Levenseller’s dream becomes real

PULLMAN – The voice cracked a little. The eyes, though focused on the questioners, seemed a bit glazed, as if looking back to a memory. The young man’s body was betraying a kid’s dreams.

“Ever since I was a little kid stepping onto Martin Stadium, it’s always been what I’ve wanted to do,” J.T. Levenseller said Tuesday, meeting the media for the first time since Washington State coach Paul Wulff said he would see his first game action Saturday when the Cougars travel to Stanford.

“It’s finally here,” the freshman added. “It’s kind of surreal right now.”

Surreal enough for anyone who entered a college football season as a team’s fifth-string quarterback. But even more surreal for Levenseller, whose last name has been associated with Washington State football for most of the past 30 years.

His father, Mike, was a record-setting receiver for the Cougars in the mid-1970s, catching enough Jack Thompson passes to finish his career in the upper echelon of the WSU receiving records. After a stint in professional football, the elder Levenseller returned to WSU in 1992 as an assistant and never left.

J.T. was born when dad was coaching in the Canadian Football League, and was christened Michael Jack Thomas, with the middle names a tribute to Thompson – sort of.

“My dad wouldn’t give Jack Thompson (the entire) Jack Thompson,” J.T. said. “Thomas is (my dad’s) middle name. (But) when people ask, I go by Jack Thompson just to kind of give it to Jack.”

After a stellar career at Pullman High – he helped the Greyhounds win the 2005 State 2A football title as a junior – J.T. decided to attend WSU, though he grayshirted, not enrolling until last spring.

J.T., who topped out at 6-foot-1 and 178 pounds, picked WSU despite the possible conflict of being on the same football field each day with his dad. Mike knew how hard it could be to coach his son.

“That’s why I don’t,” he said.

The elder Levenseller is the receivers coach. For most of the year, while J.T. was a scout team quarterback, there was little interaction between the two. But recently, as WSU’s quarterback corps was whittled by season-ending injuries to Gary Rogers (neck) and Marshall Lobbestael (knee), the Levenseller duo has come in contact with each other more.

With the injuries at quarterback, the Cougars needed to get J.T. ready to play, despite a stated goal of redshirting him this season.

Head coach Paul Wulff said there were two elements taken into account this week, starting with the health of starting quarterback Kevin Lopina, who missed three games this year with a back injury, and ending with the positives afforded Levenseller.

“Because the No. 1 guy hasn’t been healthy at this point, and so, to expect him to take every snap for the rest of the year might be a little presumptuous on our part,” Wulff said. “It’s an opportunity for J.T. to play and see how he does. We don’t know exactly how J.T.’s going to do. … We’re interested in seeing how he responds and how he does.”

So is J.T.

“Honestly, the entire year, I’ve wanted to play,” he said. “I haven’t actually said anything, but when the opportunity came, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind otherwise.”

“How do I not say I’m proud of him?” Mike asked. “But it’s really the building block to get here. Now it’s what he does with it.”

How many plays J.T. will get Saturday is still up in the air, but Wulff said this week he’ll play for sure. The idea is to get him ready in case more consistent play is needed down the road.

“We don’t want to throw him into a situation where he’s completely not prepared,” Wulff said. “It’s an opportunity for him to grow as a player and an opportunity to better the team in the future by him gaining some valuable playing experience now.”

The idea was broached as early as the Oregon State game, but no one on the staff thought J.T. was ready then. After a bye week and extra work, he’s as ready as any freshman.

“We just didn’t feel he was ready at that point,” Wulff said. “We didn’t want to put him in a situation he wasn’t ready for. We try to do everything in our power not to do that to a player or his teammates.”

“Obviously, running the scout team up until we started (getting him ready), not really having many reps in our offense, has put him behind,” Mike said. “So now he has to understand how to prepare to catch up. I think he’ll be the first one to tell you, he’s not quite there yet. But he can do some things naturally.”

It’s one of those natural things that stands out to Wulff.

“He’s got a huge competitive nature about him, which is always great to see,” he said. “We can’t have enough of that right now.”

It’s pretty obvious where it came from.

“He has to grow up fast,” Mike said, emphasizing how important it was to WSU. “He has no choice. Sometimes you just don’t have a choice.

“He has to pull himself back under control. Just relax, seize the moment, be able to calm himself down. He’s always done a pretty good job of that in his life when he’s hit big games.

“Obviously, the Stanford-Washington State game is not a game that’s going to be a tell-all Pac-10 football game. But, for him, it’s huge. It’s his first opportunity.”

Some might say it’s also a first opportunity for Mike the coach.

“I’m going to rip his tail if he doesn’t do well,” he said.

Serious? No. Like his son, the eyes betrayed him. They were laughing.

Graise off team

Senior defensive end Mike Graise has been dismissed from the Washington State football team this week, due to a violation of team rules.

Graise, who started one game this season and three in his career, missed practices last week, including Sunday’s coming off the team’s two-day bye week hiatus, according to a team source.

“It was time for us to move on as a team,” said coach Paul Wulff on Wednesday. “All our players need to be held accountable for us to improve as a program.”

The Cougars, 1-7 overall and 0-5 in the Pac-10, play at Stanford on Saturday.

Practice notes

Senior Vaughn Lesuma, back from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the USC game, has regained his starting left tackle spot. … Two scout team players, one offensive, one defensive, will be rewarded with a trip to Saturday’s game.