Every time I'm in Pullman for Cougar practice I hear a new phrase. This week it was, "It's big play Wednesday." Dwight Tardy said it over and over again during warm-ups.

It still sounds like the coaches still don't like some of the players' work ethic. During special teams I heard co-defensive coordinator Jody Sears yell at several guys for walking around. Chris Ball (the other defensive coordinator) also made the defensive backs start a drill over because they were "just going through the motions." And, at one point, Paul Wulff was yelling at the offensive line (I think it was aimed at Vaughn Lesuma) for slacking.

There were only a few starters who didn't practice today. There are the obvious guys like Kevin Lopina (broken vertebrae...I hear he could be back in a few weeks), Gary Rogers (cervical spine fracture...done for the season), and Jason Stripling (season ending shoulder injury). Cory Evans wasn't suited up either (he didn't sound happy about it). Micah Hannam appeared to hurt himself early in practice when he got tangled up with A'i Ahmu, but he continued to play. Later in practice though, Hannam had to be helped off the field with some sort of a right leg injury. The training staff checked him out on the sideline (Wulff even came over to see how he was doing) for a while. He eventually walked off the field on his own, but it looked like he was really hurting.

With Lopina and Rogers officially out, Marshall Lobbestael will be the starter (I know we've already talked about this, but I thought it was a nice refresher). The backup is J.T. Levenseller (son of wide receivers coach Mike Levenseller). From what I hear, the team is willing (only if they really have to) burn Levenseller's redshirt. The only other option is walk-on Dan Wagner (who started at punter against Oklahoma State). Everyone I interviewed (Tyrone Justin, Chantz Staden, Xavier Hicks, and Paul Wulff) has confidence in Lobbestael as the starter (what else are they really going to tell me? Not doubting they don't really believe in him). In less than a half of football against Portland State, Lobbestael put up good enough numbers to earn Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week honors (Justin pointed this out as his reason for having faith in the redshirt freshman quarterback). We'll see what Lobbestael can do in his first career start...against a Pac-10 opponent.

There is one more thing I want to touch on. It's a quick glimpse into 2009. I was talking to people today about some of the DI transfers Wazzu got this year (they have to sit out a year before they are eligible). The biggest props went to wide receiver Jeffrey Solomon (came from Eastern with Wulff). Apparently, some people believe he can be as good as Brandon Gibson. Solomon was running drills with the receivers today and dropped a pass. Everyone was shocked that he dropped it (I think it's pretty rare)...even Mike Levenseller. The two other "studs" are transfers from the University of California: running back James Montgomery and cornerback Brandon Jones. It sounds like both should be starters next season.

Bringing it back to the present...it's Homecoming at Washington State this weekend. The game against Oregon is set to kickoff at 3:15pm. It will be televised on FSN Northwest.

The Cougars are a 21 point underdog...

Sorry to end it on a negative note, but that's all for now.

P.S. Back to the positives...

Scout.com is reporting that the Washington State basketball team got a committment from a North Carolina prep star on Tuesday.

Here is the article I found in The Seattle Time:

David Chadwick, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward from Charlotte, N.C., has given the Washington State basketball program a verbal commitment to enter WSU in the fall of 2009, according to Scout.com.

Chadwick is the son of David Chadwick Sr., who played for Dean Smith at North Carolina from 1969-71. David Chadwick Sr. became a pastor and officiated the marriage of WSU coach Tony Bennett and his wife Laurel, who met while Bennett was playing with the Charlotte Hornets.

The younger Chadwick was recruited early by several ACC schools, but his recent recruitment was primarily by WSU, College of Charleston, George Mason, Tulane and others.

Chadwick averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds last year for Charlotte Latin.

Building towards the future...I love it!

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