The Washington State football team was hard at work on the Palouse on Wednesday, getting ready for their season opener against Stanford.

The really good news is that everyone appears to be healthy. Freshman safety Jay Matthews, safety Myron Beck, linebacker Mike Ledgerwood, and running back James Montgomery were the only ones wearing the yellow "No Contact" jerseys (except for the quarterbacks who always wear them). Montgomery never looked like he was really going 100-percent, but he will play on Saturday. It will be nice to start the season with everyone in place.

There seems to be a renewed enthusiasm on the practice field (as there should be). Everyone we interviewed today said it is nice to have a fresh start after a terrible 2008. Paul Wulff said the team really wants to prove to themselves that they are better than last year. I think they will be, but we'll see on Saturday. Even Vince Grippi of the Spokesman-Review (who is at practice every day) said he thinks the Cougars will compete against the Cardinal (he did say a lot will depend on Stanford's opening drive...if they march down and score "all bets are off" he told me).

The offense struggled early in practice. I heard the coaches yelling at the team telling them to "wake up!" They picked things up as practice went along though, so that was encouraging. The quarterbacks and wide receivers stayed after practice (with offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy). They were having fun with each other (there was a lot of heckling and laughing), but they were also getting some extra work in.

I didn't have a lot of time to watch the defense, but one guy really stood out to me...safety LeAndre Daniels. I noticed him last year (the dude looks like he was built to play football) and he got even bigger this season. I talked to assistant sports information director Joe Nickell about him (he is a big fan as well). It sounds like Chima Nwachukwu has been playing a lot of cornerback again. Nickell said if Chima plays corner then Daniels will start at safety. I think the redshirt freshman has some serious potential (keep in mind I'm just a broadcaster...not a scout).

Speaking of young guys...I got my first look at freshman quarterback Jeff Tuel. I wanted to see him play in the final fall scrimmage, but he was out with the flu. You can see that the kid is loaded with talent, but he looks very young and scrawny. Let's hope the two guys ahead of him stay healthy so Tuel won't have to burn his redshirt (like J.T. Levenseller did last year).

I'll have a preview blog on Friday focusing on the matchup against Stanford, but I will touch on the game a little bit right now. Wulff and quarterback Kevin Lopina both said that protecting the ball will be a key to winning the game. The Cougars turned the ball over five times (two interceptions and three fumbles) against the Cardinal last year...the result was a 58-0 drubbing.

Wulff also said shutting down the running game will be another goal. Stanford ran for 344 yards last year against WSU. Toby Gerhart ran for four first half touchdowns. He's back for another season. Wulff admitted that there is no way to stop him, the Cougars just need to keep him from big runs and they need to figure out how to stop him on third-and-short situations.

I posted uncut interviews with Lopina and Wulff (click on their names to watch their interviews) on KREM.com. I also posted a live report from practice on Wednesday as well.

Kickoff is slated for 3pm in Pullman on Saturday. I'll be at the game. I plan on tweeting from the sideline (just like I did at practice today), so be sure to follow me @TLKREM2. We'll also have full coverage on KREM 2 News at 10pm and 11pm. I'll also be sure to post highlights and postgame interviews on KREM.com.

That's all I have for now...GO COUGS!

PS -- Feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions below. I would love more interaction on the blog this year.

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