Washington State was hard at work on the practice fields on Wednesday. The Cougars are getting ready to take on Arizona State this weekend in Pullman (kickoff scheduled for 2pm). It's Homecoming on the Palouse.

WSU was handed an embarrassing 52-6 loss by Oregon last weekend, but that didn't keep the Cougars from coming out motivated on Wednesday. I was down here after every loss last year, and it seemed like Wazzu was pretty flat after a while. Not this year. They seem excited to prove to people they are better than what they showed against the Ducks.

The man in charge of all the excitement seems to be co-defensive coordinator Jody Sears. He came out to practice today, hooting and hollering, trying to fire up the troops. He even gave me a five when he went running by. Sears seems to make the atmosphere fun and loose, but he's also not afraid to get in a player's face if they mess up (Myron Beck got an earful from him today).

The Cougars are still really dinged up. They will be missing offensive linemen B.J. Guerra, Zach Williams, and Steven Ayers again. That's not good, because the o-line got worked last weekend against Oregon. The Cougs need to get some of their big fellas back. Lineman Brian Danaher did practice today, but he was in a "no contact" jersey. Jared Karstetter started with his regular uniform on, but switched over to a "no contact" jersey when the team broke into live drills. Cornerback Aire Justin, safety Eric Block, defensive end Kevin Kooyman, and offensive lineman Kevin Freitag all did not practice today.

I actually feel really bad for injured players. They get worked nearly as hard as the guys on the field. They were either riding an exercise bike, doing pull-ups or sit-ups, or lifting weights. Safety Tyree Toomer, who has his right arm in a sling, was still lifting weights with his left arm. There is no break for the wounded.

Freshman quarterback Jeff Tuel was limited in practice on Tuesday (he left the Oregon game in the first quarter with a hip pointer), but he was not limited at all today. He took most of the snaps with the first team offense. Paul Wulff told me today that Tuel "will definitely play." I asked if he would start, but Wulff told me he'd have to see how Jeff feels and looks in practice this week. From what I saw today, expect Tuel to start on Saturday.

I can't help get excited for the future when I am down here. I got one of my first looks at linebacker Andre Barrington today (he's redshirting). The dude looks like a linebacker. Assistant sports information director Joe Nickell, who is at practice every day, said Barrington is good enough to start right now. Nickell is also crazy about freshman cornerback Anthony Carpenter (who is also redshirting this year). I still also love to see the Tuel-Gino Simone connection. If the USC game wasn't evidence enough, Tuel loves throwing to Simone in practice as well (sometimes it seems like Gino is his only target). I guess that's what happens when you are good friends off the field too.

Something that doesn't get me very excited...Nico Grasu's kicking. I caught him kicking field goals at the end of practice. Of the eight field goals I saw him kick (not sure on the distance because I was standing behind him), three were blocked, he hooked two, made two, and pushed one. He really needs to get things turned around. The team was giving him a lot of "Let's go Nico!" encouragement. Right before his final kick, Wulff started raising his arms to get the players to start making more noise for Grasu. It worked, because Grasu's last kick was one of his two makes.

We talked to Jeff Tuel, Jeffrey Solomon, and Paul Wulff this week at practice. Click on their names to hear their uncut interviews.

You can also watch one of my live practice reports on the Cougar page on KREM.com, so be sure to check it out.

I also want to remind you to follow me on Twitter @TLKREM2. I was tweeting from practice today with all the latest on the Cougars. As I do for every home game, I'll also be tweeting from the sideline of Saturday's game against Arizona State.

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

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