Guest speaker

PULLMAN – Everything on the practice fields next to Martin Stadium at Washington State on Tuesday seemed to suggest that things were back to the way they once were. The Cougars went through their first session of the spring, the weather turned autumnal and an old friend was even on hand to encourage them on. Former head coach and current University of Texas-El Paso boss Mike Price spent much of the rainy afternoon on the field in a crimson and black WSU jacket.

Current head coach Bill Doba had his former boss give the team a few words of encouragement at the very beginning of practice, the Cougars’ first time on the field since winning the Apple Cup in November. The Miners are on spring break currently, and Price said he was on his way back to El Paso to begin his own spring session soon.

“It was good to see him here and be able to talk with him,” Doba said after the practice. “He’s a good friend. And once again – once a Coug always a Coug.”

Now, the Cougars just hope that their 2005 edition looks more like the 10-win teams from 2001-03 as opposed to the five-win effort turned in last year.

“Spring is important,” Doba said. “I know some people think it’s not that important, but spring is darn important as far as picking up where you left off and it carries you through summer and the preseason. We do a lot of fundamental work and hitting in the spring. Because of that, we don’t have to hit nearly as much in the fall. It’s an important part of the process in developing a team.”

Price aside, the most notable appearance on the field was that of quarterback Josh Swogger, who participated in all offense-only drills. The junior signal-caller missed the last five games of last season with a broken navicular bone in his foot. Swogger won’t compete in any scrimmages this spring, and said he’s still finding his way.

“I was a little rustier than I thought I’d be,” Swogger said. “My legs feel like jello right now. My legs aren’t in very good shape; I didn’t get to run a lot. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

“I’m dead tired right now. It’s been so long, I’m not in football shape.”

Middle linebacker Will Derting, the other returning captain from last season’s team, was more limited after off-season wrist surgery to fuse two bones. Derting started out the practice helping lead stretching drills, but by the end of the session was back in a t-shirt and shorts.

Doba said he hopes to have Derting available for some drills by the end of the spring, especially with the team paper-thin at linebacker.

“It’s important for a linebacker to see people coming at him,” Doba said. “He’ll not have any contact but what we’re trying to see if we can do is pad him up, club him up and see if we can just get some skelly out of him. Put him in a yellow shirt, which I know he’d really like.”

Players robbed

The Pullman apartment of defensive lineman Bryan Olson, former offensive lineman Bryan Boyer and other current Cougars was robbed over spring break.

Both Olson and Boyer returned to school to discover their bowl rings missing, and Boyer also had a large sum of cash taken from a safe. Police are investigating.

“A video camera, probably about 10 DVDs. My backpack was stolen, Brian’s was stolen,” Olson said, detailing some of the other losses. “We’re looking at getting replacement (rings) but I don’t know how much it’s going to cost. It might run like 500 dollars, and we don’t really have that kind of money.”

Olson said they are looking into the warranties on the rings to see if there is any other way they can recoup the loss.

Notes

Offensive lineman Drew Hansen, a 6-foot-8, 303-pound redshirt freshman last season, is no longer with the team. … The Cougars are at their scholarship limit right now, according to Doba, but there remains a possibility they could bring in someone new if any of the incoming freshman don’t qualify academically. … Grayshirt freshmen Benny Ward, a wide receiver, and Cole Morgan, a quarterback, were on the practice field for the first time. Michael Willis, who was expected to be another grayshirt freshman, is still having issues getting his test scores cleared and will not be able to join the team until the fall at the earliest.