With kickoff to the College Football season just 63 days away, I thought it was appropriate and certainly about time to start analyzing many of the teams, players, and coaches, across the country. While we mainly cover USC, UCLA, and San Diego State, here at SoCal Sports Hub, we have decided that it is also important for Trojan and Bruin fans to get a quick glimpse of the other Pac Ten teams. So over the next few weeks, be on the lookout for some interviews with other Pac Ten bloggers in order to gain a greater perspective on their team.
Out first interview is with Sean Hawkins, the author of WSU Football Blog and contributor for AOL Fanhouse. Thanks to Sean for partaking in this interview.
1. Gary Rogers is a senior and has been around Pullman for a while now. How well can he perform in just his first year as a starter?
I would feel very comfortable answering this question if Doba was still around running the same old offense WSU always has. I would say yes, he has spent 4 years learning the system. Now that we have a new coach on board with a new offense, I would say that all the years Rogers has been in Pullman have only helped him with his conditioning, mechanics and, as I’ll mention later, hopefully his ability to read the defense. He has now had the spring and will have the rest of the summer to “cram” for the final exam of his collegiate football career which is running the new offense this coming Fall. Along with that he has to rely on his supporting cast to learn the system too. Everything coming out of Pullman so far is that he is working as hard as he can to make sure he knows this new pseudo spread/option offense by next season. In spring drills coaches were encouraged by his footwork which, other than his ability to read the defense and make decisions, is probably the only skill in question for Gary.
At 6’7” and 230+lbs his size and strength have never been a question mark. However, most of the playing time that Gary has seen in the past involved him running a scripted series of plays. For Rogers to make the transition to starter and this new offense he is going to be required to make some defensive reads and decisions based on what he sees. My prediction is that the first couple of games next fall are going to be ugly and we are going to see a lot of mistakes right off the bat. Hopefully, OC Todd Sturdy holds true to his word that we run the ball 50% of the time which will keep opposing defenses honest and make Gary ’s life a little easier for him. Assuming Sturdy doesn’t get overzealous with the playbook, especially at first, I think Rogers will be effective and scary to most opposing defenses for the last 9 or so games of the year.
2. Alex Brink was criticized by many Cougar fans. Are they happy to see Rogers take over as a result of Brink’s graduation?
Brink left on a great note beating UW for his 3rd time and doing so with some pretty sweet stats for that game. I still have to believe that the only fan he had left at the end of the season was his QB coach Timm Rosenbach. And I’m including his teammates in that statement. The unfortunate part is that Brink was a great kid and student, worked hard, and amazingly kept himself healthy for 4 years. He just didn’t have all of the skills, particularly arm strength, to be more successful. The angst shown by many of the Cougar fans towards Brink should have probably been more appropriately directed towards Rosenbach for so stubbornly insisting on Brink as the starter for 4 years. You would then have to blame Doba for supporting Rosenbach through all those years as well. I bet if you asked most Cougar fans they would say they are more excited to see what Rogers can do rather than just say they are happy Brink is gone.
3. Dwight Tardy has been rather inconsistent as the team’s top running back. Can he truly become the team’s feature back?
If you just look at Tardy’s stat line for 2007, it looks pretty pedestrian: 699 yards and 6 scores. You could also argue that those stats are inflated by his break-out performance over UCLA, when he ran for 214 yards and 2 scores, but let’s dig a little deeper…
Tardy’s last run in that UCLA game was his last of the season – in game number 8 of 12. He blew his knee out AFTER a long TD run, by running up a little concrete ramp that surrounds the field and then sliding back down, where his cleats caught the turf. The official story from WSU doesn’t mention this at all…
It was a shame to lose Tardy, because he was a huge part of the team with a 4.7 yards-per-carry average. He started off the year, running for 96 against Wisconsin; 99 against SDSU; and 108 against Idaho. In the SDSU and UI games, he shared the load with Kevin McCall and Chris Ivory in an attempt to get those guys some game experience against non-conference opponenents.
When Pac-10 play started, it quickly became apparent that WSU was going to have a tough year. Tardy’s numbers took a nose-dive but again, you have to peel back the onion a little bit.
