I'm a bit worried about our interior d-line. We've got a couple bodies coming up at linebacker/pass rusher (Oguayo seems most likely to make a bit of a jump next year doing something akin to what Palacio and McLennan offered) and end, but not all those ends will grow into tackles. I'm sure the staff have targets, but there may need to be a JC or two in there, even if they don't become major contributors until 2018. I'm not as worried as I once was about teams running past us. I'm more concerned about them running over us. Ekuale, Mata'afa, McBroom, and Tapa might be a functional 2 deep, but that's all it is. Injuries will hurt, and I don't see much in the way of disruptive potential in this group beyond Hercules, which in turn makes it harder to get a consistent edge rush.
Anything interesting on DTs?
- Thread starter random soul
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I've posted this before, but Hunter Mattox and Lyric Bartley as frosh were pretty much the same size that Xavier Cooper and Destiny Vaeao were at the same stage of their careers. Under the Leach staff's guidance, Cooper and Vaeao developed quite well. Now, if T.J. Fehoko, who came in at 270, is still around and continues to grow, there are three bodies potentially inside, and they should at least be able to spell Ekuale, Tapa, McBroom, and Mata'afa. Do we need more? Yes. It's just a guess, but I suspect some of these taller d-end recruits will grow considerably. Some will play inside.
no joke, i don't want to see sweet punting again, Powell clearly had the biggest leg, perhaps with some technique refinement he could be a good alternative
The cougs have a field goal kicker ,Ryan Henderson visiting this weekend. He made all 59 PATs and 12/14 field gal attempts. His longest was a 56 yard field goal
I would be willing to spend a scholarship on a reliable kicker. We used to do that, and it paid dividends. Remember Adam Holiday? Price gave him a scholly and he was just recruited to kick off. It ended up being a smart move....nearly all of his kickoffs ended in touchbacks.
Glad Cougar
Glad Cougar
Actually, nearly every good kicker we've had has come via walk on.
Scholarships on kickers are a wasted asset. Not that I don't believe in having a quality kicker, but the difference between a scholarship worthy kicker and a walk on is just not great enough to justify the cost.
It took Powell half a season to get comfortable again after being in either a funk or having to adjust his technique (because his leg strength did improve) and now you want to ask him to punt? Unless somebody else beats him out at placekicker I can't say that prospect excites me.
Siderius seemed a product of local conditions. Only time he resembled his hype was the road game to Reno.
I am in favor of walk-ons earning a scholarship at the PK and punting positions. As Glad mentioned the Holiday scholarship was well worth it but we must remember the conditions at that time. I have forgotten the name of the young man kicking off before him but well remember the opponents usually starting their drive on their 35 or 40 yard line. Price was desperate for a PK with the leg to put it into or near the goal line. Holiday was worth every penny of his scholy.
Here s getting back to the original thread.I am hoping that Tapa becomes the monster,he seemed to be when the cougs first recruited him. Perhaps Coach Phelps will help realize his enormous potential. He just has not progressed as fast as one would have hoped.
I could be wrong, but back in my day....which was a long time ago....we had kickers like Joe Danelo and Gavin Hedrick (PK & punter respectively) who I believed were on scholarship, and they went on to NFL careers. But over the past 25 years or so, you are right that most of the really good kickers at WSU started as walkons. However they arrive in Pullman, I don't really care. But it would be immensely valuable to have a strong set of kickers instead of thinking of them as afterthoughts.
Glad Cougar
I think Fab means initially. As in bring them in as preferred walk-ons, and if they pan out put them on scholarship. Don't offer them scholarships right out of high school.
Not really. At least not at WSU. He offered a scholly to that Bowlin kid, who was awful. Offered one to Abramo, who was beaten out by Powell. Offered one to Vizcaino, who then flipped to UW and is now punting.
Yes, this "Leach doesn't care about kickers" thing just seems to be one of those myths that's been repeated so often that people believe it. Maybe it's a product of that old Tech anecdote where he let a kid who won a contest walk on (when his kicking game sucked so much he had to), or maybe it's because he has an inclination to go for it on 4th down. He's been quoted talking about the importance of special teams in general and, in particular, the kicking game. Can't dig them up right now, but one of them was about how special teams plays have much more of an impact on the game than most believe, especially on a per-play basis, and he knows they are important.
As for scholarships, Fab laid it out ... I'm pretty sure Wulff gave zero scholarships to kickers who weren't already here as walk-ons, and I think Price and Doba did so pretty sparingly, so I don't know how anyone could conclude that Leach's record of trying to bring in kickers on scholarship demonstrates a lack of giving a damn.
