Calvin Jackson Jr. can return to Washington State for his fifth year of eligibility

A year after the Washington State Cougars played nine true freshman in four games or fewer—and 11 true freshman overall—that number dwindled this season to four:

• Travion Brown
• Cosmas Kwete
• Nicholas Sheetz
• Simon Samarzich

Brown played in all 12 games, Samarzich in 11, Kwete in 10 and Sheetz in two.

That means Sheetz retains his redshirt and will still be a freshman next season. The others will be old, gray-haired sophomores.

That’s just the true freshman, though. Other players who haven’t used a redshirt season are also eligible for an extra year if they play in four or fewer games.

Like Calvin Jackson Jr.

The JUCO product played in four games in his second season in Pullman, seeing the field against New Mexico State, Arizona State, Stanford and Oregon State. He had a key touchdown against Oregon State in that wild win, where every touchdown was key.

All signs point to WSU keeping Jackson Jr. out of the Cheez-It Bowl, especially when Chief of Staff Dave Emerick indicated that was the plan on a previous podcast (I can’t for the life of me find it, but some of my fellow CougCenter authors said it happened, so trust us you will).

Jackson Jr. was in a battle with Davontavean Martin and Rodrick Fisher at the X receiver position. Unless things change between now and then, all three will return. Of course, position changes have happened a time or two at the receiver position, so we could see someone move to the Z position, or even inside. I guess we’ll find out in the spring, at the soonest.

There was also this cryptic tweet from Jackson Jr. sent yesterday:

Could mean something, could mean nothing.

For now, all signs point to Jackson Jr. returning next season, which is a good get for the WSU offense.

Links

Football

Trio of Washington State players named to Associated Press All-Pac-12 teams | The Spokesman-Review
Similar to the coaches, the Pac-12’s writers collectively agreed Washington State had the top kicker in the conference this year, voting Blake Mazza to the Associated Press All-Pac-12 First Team.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott says missing College Football Playoff ‘harmful’ to league - oregonlive.com
Scott called getting left out of the playoff "painful." ''And this year, to be the one league of the five that doesn't have a team in it, that's harmful to our positioning, our brand and everything we've got," he said.

2020 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Washington State’s Anthony Gordon
It is never too early to begin learning about the 2020 NFL Draft. Today we take a look at Washington State’s Anthony Gordon.

NFL draft 2020: College bowl season provides 13 sleepers to watch
Many of the marquee names who will enter the NFL draft have not announced whether they will play in bowls, but keep an eye on these sleepers.

Bowl practices serve as prelude to 2020 quarterback competition at Washington State | The Spokesman-Review
Not since 2017, Luke Falk’s senior season, have the Cougars entered the offseason with total clarity at quarterback. The questions will outnumber the answers this offseason, too, but the nearly monthlong gap between the Apple Cup and Cheez-It Bowl will give WSU a chance to invest reps into the signal-callers who might succeed Anthony Gordon next fall.

Basketball

The Cougs Wrap Up a Three-Game Homestand on Sunday vs. UC Irvine - Washington State University Athletics
The Washington State University women's basketball team returns to action this Sunday after a seven-day break, when they play host UC Irvine in the second game of

Baseball

Twelve Baseball Games to be Televised on Pac-12 Networks - Washington State University Athletics
WSU will have two road series and two home series televised.