For Football
Cougs, spring might not settle much at QB
By Dale Grummert, Lewiston Trib, 3/21/2019
At certain
other positions, the narratives will be strikingly new. At quarterback, 2019
spring football drills at Washington State will seem oddly familiar.
Trey
Tinsley, Anthony Gordon, Camm Cooper and others will begin vying for a starting
role next season — knowing their toughest competition might be the new guy
who’s not yet in the mix.
Very much
like last year.
Gage
Gubrud, the graduate transfer from Eastern Washington who’s trying to become
the next Gardner Minshew, is expected to miss spring workouts after sustaining
an undisclosed lower-leg injury during WSU winter-conditioning drills.
So he’ll
presumably try to follow the Minshew script from 2018: Join the fray for
preseason camp, win the starter’s role and eventually vault himself and the
Cougs into the national limelight. Wazzu is coming off an 11-2 season capped by
a win in the Alamo Bowl.
March and
April, however, will be all about Tinsley, Gordon, Cooper and whoever else
might insinuate himself into the QB picture. The candidates won’t include
Connor Neville, who early this week announced plans to transfer.
The
Cougars will gather at 2:45 p.m. today for the first of 15 spring practices,
climaxed by the Crimson and Gray scrimmage at 1 p.m. on April 20 at Martin
Stadium.
“Similar
to last year – we’ve got three guys with some experience, or have been around,”
eighth-year coach Mike Leach said Wednesday of his quarterbacks, though none of
them has seen extended playing time at the FBS level (and Gubrud, of course,
played in the FCS).
“We’ll
split the reps up, and we’ll take a peek at where the young guys are. The thing
is, we’ve got to get a starter (by August), so we’re going to invest most of
the reps into those older guys, unless one of those young guys is able to
really pick things up quickly.”
Tinsley
and Gordon narrowly lost out to Minshew in a three-way battle for the starter’s
job last August (“I think we could have won with either one of them,” Leach
said), and they’ll have at least one clear advantage over Gubrud: a thorough
familiarity with a deep receiver crew that loses only one significant member,
Kyle Sweet.
At a
number of other spots, the echoes from 2018 will be less distinct.
The
running-back corps, where depth has been solid for years, now includes only one
scholarship athlete unless you count Cole Dubots, who’s being converted from
linebacker this spring. Last year’s top rusher, James Williams, forfeited his
senior season to turn pro, and sophomore Caleb Perry is transferring.
So expect
numerous reps for Max Borghi, whose impressive true-freshman season last year
produced 366 ground yards and 53 receptions. He’ll be joined by two members of
the 2019 recruiting class in the summer.
At offensive
line, the Cougs return four starters but lose terrific left tackle Andre
Dillard, who’s likely to be snatched up quickly in the NFL draft. The team is
loaded at guard, so replacing Dillard might involve some position shuffling.
“You try
to just find out who are the best five linemen, and then put them in the best
positions for them,” Leach said.
On
defense, the biggest challenge might be filling the leadership void left by
middle linebacker Peyton Pelluer, a fixture in the program for six years, and
by his position coach, Ken Wilson, who absconded for the Oregon Ducks. His
successor is Roc Bellantoni.
The Cougs
also need to find a cornerback to replace four-year starter Darrien Molton.
“We’ll
have more bodies than we’ve had before,” Leach said of that position, where the
standout now is Marcus Strong. “We’ll have more height than we’ve had before.
One thing, at the end of spring, the hope is to have developed more depth in
the secondary. And we have a chance to have more than we had last year, I think.”
There’s
also a sense of anticipation regarding sophomore Lamonte McDougle, a transfer
from West Virginia who redshirted last year and, at 6 feet and 305 pounds,
perhaps sets a new WSU standard for lower-body strength at defensive line.
“I think
he’s going to have a great career here,” Leach said. “And I do expect him to
have a really good spring.”
:::::::::::::::::
WSU Edible
Book Festival
March 21,
2019
PULLMAN –
Giant
meatball and pasta next to 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' children's book.
“Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs,” submitted by Chelsea Leachman, earned the Best
Visual Presentation Award at last year’s Edible Book Festival.
By Nella
Letizia, WSU Libraries
Judge a
book by its cover and its culinary creativity during WSU Libraries’ fourth
annual Edible Book Festival on Friday, April 12, part of WSU Mom’s Weekend
activities.
Registration
is now open, and entries will be accepted through April 5; to register and for
more information, visit the library guide
athttp://libguides.libraries.wsu.edu/ediblebooks
Participants
can register individually or as a group. Entry rules are simple: Submissions
must be made from edible materials and somehow relate to a book.
Entries
will be accepted through April 5; to register and for more information, visit
the library guide website. Participants can register individually or as a
group. Entry rules are simple: Submissions must be made from edible materials
and somehow relate to a book.
Edible
book festivals take place around the country and world to celebrate books, art,
food and culture. They got their start with the first International Edible Book
Festival on April 1, 2000. Since then, organizations and universities have
served up their own versions of the popular event.
WSU’s
festival begins with public viewing and judging at 2:30 p.m. in the Terrell
Library atrium, with winners announced at 3:30 p.m. Awards will be given for
People’s Choice, Best Visual Presentation and Punniest. Light refreshments will
also be available.
“Celebrity
judges” for the event will be Jamie Callison, executive chef and catering
manager with the WSU School of Hospitality Business Management; Mary Jo
Gonzales, WSU vice president of student affairs; Squeak Meisel, chair and
associate professor of the Department of Fine Arts; and Joanna Bailey, library
director of Neill Public Library.
New to the
festival this year will be participation for People’s Choice Award by students
of WSU’s Global Campus. Their entries will be judged before the Pullman event
by the Global Campus community, and the winner’s submission will be on display
April 12 in the Terrell Library Atrium.
“We really
hope that people will take inspiration from a favorite book or author and run
with it,” said Erica England, organizer and first-year experience librarian.
“Every previous festival has drawn more than 100 people who voted for their
favorite entry, including many WSU moms with their students. We’d like to see
this become a popular Cougar tradition as well as a celebration of literature.”
A sliced
gourd, grapefruit and lemon presentation and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two
Towers' book.
“The Gourd
of the Rings: The Two Sours,” submitted by Erin Hvizdak, won the Punniest Award
at the 2018 Edible Book Festival.
“I like
seeing everybody’s creativity in relation to books and food,” said Chelsea
Leachman, science and instruction librarian at Owen Science and Engineering
Library.
Leachman,
a two-time winner at previous Edible Book Festivals, drew her creative
inspiration from children’s books for her entries.
“I always
do children’s books because their whimsy lends itself to baking,” she said.
:::
Baseball
analytics conference March 8-0 in Phoenix drew WSU student team
February
26, 2019 from WSU News
Students
gathered around laptop discussing upcoming conference.
Alex Yano,
Dante Ludlow, Reagan Stubb, Matthew Cho, l‑r, discuss plans for upcoming Society of
American Baseball Research's annual Analytics Conference
By C.
Brandon Chapman, WSU College of Education
A group of
four Washington State University students will take part in a competition at
the Society of American Baseball Research’s annual Analytics Conference in
Phoenix on March 8–10, 2019.
While it’s
the eighth annual conference for the Society of American Baseball Research
(SABR), co‑sponsored by Major
League Baseball, it’s the first conference of its kind for this WSU group, made
up of three sport management students from the College of Education, and one
mechanical engineering student from the Voiland College of Engineering and
Architecture.
The
quartet, helped by a financial travel gift from the sport management program,
will take part in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition, where they will receive
an issue or challenge from SABR president Vince Gennaro, that might be similar
to what an actual baseball general manager and their staff my face over the
course of a season.
The
competing groups prepare an analysis of the baseball operations challenge
they’re given, and then present this to a panel of judges that includes Major
League Baseball front office executives.
