Congrats to WHO DAT Nation after one heck of a Super Bowl!  The game had pretty much everything, from big plays to huge brass-balls-style coaching decisions to, at times, absolutely flawless QB play in the biggest game of the year.  I mean really, between both Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, there was like what, ONE mistake the entire game?  And the mistake cost the Colts the game in one of the biggest defensive plays in Super Bowl history, by the same guy in Tracy Porter who picked off Brett Favre's last pass two weeks before in the NFC title game.

And let me also add this - two weeks ago, I came away from the NFC title game thinking that the better team didn't win.  Minnesota outgained them almost 2-to-1 in total yards, and if it wasn't for the avalanche of turnovers, we were going to be watching Favre vs. Manning for the whole thing.  But now, after watching last night and looking at the bigger picture, I no longer believe that.  This is the NFL, and there just isn't any "fluke" way to win a Super Bowl.  It's so damn hard, period.  Even with homefield advantage and a first round bye and all that comes with it, you STILL have to go out and earn it!  And I think about what the Saints just accomplished, not only winning their first title, but beating, in order, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and now Peyton Manning?  Uh, yeah, you beat your ASS they earned it!

But why even write about this on a Coug blog?  Well, because of the Super Bowl MVP, Drew Brees.  First, his performance was unbelievable after a shaky first quarter.  Did you know he started the game just 3-for-7 in the opening quarter, but would finish up going 29-for-32 over the last three quarters?  And one of those incompletions in that stretch was a spike to stop the clock, the other was a drop by a Saints WR?  Simply unreal, in every sense of the word.  That stretch is better than Phil Simms, who is widely regarded as having the most efficient game from any QB in Super Bowl history with his 22-for-25 act back in '86.  Brees tied the SB record with 32 completions, and set a record for completion percentage in the big game.  And all from a 6-foot QB with average-at-best arm strength who, by the way, completely tore his rotator cuff so badly in '05 that it was detatched from the bone, where the bone actually broke THROUGH the skin!  Ewww.  But to come back all the way from that to reach the ultimate pinnacle in sports is truly remarkable.

And.....I admit it.....some man-tears from myself after seeing some of the post-game with Brees and his 1-year old son.  You could see him mouth the words "I love you little man" to his kid, fighting back tears, as everything was sinking in.  Just an amazing scene that I will never, ever forget.

Anyway, the real reason to write about Brees today?  HE WAS ALMOST A COUG! Well, OK, not "almost".  He WANTED to be a Coug, but unfortunately, WSU just couldn't find a scholarship for him at the time. 

I remember hearing about this a few years ago, that it was documented somewhere that Drew Brees was not only a Coug fan, even wearing around a Coug hat while attending Purdue.  But I couldn't find the story.  So thanks to "DesMoinesCoug" at Cougfan's message boards for finding the article back from 12/29/2000 at the Seattle P-I.com:

Brees wanted to be a Cougar.

He bought a Washington State hat. Still owns it. Still wears it. In fact, he has special dispensation to put it on whenever or wherever he wants on the West Lafayette, Ind., campus.

Drew Bledsoe was his hero. They shared a name and position.

Why not Wazzu?

"I remember seeing him in a bowl game and I thought he was a great player," Brees said of Bledsoe, the NFL's top overall draftee in 1993. "We had the same first name. I kind of identified with him. I know it sounds kind of stupid."

Dumber yet was WSU's response after the quarterback's family contacted the Pac-10 school.

"I think it was obvious that someone said, 'We don't have a scholarship for you,'" Brees said. "I know I was interested in Washington State."

Damn.

Not to totally shove Mike Price under the bus here.  Honestly, Price hit so many home runs in recruiting that I've lost count.  Two Rose Bowls in a five year stretch, a #1 draft choice at QB, some tremendous defensive players, three bowl wins, etc.  And Brees didn't jump off the screen with his measurables either, no matter how good his numbers were as he was ready to go to college.  Not tall, not fast, not a great arm.  But Jason Gesser showed that you don't need to be 6-5, 230 to be able to execute the one-back offense to perfection.  And you think about it, Brees would have been the perfect QB, after Ryan Leaf and preceding the Jason Gesser era.  Instead, we got a few years of Steve Birnbaum, Paul Mencke and a whole lot "poop island" talk.  Oh well.

Drew Brees, one who got away from Coug Nation.  Who knew?

All for now.  Enjoy your Monday, and of course, GO COUGS!

Looks like Paul Wulff and the Cougs have that junior college WR that they were waiting on as of signing day, as WSU announced Isiah Barton is now the 23rd member of their signing class.  Barton is 6-1, 190 and put up some respectible numbers at Fresno City JC last year, catching 48 balls including 7 TD's, as well as averaging over 28 yards per kick return.  Per the report in the Seattle P-I, Barton will have the typical two years of eligibility to play at WSU.  Props to Bud Withers at the Seattle Times for getting the word on Barton on signing day (scroll down to the bottom portion of the article).

