Don’t cry
for Hercules, hit him up for a donation
By COUGFAN.com
6/22/2018
THE TOUGH
NEWS last week that Hercules Mata’afa tore his ACL during a Minnesota practice
and will miss the entire NFL season was soon followed by speculation from a
financial standpoint -- what happens when an undrafted free agent suffers a
season-ending injury before training camp even begins? Fortunately, there’s
good news on that front.
Per the
Pioneer Press, Mata’afa will spend the entire season on injured reserve and
make the NFL rookie minimum salary of $480,000.
The former
Cougar d-lineman signed a three-year deal with Minnesota worth $1.71 million,
but his salaries in 2019 and 2020 are not guaranteed.
ALSO GOOD
NEWS: the coming year on injured reserve counts towards the three-year minimum
a player needs to qualify for an NFL pension.
Mata’afa’s
agent, Kenny Zuckerman, told the newspaper Mata’afa was very distraught after
suffering the injury, but that he felt better later in the day.
“He called
me crying (after suffering the injury),’’ Zuckerman said. “I think he just
thought (at first), ‘Oh, now they’re going to send me on a plane home
tomorrow.’ … But I talked to Rick (Spielman, the general manager) and I talked
to George (Paton, the assistant general manager). They really like him and they
plan to keep him there in the building (during rehab) and he’ll get ready for
next season.’’
As for the
injury itself, Zuckerman said Mata’afa’s was much less severe than many of the
typical ACL tears.
“It’s a
bad injury, but it’s the best of the (worst),’’ Zuckerman said. “I mean, it’s
still an ACL tear, but he’ll come back sooner than 90 percent of most ACLs.’’
THE
MAJORITY OF NFL MANDATORY THREE-DAY MINICAMPS get underway this week.
Cole
Madison figures to be in the middle of a battle royale in the Packers' camp
that runs Tuesday to Thursday. Green Bay
has big questions on the right side of its offensive line, with USA Today
tabbing the rookie Madison an underdog behind early favorite Justin McCray, who
played in 13 games and made eight starts for the Packers last season. Madison was selected by Green Bay with the
first pick in the fifth round of the draft.
News has
been scarce on Luke Falk headed into Tennessee's minicamp, but not unexpectedly
so, with Titans' QB Marcus Mariota entrenched as the starter. Tennessee's
minicamp also runs June 12-14. Falk was selected in the sixth round of the
draft by the Titans. He and Madison were
the Cougars' two draft picks.
Which
other Cougs may be present in the NFL mandatory minicamps this week remains to
be seen. Other Cougs from the 2017
graduating class reported to have either signed undrafted free agent contracts
or received invitations for a tryout earlier before OTAs began: Frankie Luvu
(NY Jets); Daniel Ekuale (Cleveland); Gerard Wicks (New Orleans); Jamal Morrow
(Seattle); Cody O'Connell (Indianapolis); Erik Powell (Houston) and Dylan
Hanser (Atlanta
:::::::::::::::::
Seen &
Heard on Planet Coug
ByCOUGFANcom
Jun 10, 3:51 PM
DURING THE
BOARD OF REGENTS MEETING this past Friday, where the athletics budget was
approved, AD Patrick Chun again noted Washington State's athletics expenses are
the lowest of all 65 Power 5 schools.
There's no doubt WSU is certainly efficient when it comes to
expenses. But there’s also one important
fact that needs to be taken into account.
WSU fields
17 varsity sports -- while many others offer between 20 and 40. So it naturally follows WSU’s expenses are
going to be less.
The
Regents unanimously approved the new athletics budget plan designed to address
the department’s deficit. The plan calls for deficit spending to cease by FY
2023, when the total deficit is projected to have reached $84 million. You can
read more here.
WHERE IS
MIKE LEACH these days? Behind the wheel
of a boat in Eastern Europe, naturally.