“Case
competitions present students with an opportunity to apply the contents we
discuss in class to professional scenarios faced by top executives in their
chosen field,” said Simon Licen, chair of the sport management program. “So it
is only logical that we try to support their involvement in such initiatives
whenever possible.”
Licen
readily admits that the support given by a program might need to include a
financial one.
“The most
valuable thing we as a program provide them is the knowledge to successfully
address such situations,” he said. “But in some circumstances, knowledge alone
will not suffice, so we try to provide them with the financial support to help
them participate in these opportunities.”
The goal:
a career in baseball
Per SABR,
more than 70 alumni from this competition have secured internships or permanent
positions with the baseball industry.
One of the
students hoping to succeed in this same fashion is sport management student
Alex Yano.
“It has
always been a dream of mine to work for a professional baseball team and I
believe that this conference definitely gets me one step closer to fulfilling
my dream,” he said.
Sport
management student Dante Ludlow said he has been seeking an internship in
baseball. He recently sent a letter and resume to 116 different baseball
organizations. He got “helpful responses about how I can improve my skillsets
in looking toward future internships.”
In other
words, not a single fish was biting.
In an
industry where interns are a dime a dozen, Ludlow came to realize the Diamond
Dollars Case Competition was one way to stand out.
“There was
one individual working for the San Francisco Giants, and he recommended this
competition,” Ludlow said. “He said it was how he was noticed and ultimately
hired.”
Reagan
Stubb’s unique contribution to the team — and to any employment recruiters —
may be his field of study. Just a hint: it’s not sport management.
“Being an
engineer may allow me to stand out and draw some good attention to WSU,” Stubb
said. “I hope this conference allows me to make connections all over the
country with people in all sorts of positions.”
Those
connections may not always lead directly to a job. And that’s fine to sport
management student Matthew Cho, whose approach to this opportunity is a little
more measured. He speaks of simply acquiring knowledge.
“I’ve
always loved baseball, and learning analytics was one way for me to learn more
about the game I love,” he said. “I’m hoping to learn from, and meet some of,
the best baseball minds in the world, as well as help me get a better feel of
what the baseball industry is like.”
One source
of inspiration
For those
who are slightly older, the words “baseball analytics” conjures up images of
Bill James and his work, as well as the word “sabermetrics”, obviously coined
from the work SABR does.
Enter
Moneyball. Again, the older era knows this started with Moneyball: The Art of
Winning an Unfair Game, a book by Michael Lewis.
For those
slightly less long in the tooth, Moneyball is simply the movie that starred
Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
In all
cases, it deals with stakeholders taking the game they have known for so long,
and requiring them to assume that everything they thought they knew about
baseball might just be wrong.
“I really
got interested in baseball analytics after watching Moneyball,” Stubb said.
“It’s really impressive how you can turn a whole organization around by looking
at numbers.”
Yano said
the release of Moneyball was also his introduction to baseball analytics.
“I’ve
always been a huge baseball fan and that movie opened me up to a whole world
that I had no idea existed,” he said. “Now in today’s day of baseball, you
almost need to know most analytics to follow along with the trends and jargon
of the game.”
Most
important part of the whole thing
Just like
any other competition, one group will win this SABR competition, and a whole
lot more won’t. But that isn’t the only thing that matters.
“This is a
great opportunity to measure their professional and applied research skills
against peers from other top schools,” Licen said.
Those top
schools routinely represented at the SABR conference include Cornell, New York
University, Tufts, and Yale. They may hold an inherent advantage at the
competition, but it’s based a lot less on pedigree and a lot more on
familiarity — it won’t be their first go‑round.
And that’s
OK, said Licen, who believes the WSU students have so little to lose when
compared to what they can gain in experience, knowledge, professional and
intellectual development, and maybe even with a networking opportunity that can
turn into good professional employment.
“Perhaps
even more than in the Olympic Games, the most important things in competitions
like this is not winning but taking part,” he said. “Students should be
curious, should be eager to strive for more and should be willing to face
challenges and unexpected scenarios. We want students to take chances to change
themselves — and, in the future, their chosen professional fields — for the
better.”
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