Greetings Cougs. Well, with the Bill Moos news moving in a positive direction by the moment, who knows, maybe we'll get the word shortly on the whole AD search in Pullman.  But for now, we thought it would be a good time to start looking at, you know, the football team?  At least as they look heading into spring ball anyway, just to get a feel of where things are as we approach the 15 springtime practice sessions that will kick off on March 25th.

We will actually take a look at each of the prominent position groups, and see what's up.

First, a look at the QB's, here in part one of an eight-part look at the pre-spring Cougs....

Starter: Jeff Tuel
'09 Stats:  71-for-121, 789 yards, 6 TD passes, 5 INT.  Completed over 58% of his passes as a true frosh, 6.52 yards per attempt.  Sacked 28 times in five starts, plus extended playing time in one other game (USC).
'09 Highlight:  Other than making an impressive debut vs. USC, it has to be the Cal game.  Tuel went 28-for-42 for 354 yards, two TD's and zero INT's on the road in Berkeley.  Sure, the team lost - big - 49-17, but Tuel played well for a true frosh in his third-ever start.  And his 354 yards passing in one game was second only to Drew Bledsoe's frosh record of 385 yards vs. Arizona in 1990.  Not bad company to keep on that one. 




Backup: Marshall Lobbestael
'09 Stats: 67-for-144, 655 yards, 3 TD's, 8 INT's.  46.5% completion percentage, 19 sacks, just 4.55 yards per attempt.
'09 Highlight: Let's face it, last year was a tough season for Marshall.  In a year many (including me) expected him to grab the job by the balls and run with it, instead was a struggle in trying to regain his position in the QB rotation.  Lobbestael was clearly not the same prior to his gruesome knee injury of 2008, struggling with his mobility and, more than likely, his mechanics suffered along with his confidence in the repaired leg, resulting in a loss of accuracy. 


BUT, that said, remember the lone win in 2009? It was Marshall Lobbestael who led the team on an 11-play, 80 yard TD drive at the end of regulation to put the game into OT, a game they would ultimately win.  Yeah, I know the defense intercepted a bunch of balls that day, including two taken back to the house for touchdowns...but they still needed a TD drive at the end of the game, and Marshall came through, thus avoiding a defeated '09 campaign.  Whatever his struggles last year, no matter what we'll always have SMU!  And in turn, we avoided the distinction of joining you-know-who as a winless Pac-10 wonder....

Others: David Gilbertson, Dan Wagner.
These two guys will battle for the #3 QB slot.  Wagner played a little bit last year, but didn't complete a pass in '09, while Gilbertson didn't play.

Key Pre-Spring Question:  Is Tuel ready to take the next step?  Or is this a major sophomore slump in the making?


I think I am with many in Coug Nation that believes Jeff Tuel is THE GUY, period.  The kid was lighting it up since August camp last year, and many who saw him in the flesh said he not only looked like the best QB on the roster, but clearly had an extra level of talent and ability that the other kids just didn't possess.  While Wulff and company had every desire to save his redshirt status, well, by the end of September, the baby-faced QB was in the starting lineup.  As Wulff said at the time, it was "time to grow the position", and with Kevin Lopina and Marshall Lobbestael, things just weren't moving forward.  Enter Jeff Tuel.

Even with a porous offensive line that had him on the run half the time, and with young, thin, unproven players at the skill positions, Tuel still kept his head above water.  However, it must be said that he's still extremely young.  It's a shame that he suffered the injured knee cap with 3 1/2 games left in '09, where he lost out on some valuable game experience.  The knee is fine now, and all reports are that he is 100% ready to go.  And hey, at the football dinner last Friday, he looked great, physically fit and ready to hit the field.  And he looked bigger too, bigger than I remember anyway.  I don't know what his weight is now, but he looked broader, like he's starting to fill out his 6-3, 207 lb frame. 

The pressure will be on the young man's shoulders to get the job done, so I think spring ball is going to go a long way in setting the tone for the rest of the offseason/summer workouts, and of course, into fall camp.  This is Jeff Tuel's team, no doubt about it.  Here's hoping he hits the ground running next month!

I am also going to be paying close attention on how Lobbestael performs.  Now that he's headed for his junior year, and there is no doubt that he is now the backup, maybe with the pressure off he can get better?  And maybe he'll have more confidence in his knee, now 18 months since it was completely wiped out, and we'll see improved accuracy and better mobility?  Not that you ever want to read too much into 7-on-7 drills in March and April, but still, I will be very interested to hear the reports of his play this spring.  After all, as we know all too well in these parts, the backup QB on this roster is just a play away from being under center! 

All for now.  Enjoy your Wednesday morning, and as always, GO COUGS!