The Cougar assistant coaches are out on the road at satellite camps this
month but the head man is in Croatia. Leach is a weekly guest on the Kurre and
Klapow radio show out of Alabama and gave an interview live from Croatia,
saying it's a place he's always wanted to visit and also tweeting out a picture
of himself on a boat.
With the
NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and NBA champ Golden State Warriors not
visiting the White House, Leach was asked by one of the hosts if his Cougars
won the national title, would he take his team to the White House? "We'd
go to the White House. Look, I'll probably make some people mad but that's what
probably appeals to you in a certain way. But the thing about is I've known
Donald Trump since 2004. He's a warm, sincere-hearted guy which is more than
you can say about most Americans," said Leach. He later added, "Without involving Washington State in this stuff, me
personally, separately, outside of any responsibility of Washington State, I'm
a Trump guy, have been from the beginning. And I'm not ashamed to say it. Do I
think America is better with Donald Trump? Yeah, I do, and I think it's better
by a lot." You can listen to the 13-minute interview here.
THE LAS
VEGAS BOWL appears poised to take a major jump in stature. The bowl in 2020 will 1) move to the Oakland
Raiders’ new $1.8 billion stadium in Las Vegas and 2) match a Power 5 opponent,
possibly the SEC, against the Pac-12.
Some media have already said the Las Vegas Bowl could become the
Pac-12’s No. 2 bowl tie-in (after the Rose Bowl) when the next round of bowl
negotiations comes up. Currently, the Las Vegas Bowl is held in UNLV’s Sam Boyd
Stadium, matches a Mountain West opponent against the Pac-12 and sits at sixth
in the pecking order of the Pac-12’s seven contracted bowl games.
THE PAC-12
WILL REQUIRE its teams to win at least six regular season games to play in a
bowl game starting this year, eliminating the opportunity for a 5-7 team to
earn a postseason spot in the event there aren’t enough six-win teams to fill
out all 39 bowls. The change appears to
be about money -- sending a team to a low-profile bowl game where it draws few
fans often results in a loss. A big benefit, however, is the extra bowl
practices the program realizes (20 hours per week). Leach told the AP new Pac-12 policy "a
solution searching for a problem … If we had a 5-7 team lucky enough to make a
bowl, they could probably use the practice and the players would probably
appreciate the chance to play another game. Why should we limit opportunities
when other conferences aren't?" No 5-7 bowl-eligible teams have come from
the Pac-12 since the rule was implemented in 2015.
THE
QUALITY OF the offensive line play at Washington State was a concern coming out
of spring ball and heading into this offseason. But it could be worse, as UCLA
and Colorado showed this past week. New Bruins coach Chip Kelly is clearing out
some roster space, as all new coaches tend to do, and three of four recent
departures are offensive linemen. “While none of the four were projected to see
playing time, the loss of three offensive linemen makes an already thin
offensive line depth chart even thinner,” writes BRO’s Tracy Pierson. Colorado
meanwhile lost two o-linemen, leaving only four experienced linemen to protect
Buff QB Steven Montez.
FORMER WSU
HOOPS COMMIT Roberto Gittens, now at Southern Idaho JC after failing to
qualify, tweeted out that he is reopening his recruitment. Gittens in February
told CF.C he was still locked in with the Cougars but will test the waters this
coming season at Southern Idaho as he works towards his AA degree. Gittens, a 6-5, 220-pound forward out of
Tacoma's Foss High who was rated 4 stars, averaged 10.0 points and 4.2 rebounds
per game this past season, playing in all 31 contests and starting nine, as
Southern Idaho made it to the NLCAA national title game.
THE WSU
CONNNECTION STORES in Everett and Spokane have both closed and the online store
will close by June 30. The WSU athletic ticket office in Spokane on West
Riverside Avenue will remain, the school said.
WSU announced the closures back in March; "The University-owned
stores have created an upscale interactive retail environment that has served
the WSU brand well. Unfortunately, with drastic changes in the retail world,
this model is unsustainable over the long-term." The online store can be found here
until it
closes.
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