Who is the most underrated Cougar?

Trying to figure who the most underrated player is on a team is a tricky thing.  If somebody thinks you’re good are you truly underrated? And once you start getting hype for being underrated do you become overrated? With all that in mind, I have found a player who named to the AP’s first team All Pac-12 team last year who has gotten zero publicity as far as I can tell going into next season for a top 25 team. Hard to imagine right?

That player’s name is Eduardo Middleton. The senior guard received All-Conference mention last year and yet somehow did not even crack my top ten players for WSU list I put out a couple of weeks ago. Heck, I even put a redshirt freshman who hasn’t played yet ahead of him. Well, time to make up for this egregious oversight by shining the spotlight on Mr. Middleton.

As was mentioned, Middleton was surprise addition to the All Pac-12 team by the AP. Some advanced metrics back this selection up though, as according to Pro Football Focus he only allowed 2 sacks and graded out well as a run blocker. PFF honored Middleton with an All-Pac 12 second team spot.

Normally a senior with these types of honors coming into the season would be a lock for All-Conference recognition or even some All-American talk, but we seem to be hearing crickets when it comes to Middleton. It’s probably a combination of the anonymity of the position and Pullman not being a media hotbed. Middleton was never a touted recruit or a "player on the rise" either. Cole Madison seems to be taking most of the pre-season hype for the offensive line, even though he is not as decorated. He did have a higher recruiting profile, plays a more glamourous position on the line and has NFL draft hype as well. Upside sometimes seems to matter more than previous performance when it comes to players getting media hype.

Let’s just not forget about our excellent right guard as look forward to next season.

Football

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