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Washington State head coach Mike Leach met with the media today before the Holiday Bowl and tried to put any doubt about Luke Falk’s status to bed. The fifth-year coach told reporters his redshirt junior quarterback would be back for his senior season in 2017.
You can decide for yourself how convincing a statement it is:
Here's Mike Leach's answer about the Holiday Bowl being Luke Falk's last game. I'm not putting a whole lot of stock in it. pic.twitter.com/LJ343V4Csu
— Darnay Tripp (@DarnayTripp) December 26, 2016
At the end of October, a report surfaced from Bleacher Report that Falk would indeed be skipping his senior season but the second-year starter denied that the same day, saying he had no intention of going anywhere. For his part, the author of that piece acknowledged that he’d gotten it wrong.
But maybe he still has a chance to be right? Here’s a now-deleted tweet from Falk’s sister:
This has not been confirmed by Luke. He is making his decision after the @HolidayBowlGame. https://t.co/QduuTRpmwr
— Natalee Marie Falk (@NataleeFalk) December 26, 2016
Falk put together another excellent season in 2016 and if he returns for 2017, he’ll almost certainly re-write the WSU record books. He’s already tops in a number of single season categories and needs three touchdown throws against Minnesota to pass Connor Halliday for the all-time record. Heck, he’s got a shot to end up among some of college football’s most prolific passers.
It also would be a nice bump for the WSU offense which, unlike last year, will be losing a lot of very key pieces in the offseason to graduation (Gabe Marks, River Cracraft, Riley Sorenson, Eduardo Middleton) and is still waiting to hear on the draft declarations of a couple more (Cody O’Connell, Cole Madison). Having to break in a new quarterback next year while also dealing with those talent losses would be a tall task for the Cougs so this would be really good news.