- Against USC, he ran for 27 of the team’s 67 total rushing yards while the Cougs had a 27/43 run/pass ratio.
- Against UA he ran for 69 of the team’s 91 total rushing yards with a 25/58 run/pass ratio.
- Against ASU he ran for 32 of 82 with a 25/51 run/pass ratio.
- Against UO he ran for 34 of 63 during a game that WSU laid their biggest egg in a conference game ever.
- Next was the UCLA game, in which he went off for the 214 yards. Not surprisingly, this was one of WSU’s most balanced games with 51 rushes and 47 passes.
To call Tardy’s season inconsistent is a little unfair given the circumstances of the games in which he played. He shared the load in the “soft’ part of the non-con schedule and then his carries were limited once the conference games started because the Cougs were behind early and forced to throw the ball twice as often as they ran it.
With this year’s coaching staff seemingly dedicated to a more balanced attack, a healthy Dwight Tardy is ABSOLUTELY capable of being the team’s featured back. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know how well he has recovered from the knee injury so the jury is still very much out on how effective he can be for this year’s team.
If he’s unable to shoulder the load, the Cougs will likely rely heavily on fellow junior, Chris Ivory, who showed flashes of greatness last year – particularly in the Apple Cup against UW, when he ripped off 114 yards at 8.1 yards per carry. Also in the mix will be sophomore Marcus Richmond and freshman Logwone Mitz.
The Cougs are definitely thin at the RB position so health will be the key. Aside from Tardy’s health, the other big unknown is how well the Cougar players will adapt to Coach Wulff’s no-huddle offense which features a lot of two-back sets and even some option plays. This definitely won’t be the same WSU team that you’ve seen over the last two decades.
4. Brandon Gibson has been regarded as one of the best wide receivers in the Pac Ten. How good is he compared to former Cougar greats such as Jason Hill and Michael Bumpus?
Brandon Gibson owes Jason Hill and Michael Bumpus for his success. He was cutting his teeth catching balls as the second or third option while Hill and Bumpus were taking on double coverages. He obviously doesn’t have Hill’s height or speed nor Bumpus’ quickness but he is close. He has better hands than Hill and has managed to stay healthy for the most part. Probably the one thing that has made him successful is that he is smart and able to read and find holes in the defense. It will be interesting this year to see how he does without a good secondary receiver taking the pressure off of him. I would like to give my opinion at the end of next season before I compared him to Hill and Bumpus so that I can see how he handles being basically the sole WSU receiver. To make a fair comparison at this time I would say that Gibson is an equal threat to what Hill and Bumpus were going into their final seasons.
5. Freshmen lineman Andrew Roxas was one bright spot for the Cougars last year as he played center for the first time against UCLA and performed quite well. How is the left side of the line coming along with the return of Roxas and Vaughn Lesuma?
Roxas (pronounced Ro-Hoss) was indeed a pleasant surprise as a true freshman. He performed admirably and got some valuable game experience on a unit that lacked depth last year. In my opinion, the O-Line was the best-performing unit on last year’s squad and they are poised for another great year.
The only loss on the line from last year is the very consistent, if unspectacular Bobby Byrd. He had prototypical size for a left tackle but was actually moved to guard due to the emergence of Micah Hannam. Perhaps most important to this year’s squad is the departure of line coach George Yarno. Yarno is an old pro who got the most out of his players and the guys played their butts off for him. He was not retained by new head-man Paul Wulff, in what was largely considered a disappointing move. The new coach is Harold Etheridge and early reports are that he’s not a great fit on the staff.
The good news is that this O-Line unit has the ability to rise above any coaching deficiencies due to the strong leadership of junior center Kenny Alfred. Alfred is a very solid, student of the game. He’s unheralded but does an incredible job of making the right calls at the line and playing his position.
With the new coaching staff in place and a slew of young up-and-comers fighting for spots on the depth chart, it’s probably too early to say who will line up on where, but the starters should be Alfred at center; Dan Rowlands and Roxas at guard; and the massive Lesuma and Hannam at tackle.
