Mike Leach reminds us just how bad WSU's offensive line used to be

It's no secret WSU's roster had a talent deficiency when Mike Leach took over as head coach. One of the biggest problem spots was the offensive line. The Cougars' depth up front is much healthier this days, a fact Leach highlighted in a recent radio interview.

"We're still young as can be, but most importantly, we have our whole O-line back," Leach said on SiriusXM College Sports Nation, via CoachingSearch.com. "When I first got here, we had six O-linemen on scholarship, which is a disturbingly low number, and then the other number more disturbing to that is we only averaged 265 pounds. Of those six guys on scholarship, only three of them belonged."

At first blush, that seemed like a bit of an exaggeration. But, assuming Leach was talking about active scholarship players, it's not far off. Denzell Dotson, Sam Flor, Eduardo Middleton and Pierson Villarrubia all redshirted that season. Joe Dahl transferred in but was ineligible. Gunnar Eklund was still a walk-on at the time while Rico Forbes was injured.

That left WSU with Elliott Bosch, John Fullington, Matt Goetz, Wade Jacobson, Taylor Meighen, Jake Rodgers and Dan Spitz. That's seven players, but Spitz was injured in Week 2 and didn't play the rest of the season. I may have blocked many of those memories, but Leach wasn't exaggerating, WSU really went most of a season with six scholarship offensive linemen.

You'll have to speculate as to which three Leach doesn't think belonged.

Expectations aren't exactly sky high among Cougar fans coming off a 3-9 season in Year 3, but this is a good reminder of where things started and how much the roster has improved since. Now it just needs to translate onto the field and on the scoreboard.

*****

Football:

Redskins sign Connor Halliday, Trey Williams, nine other undrafted free agents - Washington Times
In his four years with the Cougars, Halliday set program records with 11,304 passing yards, 90 touchdown passes and a completion percentage of 62. He is listed a 6 feet 3 and 204 pounds. New Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan attended his pro day workout last month.

Speaking of one of those six offensive linemen ...

EWU’s Jake Rodgers impressed Falcons with natural talent - Spokesman.com - May 7, 2015
As Jake Rodgers figures it, he’ll be playing football on Sundays because he paid attention the rest of the week. Five years ago, Rodgers was playing tight end at Shadle Park High School. Five days ago, he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons as an offensive lineman.