Report: Cougars hold first spring scrimmage

Good morning. So, if a football team holds a scrimmage, but nobody else was there to witness it, did it really happen? Evidence points to “yes” but we’re still looking into it. Since there weren’t any reporters present, we have to rely on the alleged eyewitnesses, who spoke with the Spokesman Review afterward:

“There was a gap scheme play that (Max) Borghi ran, that was run into a trap corner,” offensive coordinator Brian Smith said. “He did a great job of hitting the sideline and I think scored a touchdown. I thought that was a pretty big explosive run and the types of things we expect of him to do.”

My expert analysis: Max Borghi is still good at football.

“I think Cam (Cooper) did a very nice job on one play, giving Drake Owen a chance on a seam vertical and Drake made a heckuva catch,” quarterback Jarrett Guarantano said. “He had a great, great day and he was able to scoot for maybe 50 yards, 30 after the catch.”

My expert analysis: The quarterbacks apparently like each other.

“There was a couple good ones, but I would say Jaylen Watson off of a sideline play. He made a great play getting a pick and he’s a hard one to throw over now,” defensive coordinator Jake Dickert said.

My expert analysis: The Cougs really need Watson to be a stud this year!

So, what else happened? There was a lot more passing than running, according to the official statistics. The quarterbacks threw 40 times, while there were just 23 rushes, with the quarterbacks accounting for nine of those (meaning some were probably not planned runs).

So how did things go over the course of those 40 passes? Not great, Bob! There were 24 completions to the offense and...three to the defense. Now, there are about eleventy billion caveats that come with spring statistics and this situation is no different, so there is probably no reason for concern. Any simulated game action this early in the process calls for patience, so we’ll save the panic for the aftermath of the second scrimmage.

Tennessee transfer Jarrett Guarantano had the best day among the QBs, completing all eight of his passes for 115 yards, and was the only one of the four quarterbacks who didn’t throw an interception.

Principle among other standouts, and clubhouse leader for the Andrei Lintz award was former Central Washington Wildcat and current walk-on receiver Drake Owen. Owen was the favorite target for much of the scrimmage, leading all receivers in both catches (six) and yards (139). The Camas native also has some pretty outstanding hair.

So, what else did the players and coaches have to say? Glad you asked! First up, the coaches.

And of course we also need to hear from a couple quarterbacks, starting with Cammon Cooper. There’s no way this kid is anything other than an amazing acoustic guitar player, is there?

Then there’s Mr. Guarantano.

And finally, we’ve got your rite of spring EVERYBODY IS BUYING IN ALERT:

Spring comments like this flock like the salmon of Capistrano.

WSU will take the next two days off, and resume spring drills on Tuesday.

Football

Snowstorm pushes Washington State into practice bubble for initial spring scrimmage | The Spokesman-Review
The Cougars mostly focused on first-and-10 situations during the scrimmage, with a few third-down scenarios mixed in. The team plans to dive into more red-zone-oriented work Thursday.

Basketball

Big doings, as the Cougar hoops team snagged a big name in the graduate transfer market. Senior guard Michael Flowers announced his intention to spend his final season in Pullman, and that is a big deal. With Isaac Bonton presumably moving on, the Cougs stood to have a dearth of college experience at point guard. Worry no more.

But while most people are focusing on his points, assists, impact blah blah blah, yours truly immediately went to the minutiae. Like, who the heck has a college career that goes from Kalamazoo to Mobile to Pullman? So I decided to look up what kind of drive that would be.

So if you left on a Friday morning all hopped up on Mountain Dew, and drove it straight through, you’d arrive some time around Monday afternoon, having spanned 14 states. You’d actually hit Tennessee twice but deftly avoid Nebraska. That, my friends, is some matriculation.

South Alabama's Michael Flowers, the top available scorer in the transfer portal, commits to Washington State | The Spokesman-Review
Flowers, who’ll have one year remaining, should make an immediate impact next fall for the Cougars, who are coming off their first winning record since the Ken Bone era.

Former South Alabama guard Michael Flowers transferring to Washington State basketball program
The 6-foot-1, 22 year-old Flowers ranked fourth in Division I in overall scoring this season with 588 points in 28 games, averaging 21 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals, while shooting 39% from 3.

Baseball

Stop me if you’ve heard this before - A WSU team went to Salt Lake City, got out to a huge lead during the first half of the game, then got buried beneath an avalanche of opponent points and self-induced mistakes.

Late-Inning Miscues Too Much For Cougars at Utah - Washington State University Athletics Washington State committed a couple late-inning defensive miscues and Utah scored seven times in the seventh inning to hand the Cougars a 10-7 defeat at Smith's Ballpark Saturday afternoon.

This Week in Parenting

After a long walk through the spring break woods, the boys finally returned to school this week, and Mrs. Kendall rejoiced. Meanwhile, baseball is picking up speed, as the nine year-old is beginning practice this week as well. There aren’t any games during the spring, only practices, because...reasons? I guess pitching to a kid on your own team is totally safe, while pitching to a kid with a different jersey imperils all of the mask-wearing, socially-distanced parents who are standing outside watching said game (the same ones who stand there and watch practice).

Meanwhile, the 12 year-old’s coach had a pretty good text message rant at the parents this week that hit all the “old man yells at cloud” checkmarks, including: “you are paying us to pat your kid on the butt and tell them they’re great” and “almost every college coach is anti-travel baseball” (I don’t recall him sourcing this one), and “kids get to college, get knocked around, then blame everyone else and quit.” KIDS THESE DAYS AMIRITE??!!

But wait, there’s more: “Let them get an ass chewing (because) it makes them mentally tougher so they learn to respond to adversity.” Yes, any time I got yelled at as a kid, the only thing I thought about was how tough it was making me. Gotta credit the coach for not generalizing.

Coach then threw in some more stats to drive his point home, writing that 99% of the parents would ignore the message, and drew a straight line to “it’s why 70% of kids quit after 1 year of college baseball.” The actual number is about 30% but whatever he was rolling. Despite all that, coach saved the absolute best for last, closing with “#nodaysoff” (!!!)

Now, in all fairness, I appreciate that he takes the time to teach kids the game when he clearly doesn’t have to, and could do just about anything else with his time. My kiddo enjoys playing (at least he says he does), and we’re grateful that there is an outside activity available at this point. I just don’t know what anyone is looking to accomplish with these kinds of keyboard warrior rants. But anyway the 12 year-old will be back at practice Tuesday, Thursday and again Saturday. #4daysperweekoff

Book Club

Scipio has landed in Africa. I REPEAT, SCIPIO HAS LANDED IN AFRICA. The Carthaginians are taking the Roman’s threat so seriously that they’ve recalled Hannibal from Italy, and now the two armies are on a collision course in the central plains of modern-day Tunisia. In other words, s**it’s about to get real. I never thought reading about the Punic Wars could be so compelling, but it actually is!

Non-Sports

The father, the son and the racist spirit: being raised by a white supremacist | Race | The Guardian
Kelvin Pierce was brought up by one of America’s most prominent white nationalists. With hate surging across the US, he’s ready to tell his story.