Fighting for playing time and providing some much needed depth are four highly-touted redshirt freshmen: Kevin Freitag, Steven Ayers, Will Hunter and BJ Guerra (a converted D-tackle.) Sophomore Joe Eppelle and junior Reed Lesuma (Vaughn’s “little” brother), could also see time this year.
The one knock on last year’s version of the O-line was that they at times seemed incapable of consistently opening up holes for the running game. With a year of experience and a full off-season spent getting stronger, that should change this year. These guys have the experience to be great but how well they perform in Coach Wulff’s no-huddle offense could very-well come down to how well they are conditioned. I expect big things from them this year.
6. The Cougs always had a pretty tough defense under Bill Doba. Will the trend continue under new coach Paul Wulff?
The approach on defense should be a little different than what we’ve seen out of Doba. Doba did a lot more mixing-n-matching over the last few years, switching things between a 3-4 and a 4-3 to try and get the most out of his personnel. Not a bad idea, but in the end it failed miserably as the defense has struggled to stop anyone of quality over the last few seasons. They were OK against the run last year, but against the pass it was pretty bad, #93 in the nation. They had trouble keeping the opponent out of the endzone as well, giving up over 32 points per game, placing them 97th in scoring defense.
The new defense will be led by two co-coordinators in Jody Sears and Chris Ball. Sears served as Wulff’s defensive coordinator at EWU the last five years, while Ball is an old secondary coach at WSU under Mike Price, bouncing around the last few seasons before returning with Wulff’s staff this year. Ball is considered a real get by the coaching staff, and has coached up some excellent secondary units over the years, particularly at WSU.
They are already pledging an eight-in-the-box, attack the run style of defense. There are some decent returners on that side of the ball, as eight of the top nine tacklers on the team are back from last season. But as is the norm at WSU, the defense is thin beyond the projected eight returning starters. While the secondary should be solid and the linebackers will probably be the best unit on the team, the worry is on the D-line, especially at defensive tackle. A’i Ahmu is a potential playmaker as a high-energy guy in the interior, but he’s battled foot injuries his whole career and you just don’t know if he can hold up inside. The rest of the tackle rotation is inexperienced. One of Wulff’s top recruits from this year’s signing class is JC transfer Bernard Wolfgramm, a 6-3, 275-lb tackle who can cause havoc up front. They are hoping they can plug him right in next to Ahmu by the season opener, but it’s hard to know what they will get from a JC transfer, especially early on.
The defensive ends look pretty good, with experienced guys like Mike Graise and Kevin Kooyman back from last year. However the headliner is Andy Mattingly, a kid who burst on the scene last year with 91 tackles and 8.5 sacks as a sophomore as an outside linebacker. This year he moves to D-end, and while at 6-4, 245, he doesn’t have the prototype size for the position, the early buzz is that he looks great with the switch and could be a real headache for opposing offenses this fall.
7. Was new Head coach Paul Wulff the right choice to replace Bill Doba?
Um, have YA SEEN the news lately? First came the APR mess, with a BCS-high eight scholarship losses at a program that never has depth anyway. And then, something about 25 “arrestable offenses” in the last 18 months, the vast majority under Bill Doba’s watch. Combine the off-the-field garbage with little success after the 2003 season, where they were only bowl-eligible once, and it was time for change. Wulff couldn’t have come along at a better moment than right now.
Think of it this way. From 2001-2003, this program was starting to become something other than a one-out-of-four-year fluke. Except for USC, three straight top-ten AP finishes is a pretty good accomplishment. But to take all that equity built up in the program and to see where it is now? Bill Doba and his staff not only crashed this ship, Doba actually created the iceberg first, and THEN rammed it, full-throttle.
Wulff is the right choice in many ways. First off, he’s the man. It’s his show, and there is absolutely no gray area about that fact. The message from day one has been clear, and that is either to buy into the program, or get out. There is now a 16-member “Unity Council”, where players will sit in judgment on guys who stray off the path. They will work in tandem with the coaching staff to punish the misdeeds accordingly. The team just turned in a cumulative 2.72 GPA, the highest in 30 years, under Wulff’s first semester at WSU. So things are already changing.