Where Barton fits, well, we'll have to see how things go for fall camp.  Wulff's quote in the story says Barton "should give us some immediate help. He will give us quickness and speed at the slot and receiver positions as well as maturity. We're very happy he is on board."  You look at the group of WR's coming back in '10, and it's a lot of game experienced guys:

NAME	REC	YDS	YPR	LONG	TD
Jared Karstetter	38	540	14.2	64	6
Gino Simone	36	330	9.2	22	1
Jeffrey Solomon	25	298	11.9	46	1
Johnny Forzani	9	265	29.4	99	2
Daniel Blackledge	23	212	9.2	24	1

Not taking anything away from these guys, but still, it's a position not exactly loaded with explosive, big-play ability.  Not having Kevin Norrell return was a blow to the wideouts, not so much in that they are a little thinner without him, but more so along the lines of big-play ability, with some good speed and athleticism.  You have your big guy on the outside who has nice size, good hops and decent hands in Karstetter, and you have your classic possession guy in Gino Simone, but outside of Johnny Forzani, they do lack that homerun threat. 

Not to suggest that Barton IS that guy, and perhaps one of the frosh WR's that signed yesterday will step in and play right away.  But adding some quickness and speed, per Wulff's comments, should make this at least a little more of a diverse threat in the passing game?  You know, a guy who can make a defensive back actually turn and run to stay with a wideout, instead of being able to stay in his back-pedal, all the while keeping his gaze at the pocket, with very little fear that the opposing WR is actually going to get behind him?  That would be nice to have, wouldn't it?

A couple of other things:

• The Steve Broussard to ASU story is official.  Too bad to see a fellow Coug move on down the road, but hey, one door closes, another door opens up.  Cougfan has speculated on some possible replacements, and some of the naems are intriguing, if not a little far-fetched?  But it may take a while before someone is hired.  Here's hoping that whoever they get is a good fit with the current staff, with a positive approach to what it takes to succeed and able to hit the recruiting trail hard! 
  
  
• A NEW recruit already?  It's true.  Max Hersey, a 6-3, 230 lb tight end/DL prospect from Curtis High School, has committed to WSU.  Hersey projects to be a tight end at the next level, and was the MVP at the TE position at WSU's camp last summer.  And per the Cougfan story, the crimson blood lines are deep here, with Hersey's parents both Cougs, and his grandfather played baseball for WSU in the 50's.  Pretty cool

Finally, a really good read from Ted Miller on recruiting in general via his latest ESPN mailbag.  Miller gives a couple of great examples as to why it's difficult to project who is going to be good at the next level, and who will be a five-star flameout in college.  First of all, Miller basically states that it is an incredibly inexact science in evaluating and projecting human potential.  While a kid can look great on film and in person at the high school level, nobody has a crystal ball and can flat-out guarantee success at the next level.  Then, Miller explains why that's so hard:

But there's another issue: Physical maturity.

When you meet a five-star recruit in person, you immediately see the same thing the recruiting services saw on film: A full-grown man.

You typically -- not always but typically -- see a guy with a full-beard who's filled out his frame and is buffed up. You see an 18-year-old who could pass for 25.

You see a man who has been dominating a bunch of boys. It's impossible not to rate this guy highly because he looks better on film than anyone else.

But when he gets to college a couple of things sometimes happen.

First, he stops being dominant. A lot of the five-star guys have been dominant their entire lives. They've never been knocked on the rears. How they react to that is often telling.

Second, he may turn out to be a finished product who's already physically peaked. Often guys like this become solid but never dominant college players and they fall short of the NFL. You see this with a lot of with linemen who arrive as 6-foot-6, 310-pound freshmen already bench pressing over 400 pounds. By their senior years, they are... 6-foot-6, 315-pound seniors bench pressing over 450 pounds. And their feet never really got any quicker.

Meanwhile, there are those baby-faced guys who are 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds as high school seniors for whom college operates as a phone booth did for Superman.

I think he absolutely NAILS the whole part about wondering how will the five-star guy reacts to suddenly not being dominant.  But, maybe better from a WSU perspective, I really like the finished product angle.

All along, since Wulff has been at WSU, he has said repeatedly as to what they are looking for in recruits.  And of all the times you hear him talk about it, you almost never hear him say they are looking for the most mature guys they can find, now.  Instead, he has said time and again that they are seeking kids with good frames, good athleticism/good feet, kids with the right "kind" of weight.  And not just the right kind of weight now, but kids who look like they'll be able to put on the right kind of weight in the future after hitting the training table and the weight room!  Then you think about Travis Long, Sekope Kaufusi or Justin Clayton from last year's signing class, or Aaron Dunn and Jake Rodgers from this year's class, and you know what you see?  Big, tall, strong-framed kids, all between 6-4 and 6-7, and all in that 240 - 250 lb range.  All kids who are good athletes, and the coaching staff can project what kind of players they are actually going to grow into, not necessarily look at what they are capable of today. 

I look at Travis Long from last year, and clearly it's a so far, so good story there.  We will see Kaufusi and Clayton this upcoming season for sure, and who knows with Dunn and Rodgers.  But it is going to be fun to watch these guys grow and learn, and....hopefully.....win, in the coming years! 

All for now.  GO COUGS!