| 18 November 2009
Wow, week ELEVEN already in the Coug universe? Unreal. This season, I don't know, it's been odd. First it went really fast. Then, after homecoming I guess, after the injuries and the losses mounted, it's slowed WAY down. Now it seems to be going fast again. Weird.
Anyway, a pretty good radio show tonight. Yep, coach Wulff is still sticking to his guns, even as things get worse around him (at least worse in terms of the performance you actually see on Saturdays. Remember it's all about what's going on behind the scenes, things you can't see. THAT'S the good stuff!). As usual, here's the top things to take from this week's show:
1) Bud Nameck immediately asked what, exactly, happened with UCLA? Wulff said "it was tough. We had a really good week of practice, and I was sure that we were emotionally ready to play on Saturday. But once things got started, it was a struggle. We turned the ball over on the third, sixth and ninth play of our offensive possessions with interceptions, and you just can't do that early with a young football team. We had four turnovers total in the first half, and that's just too much. Right now we have a lot of youth, injuries, and immaturity, and with that you are going to see some inconsistency. But we are still working hard in practice, and we are practicing well, but the problem is you aren't seeing it translate into Saturday."
Wulff then spoke about playmakers. "No matter the sport - baseball, basketball, football - you have to have playmakers, guys who can go out in games and, obviously, make plays. We need our youth to grow up and get it done during games. Right now, playmakers are what we lack."
Anyway, a pretty good radio show tonight. Yep, coach Wulff is still sticking to his guns, even as things get worse around him (at least worse in terms of the performance you actually see on Saturdays. Remember it's all about what's going on behind the scenes, things you can't see. THAT'S the good stuff!). As usual, here's the top things to take from this week's show:
1) Bud Nameck immediately asked what, exactly, happened with UCLA? Wulff said "it was tough. We had a really good week of practice, and I was sure that we were emotionally ready to play on Saturday. But once things got started, it was a struggle. We turned the ball over on the third, sixth and ninth play of our offensive possessions with interceptions, and you just can't do that early with a young football team. We had four turnovers total in the first half, and that's just too much. Right now we have a lot of youth, injuries, and immaturity, and with that you are going to see some inconsistency. But we are still working hard in practice, and we are practicing well, but the problem is you aren't seeing it translate into Saturday."
Wulff then spoke about playmakers. "No matter the sport - baseball, basketball, football - you have to have playmakers, guys who can go out in games and, obviously, make plays. We need our youth to grow up and get it done during games. Right now, playmakers are what we lack."
2) Nameck asked about injuries and suspensions. Right away, looks like Chima Nwachukwu is going to be "extremely doubtful" again this week. The same goes with Bernard Wolfgramm, nursing that troublesome back injury. Also sounds as though Dan Spitz will be doubtful with a concussion suffered vs. UCLA on Saturday. But even more bad news, of course, with Jason Stripling's run-in with the law, then Toby Turpin is now out for a month due to a discipline issue that "must be addressed" within the team. Wulff said "Turpin was in violation or penalty within the athletic program" or something like that, but the bottom line is he is now DONE for 2009. Wulff said "it's unfortunate, but we have rules and guidelines we set for with this team last year. We have to follow them. The attitude is changing for the better, the culture is changing, and part of that is accountability for your actions."
Nothing else was elaborated on with Turpin, but wow, have they just had one bad thing happen to them in terms of injuries and suspensions or what? Coming into 2009, the top three defensive tackles were, most likely, Toby Turpin, Bernard Wolfgramm and Josh Luapo. They lost Luapo early in the year, Wolfgramm has been in and out with injuries, now Turpin is shut down for the season. Oh yeah, AND Dan Spitz, the frosh who was playing by necessity due to the injuries in front of him, is also going to be out? Who, exactly, will be playing defensive tackle this week? ME AND YOU!?!
