came into it la-dee-da and a lot of the other players did too,” he continued. “It wasn’t like that at all this spring. From the minute we started spring practice, guys were intense. They were working hard and they never forgot how bad it was last year.”

Now the four weeks of spring practice are over. It has been both a catharsis and building block. The Cougars have buried the past and are looking toward the future.

That future boasts of 17 returning starters. Some may have lost their jobs this spring.

Wide receiver Jerry Roquemore will be in a fight to keep junior-college transfer Milton Wynn off the field at the start of the games. Quarterbacks Steve Birnbaum and Paul Mencke are having their feet put to the fire by Gesser.

Others tightened the grip on theirs.

Like cornerback Chris Martin.

“I couldn’t even throw to his side today,” said Gesser. “I’d look over there and maybe twice the guy was open, but I wasn’t going to throw it.

“He has a chance to be one of the best cornerbacks in the Pac-10.”

Then there is defensive tackle Rob Meier. Two days ago when the Crimson and Gray teams were announced, the senior was greeted by more than a few “Thank God, you’re on my team” statements.

Then there were the surprises.

“Biggest surprise? I’d have to say Curtis Holden,” Tujague said.

His words were echoed by many.

“He’s tough,” said Gesser. “He’ll hit you too.”

That’s why the middle linebacker from San Francisco City College was the second pick taken in the Crimson and Gray draft.

“I don’t know if he is a surprise, but he certainly has picked it up and played better, quicker than we thought he would,” said defensive coordinator Bill Doba.

If the 6-3, 240-pound Holden wasn’t a surprise to Doba, the 6-1, 300-pound Tomasi Kongaika was.

“He played better than we expected,” said Doba.

The redshirt freshman played better than anyone expected.

One offensive lineman said Kongaika couldn’t be blocked.

The guy that will line up next to him in the fall, Meier, said the same thing.

“He just gets in there and uses his hands so well,” Meier said. “And he’s quick. If you’re not ready, he’ll get right by you with a swim move.”

Linebacker Grady Emmerson has proven he can compete for playing time in the Pac-10.

“He’s solid out there,” said Thielbahr. “By far, the toughest tackler.”

For all of them, the toughest part of the off-season is yet to come. Most players will stay in Pullman for a good portion of the summer and continue their workouts.

“That’s when it’s tough,” said Thielbahr. “The summer conditioning is a lot harder than this.”

“That’s when you become a player,” added cornerback LeJuan Gibbons.

And everybody knows, that’s just what the Cougars need to make people forget 3-8 in ‘98 - some players.