Good Morning Beautiful!

And I don’t mean Herbie. Good morning Crimson, yet another year on the ESPN Gameday road set. It sounds as though “Coug Will”, Will Walker, has made the trek, and both flags are flying high. GREAT job! I guess you know it’s football season when you flip on Gameday and see the flag. It’s so ON now.

There are a few links of interest today, but I think the best thing I read was from the News Tribune. It’s an article about the toughness factor, and what it really means, from Wulff to the players. It’s worth a read, so, check it out here.

Did Michael Bumpus make the Seahawks?? We’ll find out today. Maybe his case got stronger in the bad news department, with WR Ben Obomanu going down with a broken clavicle last night and will probably miss the entire 2008 season. And Bump played well if this was his last Seahawks performance, three catches for 53 yards. But it’s all a numbers game now. If the Seahawks keep six receivers, it’s going to be Nate Burleson, Jordan Kent, Bobby Engram, Deion Branch, Courtney Taylor and Logan Payne. But if they go with seven WR’s, then Bumpus could make it. The hard thing is both Engram and Branch are going to miss some early games, but they have to be kept on the 53-man roster. If you put them on the “PUP” list now, they are out for at least half the season, if not the entire thing. So they have to at least hold the spots for when they can be activated. But even if it is the practice squad, my WSU heart is proud of Bump. An undrafted free agent has the longest hike of all to even get on the radar of making the team, and here he is, potentially on the bubble of making the Seattle Seahawks. GREAT JOB BUMP.

In that tone, sorry to see the Big Apple, Alex Brink, get his walking papers yesterday. Apparently the team didn’t see enough out of him to keep him as the 3rd QB. Maybe a practice squad guy, either in Houston or somewhere. But we’ll see. Maybe he just doesn’t have that NFL skill set. Good luck to Alex.

Anyone see Jason Hill this preseason?? Four more catches for 57 yards last night, and now a team-high 11 catches for 204 yards total in the preseason. He’s looking really, really good in the new San Fran Mike Martz offensive scheme, and could be a breakthrough guy this season.

Couple all that with the news that Mkristo Bruce will now likely stick with the Jags, at least on the practice squad, even though Derrick Harvey ended his holdout, and the news isn’t all bad for recent NFL’ers with WSU ties.

I think it also makes you realize how much talent was really on that 2006 WSU team. Eric Frampton and Jason Hill were both in the NFL last year, and now Bumpus, Brink and Bruce were all at least to the final cuts. That might always be the what-could-have-been team.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. We’ve written enough about this upcoming season, and about this game. Previews are everywhere, everyone has weighed in on their pick, you know the drill. One thing is crystal clear – the deck is stacked against us today. But that’s why they play the games, and it’s why we watch. We just don’t know what will happen. And that is part of the pure excitement many of us will feel today.

I hope to run into a few of you down at Qwest. Brinkhater will likely stop by today for a game post, so, if you can’t get to the game and want to vent, check it out. Otherwise, enjoy today for what it is – the new era of WSU Football. GO COUGS!