From this week's release, you had Turpin and Wolfgramm listed as starters, with Dan Spitz as one of the backups. Now you can likely subtract all three of them. Let's see, there's Anthony Laurenzi.....that's about it. I hope he's in shape, Laurenzi. You know they'll go to a 3-man defensive line as it is, but he may be the only healthy and/or eligible defensive tackle left on the roster. Again, let's restate that - ONE HEALTHY/ELIGIBLE defensive tackle!?!? It cannot be understated enough.....UNBELIEVABLE.
3) Finally in regard to injuries, Wulff and Nameck both agreed that it was unusual to see a road team actually suit up more guys than the home team, but it's true. Wulff said "we only suited up 50 players for a home game, which is far too few. But of those 50, only 44 of them are even eligible to play!" Now chew on that for a moment. An NCAA football BCS program with 85 scholarships allowed is able to only suit up 50 players for a home game? Only 44 of which can actually step on the field and play?? WOW.
One last thing, on the behavior issues with Jason Stripling and Toby Turpin. Wulff said "When we came here, as coaches we knew that there would be a "cleaning and a clensing" of the program. We knew that there would be some issues in this process, and that is exactly what you are seeing. The incidents off the field have gone way, way down compared to where they used to be. Believe me when I say that we are anxious to move forward. THIS PROGRAM IS READY TO TAKE OFF."
4) On the good news front, Kenny Alfred was named to play in the East-West Shrine game in the upcoming postseason. Wulff was very happy for Alfred, calling him "the best player on the team, without a doubt. He is a great representative of WSU. He has a very bright future, no matter what Kenny Alfred does."
We've always loved Alfred around this blog, everyone knows that. He's a smart kid who's been a rock in the middle of the line. They are going to miss him inside next year, no doubt about it. But we'll worry about that next year, when we're worrying about everything else.
5) Nameck asked if it's tough to motivate the team this time of year? Wulff said "Obviously it is tough, but it depends on how the season is going at this point of the year. It's not easy when you aren't playing for anything. But we need to find great motivation for the kids, to always go out and try to improve on their last performance. Personally I haven't been in this situation much, as we have the past two years here, when we haven't been playing for anything late in the year. But again, we are extremely young, we've had a lot of injuries. Us as coaches, we cannot be negative! It won't do anyone any good. We have to be positive and energized, and encourage a good effort. Right now we are struggling to do it on gameday, but there are some truths out there."
Wulff went on to add that "there are facts, and there are excuses. We deal with the facts of where we are with our youth and injuries right now. We have to be realistic with what we are dealing with at this time. But we will get better. It's a long process, and it's tough, but we will get better."
Nameck then added that some of the young players he's observed have a very strong will among them. One in particular was Gino Simone, who walked by Bud Nameck during the game, looked at him, and said "this freshman class right here, this is the LAST TIME WE WILL LOSE TO UCLA!!" Wulff kind of chuckled, but said they are definitely some strong willed young players. But "they are just 18 today, so it's hard. But they are hell-bent on making something special for Washington State University."
6) A caller asked a couple of very good questions. 1) Does the team find it difficult to practice against their teammates all week, then go out on Saturday and see all the speed on the other team? With a team lacking so much strength and speed, do they practice against the first-string during practice? And 2) Given that there is such a lack of speed, has the staff decided to go out and recruit JC talent to infuse some speed and talent right away? (hmmm, haven't we heard this out of our own Sutra the last month or so?)
Wulff said on practices that "that's a GREAT question, and it's something we've talked alot about as coaches. We do some 1's on 1's during practice, but majority of the time it's against the scout team. But simulating that game speed on Saturday, against really good Pac-10 teams, is difficult to do. As we get deeper and our strength and speed increases, we will be better prepared on Saturdays."
On the JC question: "There is lots of truth to that, another GREAT question. But my philosophy is to build with youth and let it develop in 3, 4 years. First of all you get more out of them as they are in your program longer and you can develop them that way. And with JC's there are some risks involved, and they have had problems here in the past with some JC's. Such as the APR issue where we are down 8 scholarships. The quick fix is tempting but you also deal with more potential issues from the JC ranks.
