FOOTBALL: 5 Cougs on D with the most to prove
From Cougfan.com
June the 13th 2018
WITH A NEW
QUARTERBACK and an offensive line replacing three starters, the tipping point
for success at Washington State in 2018 might be found in the same place it was
in 2017 – on defense. Here are the 5 Cougs on D with the most to prove.
==JONATHAN
LOLOHEA
Nose tackle
Taylor Comfort, a fifth-year senior just recently awarded a scholie, was a big
and pleasant surprise this spring. But if the Cougars are going to win the day
in the middle, Lolohea will need to crank things up at the nose – regardless of
whether he’s a rotational player or if he surpasses Comfort to earn the
starting gig. Lolohea has speed, power and flexibility, he just hasn’t shown
the consistency yet. And that’s not a shocker, he just got to WSU in January
and went through his first spring for the Cougs. The ideal scenario would be
for Lolohea to take all that he learned in spring, and take off big when fall
camp gets underway in August.
==SKYLER THOMAS
At the end of
the day, the 2018 Cougar defense may hinge on safety play. Thomas will be a third-year sophomore in 2018
but barely got his feet wet his first season playing in 2017, appearing in only
two games. He finished off the spring as
the top free safety candidate to earn the starting gig. But the separation wasn't pronounced and he'll
need to prove it all over again in fall camp. He has both speed and ball skills
and there were times this spring he looked the part. But he also gave up too
many big plays and defensive coordinator Claeys was vocal all spring long about
his concerns at safety. If Thomas doesn't lock the job down, would Claeys move
Sean Harper Jr. from corner to safety? There's been no indication of that but
it's something to keep in mind, along with the incoming DBs in the 2018 class.
==CHIMA
ONYEUKWU
Nobody should
expect Onyeukwu to match what Frankie Luvu did at the RUSH position last
year. Then again, Luvu was a one-year
revelation as a senior after moving to the position in 2017, so maybe the
better question to ask of Onyeukwu is he can author a similar success story his
senior season. He was the best in
coverage this spring among the RUSH and he looked comfortable on most down and
distances. But if Onyeukwu wants to eat up the RUSH reps on Saturdays, as
opposed to instead being part of a healthy rotation, he needs to take that next
step. A good place to start in fall ball is to be assignment perfect.
==NICK BEGG
This should be
one of the more interesting storylines in fall ball. The fifth-year senior is a
late bloomer, he didn't crack the two-deeps until this past season when he
appeared in all 13 games. And he did his best work in two forgettable losses
(UW, Michigan State). This spring, he shined brightest in run defense but also
elevated his pass rushing skills. But is Begg ready to break out this season at
defensive tackle under d-line coach Jeff Phelps? There's no one on the 2018 roster who can
replace Hercules Mata'afa, he was simply a special player and he attracted a
whole lot of attention from opposing offenses. But Begg making key plays at key
times would go a long way in 2018.
==NNAMDI OGUAYO
“He’s starting
to get on kind of a roll, we need to keep accelerating that. Because I think
we’ve just scratched the surface on him," Mike Leach said of Oguayo this
spring. And Claeys has said Oguayo can be a dominant pass rusher -- high praise
indeed from his head coach and DC. Oguayo won't have as much help this season,
with Mata'afa and Daniel Ekuale moving on but his motor was better this spring
and he's now trying to emulate how Mata'afa played low and exploded off the
ball. Oguayo is WSU's best d-line bet to create havoc in the form of tackles
for loss, sacks and disruption. It's now a matter of getting it done and
consistently making an impact from the opening whistle to the final gun.
::::::::
WSU COUGARS FOOTBALL: A quick look at Pac-12 finances
By PJ Kendall Coug Center.com Jun 17, 2018
Amid another
parched week involving Cougar Athletics, USA Today published an article
regarding the Pac-12’s financial future. Jon Wilner also added his thoughts.
In a nutshell,
the financial outlook for the conference is bad, and will only get worse. Per a
report that cited WSU’s own projections, the conference will share roughly $38
million with each school by 2023. Not bad, right? Right!!?? Wrong. That’s
actually horrible.
The Big Ten
will dole out roughly $51 million to each of its 14 schools...this season. Even
the ACC will surpass the $40 million mark very soon. WSU President Kirk Schulz
is quoted at length in the story.
“I think if you
look at the overall athletic budgets of the top 25 largest (public) athletic
budgets in the country, I think the Pac-12 only has two schools that are even
on that list,” Washington State President Kirk Schulz told USA TODAY Sports. “I
do think it’s harder to compete for coaches. It’s harder to build facilities.
It’s harder to do the things we would like to do with less revenue coming in
compared to (other leagues). I do think it puts us at a disadvantage.”
Schulz stopped
short of placing blame squarely on Larry Scott, probably for a few reasons. But
like most instances, there are several reasons for the problem the Pac-12
faces. While Scott deserves more blame than Schulz is willing to admit, the
Pac-12 CEOs have basically rubber-stamped several of Scott’s initiatives, to
the detriment of the league. There’s also the fact that the Pac-12 Networks
have a staggering amount of overhead that none of the other leagues do, which
harms the bottom line. Even worse, they’ve been incredibly secretive about
their practices.
There’s also
the fact that college athletics just don’t dominate the landscape out west like
they do in the southeast and midwest. We can mock “It just means more” all we
want, but that mantra rings true, and is a big reason why the SEC will likely
always dominate the Pac-12 in the financial arena, which will almost certainly
translate to domination on the field and court. But hey, the Pac-12 is still
the bully on the block when it comes to water polo. Nobody can ever take that
away.
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