Summer key for Cougars
PULLMAN – The seeds were planted in the spring. The harvest? That comes in the fall. Now all the Washington State football coaching staff can do is watch their charges grow.
And hope they have separated the wheat from the chaff.
“They have to get in the weight room and get bigger and stronger and faster,” said assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Chris Ball last week. “They have to take it on their own. … They have to run practice-type things when they get together.”
“Obviously, this summer is big for our kids,” said offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Todd Sturdy. “On their own they need to continue to execute things and get something out of their summer workouts.”
But that doesn’t mean this is a dead time for the staff. Recruiting is in full swing and the groundwork is being laid for fall practice, which will start the first week of August.
“Staff-wise we can’t do much with them; the strength coach has them until August,” Ball said. “We just have to start putting together a plan for two-a-days.”
One thing the 15 days of spring practice allowed new coach Paul Wulff’s staff – there are only two holdovers from coach Bill Doba’s group, receivers coach Mike Levenseller and running backs coach Steve Broussard – is an appreciation of the talent they have, and the holes that need to be filled.
“Being a good coach is partly just evaluating your talent, evaluating the players that are making plays and figuring out a way to get them on the field and figuring out a way to get them the ball,” Sturdy said. “Our system allows us to do that. We can go in a lot of directions with it. You can use your strengths.
“It comes down to the guys you’ve got. You’ve got to figure a way to move the chains and give yourself a chance to win.”
Of course, “we couldn’t get every little thing fixed,” Ball said, before joking, “We could have used another 15 days of spring ball. I thought that would have been nice.”
What they did discover, according to Ball and Sturdy, is there is a good core of Cougars available for the fall.
“They’re as good a group of kids as I’ve been around,” Ball said. “It’s just change and understanding the routine and not being afraid of going out there and implementing it.”
And there are a few stars.
“A kid like Brandon (Gibson), he’s obviously the leader of that receiving corps,” Sturdy said. “He understands the game on a whole other level than all the other kids.
“Guys like that make you a good coach.”
Ball may not have a Gibson on the defense, but he does have a solid group of seniors, including linebackers Greg Trent and Cory Evans. But he has high expectations for everyone, especially in one area.
“We expect everybody to be a leader,” Ball said. “You try to find leaders on your football team, but why can’t everybody lead?
“Everybody be accountable, getting there and doing what we need them to do for us to be successful and not just put it on one guy.”
Ball, who has coached in the Pac-10 (previously at WSU), the Southeastern Conference (Alabama) and the Big East (Pitt), knows the Cougars’ schedule won’t allow for many mistakes, not when you are playing in “as tough a league as there is in the country.”
“We’ve got a really good idea on who we can count on in the fall,” Ball said. “We don’t have a great idea of what’s going to help us with the new guys coming in. You really don’t know.
“So, really, right now you have to bank on the guys who are here, and get them better. And if somebody shows up in the fall, in August, and they catch your eye, or this summer and work extremely hard and catch your eye, it’s a bonus. But right now, who you’ve got is who you’ve got.”
And the key just might be keeping those guys around all season.
“We’re going to have to be lucky,” Sturdy said, “meaning we’re going to have to stay healthy.”
Notes
Sturdy was impressed with how quickly quarterbacks Gary Rogers and Kevin Lopina picked up the new offense. “With Gary and Kevin, I thought they both had really solid springs, for never getting those opportunities (before). They’re both talented players.” … Sturdy was an assistant for three years at St. Ambrose University in Iowa under then-head coach Mike Woodley, father of WSU basketball assistant Matt. After the elder Woodley left to take another position, Sturdy assumed the head coaching position two seasons later. … The Cougars open the Wulff era Aug. 30 at Qwest Field in Seattle, hosting an Oklahoma State team that is coming off a 7-6 season, including a 49-33 win over Indiana in the Insight Bowl. The Cowboys have 14 offensive and defensive starters returning.