A Grip on Sports: The Cougars’ best player opts out of the L.A. Bowl but his career is just getting started
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Very little in the changes benefiting college athletes bother us. They’ve deserved more freedom of movement for decades. Better compensation for their labor. Heck, better treatment overall. But every once in a while, we read something that still makes us stop and say, “woah.”
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• We read something like that late last night. And we thought about it even when we couldn’t sleep at 3 a.m.
It comes within Colton Clark’s story this morning on linebacker Daiyan Henley opting out of Washington State’s appearance in the Jimmy Kimmel L.A. Bowl game next Saturday.
Now, let’s make this clear. That’s not what caught our eye.
Players of Henley’s caliber have been opting out of bowl games for a while now. Why put yourself through another game, with all that entails, when an injury could snatch your goal, that of an NFL career and its large payday, in an instant?
We understand being cautious, even if you’ve played 12 games already this season with your college team. After all, any play could be your last. Step away, train your body and get ready for the Combine and then the draft.
Makes sense.
What is harder to process is the part of Colton’s story that made us pause:
“Henley will take part in the Senior Bowl all-star showcase in February to boost his NFL draft stock. Early last month, ESPN tabbed Henley the No. 5 linebacker and No. 54 overall NFL draft prospect.”
In other words, Henley is skipping this week in effort to reduce his injury chances but will, after taking most of two months off from hitting, return to the field for a meat-market exhibition?
That seems a little counter-productive if you want to make sure you are healthy come draft day.
We understand the risk/reward aspect. Skip the runup and one meaningless exhibition in Los Angeles, Henley’s hometown, so that those hits can be used on a practice field in Mobile, Alabama under the watchful eye of many more NFL personnel.
And then play in a different type of exhibition, one that will feature bigger, faster, more athletic players who deliver bigger, harder, potentially more-impactful hits.
So, it’s actually not about the injury risk, per se. It’s about where to risk injury.
That’s fine. It’s Henley’s body. It’s his decision to make. And he has decided he will play one more game. With all that entails.
Just not the one with Washington State next Saturday.
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WSU: The Henley news is just part of Colton’s report coming from head coach Jake Dickert’s Friday press conference. There is also the news Dickert will be the defensive coordinator and linebackers’ coach this week. He’s filling the void created when Brian Ward and another defensive coach left for Arizona State. … If you want to stay up on the Cougars’ transfer news, we have this for you. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college football, Jon Wilner passes along recruiting news in the Mercury News. … The addition of Deion Sanders makes the conference more interesting. … A whirlwind of change has hit Stanford since David Shaw stepped down. … Speaking of change, the Rose Bowl will be changing in big ways starting next season. … USC’s Caleb Williams has changed markedly since arriving in Los Angeles. … Arizona’s Jedd Fisch has a new contract. … In basketball news, Colorado may have figured out some things this week. … UCLA will host Denver. … Arizona is playing Indiana for the first time today. The game is in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga: If Washington thought this was the year to get the Bulldogs, what with GU’s 6-3 record coming in, it thought wrong. As Theo Lawson tells us, Gonzaga figured out the Huskies’ zone and rolled to a 77-60 victory in the Kennel. … Jim Meehan was also there and has the difference makers and a story on Drew Timme’s big night. … Tyler Tjomsland takes care of the visuals with this photo gallery. … The folks in the office pass along a recap with highlights. … From the Seattle area, the loss seemed a bit off-putting. … Elsewhere in the WCC, a visibly shaken BYU program has No. 21 Creighton next.
EWU and Idaho: A lot happened around the Big Sky Conference on Friday and not just in Sacramento. But that game, the second-ranked Hornets’ amazing 66-63 loss to visiting Incarnate Word – a FCS record for points – was the highlight, and lowlight, of the night. … There is still one conference team in the semifinals. Montana State ran all over William & Mary, 55-7, in a frigid Bozeman. … Weber State is still looking for a head coach while Idaho State found one. The Bengals hired Dan Hawkins’ son, Cody. The younger Hawkins was coaching for his dad at UC Davis. … In basketball news, Northern Arizona will host Utah Valley today. … Montana is still looking for its first road win.
Preps: We ran into Dave Nichols last night at Gonzaga Prep. He has coverage of the Bullpups two non-league wins over the Saxons. … He also put together a roundup of the rest of Friday’s basketball action.
Chiefs: Spokane fell 6-3 at Winnipeg last night.
Seahawks: Just who will carry the ball for Seattle on Sunday will be a game-time decision. … The NFC South hasn’t been kind to the Hawks lately.
Kraken: After the long winning streak, Seattle has lost three consecutive games. The latest came Friday night in Washington, 4-1 to the Capitals. … The Kraken’s top trio is a little unexpected.
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• Seriously, more than $100 for a Christmas tree? For one that doesn’t even reach my eye level? When we were young, we helped our dad run a Christmas tree lot for the Sierra Madre Little League. Cut trees in Northern California more than once (and skipped school to do it). But never in our wildest dreams would we have thought people would have to pay more than $100 for a tree that would need a TV-sized box to boost it anywhere near the ceiling. Until later …