Then Wulff brought up an interesting point. He said that "the 1997 Rose Bowl team was a team loaded with seniors. In '98, '99 and '00, they went really young, and in those years, the Cougs won 0, 1 and 2 Pac-10 games, all three years finishing IN LAST PLACE. It wasn't until 2001 and all that youth started to grow up and mature did they start to get some success, and we saw the 10-win seasons. But people forget that it took those last-place finishes with all that youth to build up into something pretty special."
7) Bud then brought it back to recruiting. In fact, this year there are some JC recruits they are looking at, and Wulff agreed. Wulff said "to be honest, we believe there will be three JC kids who will enroll in January, two offensive linemen and one defensive lineman. All three are players who we think can help us right away. We are happy to have them in January, as we can then get them into the offseason workouts, and have them for spring ball. They will be that much further ahead by fall camp vs. if they just enrolled in August."
So I guess he isn't entirely against the JC route? But you can't exactly build out a winning program based on JC's, he's clearly not against a few quick fixes here and there.
8) A caller asked about what's going on with the tight ends? Why aren't they being used? Wulff said that Tony Thompson's injury has left them awfully young at that position, with frosh in Skyler Stormo and Andrei Lintz. But Wulff said "I really like Lintz. He has a lot of talent, but the injury he suffered in the all-state high school game set him back a bit on his growth as a player. We have put him on some special teams, but we aren't sure if he's really ready to go at tight end. He has some strides to make in his development and he isn't as consistent as we need him to be. But he has a very bright future."
9) A caller asked about the poor tackling on Saturday, and one in particular was the half-assed attempt by Jay Matthews to tackle Kevin Prince on his long TD run. Wulff said "first of all, Matthews has a shoulder that keeps popping out and he's wearing a brace just to keep it in place. He is the only healthy safety we have next to Xavier Hicks. He is in a LOT OF PAIN and is out there doing everything he can to help us!" But he is "barely able to play" right now. But Wulff then said that our tackling issues "are that we just aren't fast enough or strong enough yet to get into a good position to make the solid tackles." But he did say that there are some redshirts in the program who they believe will help right away next year, and there are also about five commitments in the secondary that they are really high on right now. Wulff said "Chris Ball has coached some really good defensive backs in his time, and he believes that this incoming group has a chance to be special." The caller asked if they might get some taller DB's? But Wulff said "we look at speed and physical play first, then worry about height later. For example, Isiah Trufant, the third Trufant brother, was only 5-6. But he started at corner at EWU and was an excellent player who could jump and run with anyone. Teams would test him out often at first with deep fades with their taller receivers, but he always was there to make plays. So we look at speed and physical play first."
10) Finally, Oregon State. Wulff has been impressed, saying "maybe part of their slow start is that we've heard they aren't really all that physical in fall camp, or not aggressive in fall camp and they don't hit much. Part of that could lead to a slow start. But they have stayed healthy and have really improved as the season has gone along. They are strong on offense and defense, and they continue to get better and better." Nameck asked about Sean Canfield, the 5th year QB. Wulff said "I spoke with Mike Riley this spring, and he was saying back then that it really looked like Canfield had turned the corner, and was looking really good in spring ball. He has done a great job this year, completing 70% of his passes." Wulff also, of course, brought up the Rodgers brothers in James and Jacquizz. Wulff said "the Rodgers brothers, in receiving and rushing yards, account for 80% of OSU's offense! They do a lot of different things with both of them, and they are fast, physical players. We have to try and slow them down and avoid the big plays."
That's about it for this week. Enjoy your Wednesday, and GO COUGS!
Nothing else was elaborated on with Turpin, but wow, have they just had one bad thing happen to them in terms of injuries and suspensions or what? Coming into 2009, the top three defensive tackles were, most likely, Toby Turpin, Bernard Wolfgramm and Josh Luapo. They lost Luapo early in the year, Wolfgramm has been in and out with injuries, now Turpin is shut down for the season. Oh yeah, AND Dan Spitz, the frosh who was playing by necessity due to the injuries in front of him, is also going to be out? Who, exactly, will be playing defensive tackle this week? ME AND YOU!?!
