Frampton ready for starting spot
PULLMAN – While watching teammates around him putting on as many as 20 or 30 pounds of bulk in the off-season, Eric Frampton said he’s come to camp tipping the scales with just two more to his name.
And according to him, that’s just fine, largely because the junior is trimmer, faster and ready to take over the top job at free safety.
Frampton – who at last check has just 7 percent body fat after trading bad weight for good weight this summer – has drawn reviews as positive as any Cougar from coaches this fall, and after the WSU secondary struggled in 2004 Frampton might just need to have the year his on-field tutors think he can.
“He continues to impress me as he develops as a person and develops athletically,” secondary coach Ken Greene said. “He’s getting stronger and much more athletic than he was two years ago. He’s learning the position still, but the thing that Eric Frampton gives you is all-out effort every time he’s on the field. And with that, I think he’s going to become a very good football player.”
Frampton and fellow starting safety Husain Abdullah, who suffered what appeared to be a minor ankle injury during Friday’s scrimmage, will be replacing two seniors in Jeremy Bohannon and Hamza Abdullah who struggled at times in 2004. While both played in backup roles, this year will be a test for the new starters, especially in a system that demands versatility and skill from its safeties at all times.
“I know that traditionally the guys playing this position, in my case strong safety, the tradition is you’ve got to be ready. You have to be fast, you have to be in shape, you have to be tough,” Frampton said, reflecting on the struggles of last year’s starters. “It gave me motivation in a sense because I know that when you’re at the top and you’re proclaimed as a starter you can’t relax. Once you’re there you have to hold it and keep it. Like they say, it’s your position to lose. That’s the way I feel. If I’m not out there going full-speed every play Coach Greene is going to pull me out.”
DeMaundray’s day
The Cougars, already thin at running back this fall, are going to be that much thinner for the next 2-4 weeks as primary backup Kevin McCall recuperates from a lower leg/high ankle injury suffered Thursday night.
That injury, along with the bruised ribs that held Jerome Harrison to one carry, meant that true freshman DeMaundray Woolridge was the primary threat in the backfield for the Cougars’ third scrimmage.
After one Harrison carry for 8 yards, Woolridge took the majority of the snaps with both the first- and second-team offenses, carrying the ball 21 times for 70 yards and two touchdowns.
The Keller, Texas, native – a good friend of Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson growing up – said he doesn’t feel he’s edged his way up the WSU depth chart. But head coach Bill Doba said after the scrimmage that for the time being he has done just that, as McCall has been ruled out for the season-opener.
“I don’t want to consider myself as the No. 2 running back yet because McCall’s still a great running back,” Woolridge said. “He’s still in that spot; he earned it.”
Notes
Ticket sales are moving along, with WSU having sold 14,482 season tickets compared to last year’s total of 15,424. For the Qwest Field game against Grambling State, the Cougars have passed the 29,000 mark, selling 1,600 in the last two days. The lower bowl for that game in Seattle is nearly sold out. … Doba said middle linebacker Will Derting is at about 75-80 percent as he tries to recover from a hamstring pull.