Your favorite fall camp All-Stars

Every year a breakout star emerges in Washington State football fall camp. Typically it’s a player outside of the limelight. Maybe it is a walk-on turning heads and running with the 2s or even the 1s. Maybe it’s a player previously buried on the depth chart. Like clockwork, the hype for the Fall Camp All-Stars rolls in.

And typically like clockwork, the hype train runs out of steam by about Week 2 of the regular season. Now, not every Fall Camp All-Star peaks before the regular season. Sometimes a freshman emerges and goes on to have a great career. Or an older player does indeed play his way into a bigger role. But in most cases, the Fall Camp All-Star shines brightest in August.

With the 2021 fall camp on the horizon, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of your favorite Fall Camp All-Stars. The players you were most excited about after reading practice reports from Vince Grippi, Jacob Thorpe or Theo Lawson.

When I think of Fall Camp All-Stars my mind immediately goes to one place, Andrei Lintz.

In August of 2012, it appeared Mike Leach had a breakout star on his hands in his first fall camp at WSU. Lintz, a lightly used tight end heading into his senior season, had made a transition to an inside receiver in Leach’s offense. Early in camp, it seemed like a perfect fit. Lintz was a daily mention in any camp report and even provoked this quote from Leach:

At the time, I had charted about every wide receiver Leach ever coached at Texas Tech and had all sorts of lofty projections running through my head. 500 yards, 750 yards, 1,000 yards! (Officially, I projected 62 receptions for 842 yards for Lintz. Whoops). Lintz was about to be a star. Until he wasn’t.

Lintz finished the 2012 season with two catches for 14 yards. It’s safe to say the hounds were not released.

Who is your favorite Fall Camp All-Star?