From this week's release, you had Turpin and Wolfgramm listed as starters, with Dan Spitz as one of the backups. Now you can likely subtract all three of them. Let's see, there's Anthony Laurenzi.....that's about it. I hope he's in shape, Laurenzi. You know they'll go to a 3-man defensive line as it is, but he may be the only healthy and/or eligible defensive tackle left on the roster. Again, let's restate that - ONE HEALTHY/ELIGIBLE defensive tackle!?!? It cannot be understated enough.....UNBELIEVABLE.
3) Finally in regard to injuries, Wulff and Nameck both agreed that it was unusual to see a road team actually suit up more guys than the home team, but it's true. Wulff said "we only suited up 50 players for a home game, which is far too few. But of those 50, only 44 of them are even eligible to play!" Now chew on that for a moment. An NCAA football BCS program with 85 scholarships allowed is able to only suit up 50 players for a home game? Only 44 of which can actually step on the field and play?? WOW.
One last thing, on the behavior issues with Jason Stripling and Toby Turpin. Wulff said "When we came here, as coaches we knew that there would be a "cleaning and a clensing" of the program. We knew that there would be some issues in this process, and that is exactly what you are seeing. The incidents off the field have gone way, way down compared to where they used to be. Believe me when I say that we are anxious to move forward. THIS PROGRAM IS READY TO TAKE OFF."
4) On the good news front, Kenny Alfred was named to play in the East-West Shrine game in the upcoming postseason. Wulff was very happy for Alfred, calling him "the best player on the team, without a doubt. He is a great representative of WSU. He has a very bright future, no matter what Kenny Alfred does."
We've always loved Alfred around this blog, everyone knows that. He's a smart kid who's been a rock in the middle of the line. They are going to miss him inside next year, no doubt about it. But we'll worry about that next year, when we're worrying about everything else.
5) Nameck asked if it's tough to motivate the team this time of year? Wulff said "Obviously it is tough, but it depends on how the season is going at this point of the year. It's not easy when you aren't playing for anything. But we need to find great motivation for the kids, to always go out and try to improve on their last performance. Personally I haven't been in this situation much, as we have the past two years here, when we haven't been playing for anything late in the year. But again, we are extremely young, we've had a lot of injuries. Us as coaches, we cannot be negative! It won't do anyone any good. We have to be positive and energized, and encourage a good effort. Right now we are struggling to do it on gameday, but there are some truths out there."
Wulff went on to add that "there are facts, and there are excuses. We deal with the facts of where we are with our youth and injuries right now. We have to be realistic with what we are dealing with at this time. But we will get better. It's a long process, and it's tough, but we will get better."
Nameck then added that some of the young players he's observed have a very strong will among them. One in particular was Gino Simone, who walked by Bud Nameck during the game, looked at him, and said "this freshman class right here, this is the LAST TIME WE WILL LOSE TO UCLA!!" Wulff kind of chuckled, but said they are definitely some strong willed young players. But "they are just 18 today, so it's hard. But they are hell-bent on making something special for Washington State University."
6) A caller asked a couple of very good questions. 1) Does the team find it difficult to practice against their teammates all week, then go out on Saturday and see all the speed on the other team? With a team lacking so much strength and speed, do they practice against the first-string during practice? And 2) Given that there is such a lack of speed, has the staff decided to go out and recruit JC talent to infuse some speed and talent right away? (hmmm, haven't we heard this out of our own Sutra the last month or so?)
Wulff said on practices that "that's a GREAT question, and it's something we've talked alot about as coaches. We do some 1's on 1's during practice, but majority of the time it's against the scout team. But simulating that game speed on Saturday, against really good Pac-10 teams, is difficult to do. As we get deeper and our strength and speed increases, we will be better prepared on Saturdays."
