WSU loses two players to grades

PULLMAN – Washington State University running back Derrell Hutsona and safety DeWayne Patterson have both failed to meet NCAA standards and will no longer attend the university, head coach Bill Doba said Tuesday.

“They’re both really good kids,” Doba said. “We’ll miss them.”

Both players were junior college transfers, and both would have been seniors this fall.

Hutsona joined the Cougars last fall and was immediately touted as someone who could fill a Jerome Harrison-like role – former running backs coach Kelly Skipper even gave him Harrison’s jersey number.

On the field, Hutsona showed some ability, too. He finished the 2006 season with 379 yards on 59 carries, dogged occasionally by injury but generally a productive runner.

Hutsona was held out of spring practices in an attempt to coerce the running back to improve his academic performance, but apparently that was not enough.

“Hutsona had one good year,” Doba said. “We excused him from spring ball to try to help him out and he just didn’t meet NCAA standards.”

The California native apparently had some disciplinary issues while at WSU, which did not help his chances to remain on the team.

Patterson came to the Cougars in 2005 and started the first two games of that season while Husain Abdullah was sidelined with an injury. He played in 10 games that season, recording 24 tackles, but was academically ineligible in 2006.

Hoping to follow a path taken by one of last year’s seniors, Tyron Brackenridge, Patterson remained in school and practiced with the team throughout last season and this spring. But his attempts to return as a fifth-year senior were unsuccessful.

“Patterson has been a good guy that’s done everything he could for us, did everything we asked of him, and just fell short,” Doba said.

There remains the possibility that more players could be ruled ineligible for the 2007 season, but nothing is written in stone for those Cougars. WSU has gathered three commitments this spring after the signing period, with a chance for a fourth, but those are non-binding until the players show up on campus in the fall.

Notes

Running back Chris Ivory, who left the team in the spring to attend to a family matter in Texas, is back in Pullman and as expected to rejoin the Cougars for summer workouts and the 2007 season. … The USC game on Sept. 22 is the only WSU game that has been picked up by television. ABC will broadcast it regionally at 5 p.m.