In the same tone, clearly this was Doba’s biggest flaw, in that he never acted like the job requires. The extra energy, the a-hole, I’m sitting in the front seat factor, it just wasn’t in Doba’s DNA. There is no confusion or passing the buck now.
Second, Wulff is a former player at WSU who actually played for Jim Walden, Dennis Erickson AND Mike Price in his four years of playing time. Wulff knows the ropes of Pullman, and he’s been coaching and recruiting the state of Washington for the last several years. He’s made some outstanding relationships with high school coaches throughout Washington, Oregon and California, and those kinds of things are invaluable during the recruiting process. It takes years to build up those kinds of trusting relationships, and Wulff already has that going into the job. And most of all, this is “his baby”. He’s got a personal stake in all this to make sure WSU can be a successful program again, and he wants it to happen on his watch. He understands the situation and isn’t shying away from the heavy lifting that lies ahead.
Finally, Wulff may not be a household name outside his own kitchen, but he’s done an outstanding job at EWU before coming back to WSU. He was the Big Sky coach of the year three different times in his eight seasons at EWU. The fact that he was actually able to have a winning record at EWU (53-40) is a borderline-miracle. There might not be a more difficult place to win than Cheney, WA, and yet he built a respectable program designed around exciting offenses on the field and a clean reputation off it. But to also win coach of the year honors three times? Absolutely amazing.
8. Because of is location, many people have argued that its impossible to build a consistent winner in Pullman . Do agree with this assessment?
I agree with this as I’m sure so would most Coug fans. You could say there are a few exceptions to this rule such as Penn State and (I think) Auburn for example as people claim they are “out in the middle of nowhere”. I don’t think they are like Pullman is. Both of those schools have at least 3 large citys that are less than 3 hours away from which to draw game day attendees. Pullman has Spokane 11/2 hours to the North and Seattle 51/2 hours to the West. If you look East or South there is not another city for thousands of miles. Since Spokane isn’t a large city and Seattle is so far away, it is hard for WSU to fill a stadium with less than 40,000 seats. Despite the fact that probably 95% of Coug fans watch or listen to the games every Saturday that still doesn’t do anything to raise money for the program. It is hard to recruit with such a small budget, stadium and crowd. Because of that, or until someone invents the transporter beam, WSU will always be bringing in the second tier recruits with an occasional surprise here and there and never be a big time program.
9. Lastly, look into your Crystal ball. How will the Cougars do this year?
There couldn’t be a tougher question to answer than this one. The pre-season rags have ganged up on WSU and it’s a near-consensus that they are viewed as the worst team in the conference. Now, being picked “Mrs. Last” isn’t old news in Pullman. It’s happened many times in the past, and given the changes, this isn’t a surprise.
That said, I can’t ever remember so many unknowns heading into a season. New coaching staff with only two holdovers from the prior regime. Brand new shotgun, no-huddle offense in a read-option hybrid scheme designed to spread you out. New co-defensive coordinators who are already claiming they will attack the line of scrimmage and put eight in the box, daring offenses to beat them deep. It’s just a whole new deal on so many levels.
Bottom line, WSU does return 14 starters, so it hasn’t been completely blown up. Eight projected starters are back on D, including all three starting linebackers and 3/4ths of the secondary. But as talked about earlier in this post, the biggest wild-card is QB Gary Rogers. The spring buzz has been very positive in regards to his grasp of the new system, so if he clicks early with the new scheme, they could be a true “surprise” team. Especially early in the year, when there isn’t any film on the new offense or Gary Rogers in particular. But if he struggles during the break-in period and they get off to a rough start, then the trickle-down could be too much to overcome once they hit the meat of the Pac-10. The schedule is a little bumpy early, with games against Oklahoma State and Baylor, plus Cal and Oregon in the first month alone in terms of conference match-ups. That first month will dictate a lot.
In the end, I see at worst three wins, at best, five wins. We want to be optimistic this time of year, and hope springs eternal in June. We love our team just like anyone else, but we are also realistic. To get any more wins than five would be too much to expect. Wulff is going to need some time to flip this program, and the changes required aren’t going to happen overnight.