On the JC question: "There is lots of truth to that, another GREAT question. But my philosophy is to build with youth and let it develop in 3, 4 years. First of all you get more out of them as they are in your program longer and you can develop them that way. And with JC's there are some risks involved, and they have had problems here in the past with some JC's. Such as the APR issue where we are down 8 scholarships. The quick fix is tempting but you also deal with more potential issues from the JC ranks.
Then Wulff brought up an interesting point. He said that "the 1997 Rose Bowl team was a team loaded with seniors. In '98, '99 and '00, they went really young, and in those years, the Cougs won 0, 1 and 2 Pac-10 games, all three years finishing IN LAST PLACE. It wasn't until 2001 and all that youth started to grow up and mature did they start to get some success, and we saw the 10-win seasons. But people forget that it took those last-place finishes with all that youth to build up into something pretty special."
7) Bud then brought it back to recruiting. In fact, this year there are some JC recruits they are looking at, and Wulff agreed. Wulff said "to be honest, we believe there will be three JC kids who will enroll in January, two offensive linemen and one defensive lineman. All three are players who we think can help us right away. We are happy to have them in January, as we can then get them into the offseason workouts, and have them for spring ball. They will be that much further ahead by fall camp vs. if they just enrolled in August."
So I guess he isn't entirely against the JC route? But you can't exactly build out a winning program based on JC's, he's clearly not against a few quick fixes here and there.
8) A caller asked about what's going on with the tight ends? Why aren't they being used? Wulff said that Tony Thompson's injury has left them awfully young at that position, with frosh in Skyler Stormo and Andrei Lintz. But Wulff said "I really like Lintz. He has a lot of talent, but the injury he suffered in the all-state high school game set him back a bit on his growth as a player. We have put him on some special teams, but we aren't sure if he's really ready to go at tight end. He has some strides to make in his development and he isn't as consistent as we need him to be. But he has a very bright future."
9) A caller asked about the poor tackling on Saturday, and one in particular was the half-assed attempt by Jay Matthews to tackle Kevin Prince on his long TD run. Wulff said "first of all, Matthews has a shoulder that keeps popping out and he's wearing a brace just to keep it in place. He is the only healthy safety we have next to Xavier Hicks. He is in a LOT OF PAIN and is out there doing everything he can to help us!" But he is "barely able to play" right now. But Wulff then said that our tackling issues "are that we just aren't fast enough or strong enough yet to get into a good position to make the solid tackles." But he did say that there are some redshirts in the program who they believe will help right away next year, and there are also about five commitments in the secondary that they are really high on right now. Wulff said "Chris Ball has coached some really good defensive backs in his time, and he believes that this incoming group has a chance to be special." The caller asked if they might get some taller DB's? But Wulff said "we look at speed and physical play first, then worry about height later. For example, Isiah Trufant, the third Trufant brother, was only 5-6. But he started at corner at EWU and was an excellent player who could jump and run with anyone. Teams would test him out often at first with deep fades with their taller receivers, but he always was there to make plays. So we look at speed and physical play first."
10) Finally, Oregon State. Wulff has been impressed, saying "maybe part of their slow start is that we've heard they aren't really all that physical in fall camp, or not aggressive in fall camp and they don't hit much. Part of that could lead to a slow start. But they have stayed healthy and have really improved as the season has gone along. They are strong on offense and defense, and they continue to get better and better." Nameck asked about Sean Canfield, the 5th year QB. Wulff said "I spoke with Mike Riley this spring, and he was saying back then that it really looked like Canfield had turned the corner, and was looking really good in spring ball. He has done a great job this year, completing 70% of his passes." Wulff also, of course, brought up the Rodgers brothers in James and Jacquizz. Wulff said "the Rodgers brothers, in receiving and rushing yards, account for 80% of OSU's offense! They do a lot of different things with both of them, and they are fast, physical players. We have to try and slow them down and avoid the big plays."
That's about it for this week. Enjoy your Wednesday, and GO COUGS!
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