Introducing Eric Mele

Eric Mele, Washington State’s interim special teams coordinator, has rarely trod the obvious path. He let the opportunity to wrestle at West Virginia pass in favor of playing football at a Division-III school. His father and brothers are police officers and he graduated with a degree in criminal justice, so of course he quickly became a part-time assistant at a school that takes eight-hour bus rides to playoff games and gives its assistant coaches less free gear than the lowest manager at a Pac-12 school gets.

Our story in today’s paper looks at Mele’s unique path to WSU and what his plans are for the Cougars special teams.

More links are after the jump.

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— I’ve got my Pac-12 Picks for this weekend ready.

— According to Chris Shaw defensive tackle Kalafitoni Pole returned to practice yesterday.

— We also had a lively live chat on the blog.

— Connor Halliday’s absurd numbers are drawing people’s attention to the Cougars.

— Washington State will talk about the program’s future today, a couple former WSU ballers got good news recently. Klay Thompson has his former coach’s endorsement for a max contract and Brock Motum appears to have found his NBA home .

— Washington’s Danny Shelton is a leader to his teammates and to the freshmen he teaches in class.

— Arizona’s top two running backs are expected to play on Saturday against the Cougars.

— Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly says he feels fantastic .

— Here are five things to know about Cal .

— Brett Hundley’s on a roll that will be tough for Colorado to slow .

— Cal’s coach says the player that prefer the frills of college football aren’t for him .

— Oregon State also has its top two running backs ready to go .

— UCLA is wary of Colorado’s successful offensive line .

— Pride and preparation have helped a USC linebacker play through more than 200 snaps the last two weeks.

— Utah’s stud punter is one a growing number of Aussie’s coming to the United State to play American football.