Washington State head coach Paul Wulff met with media Tuesday afternoon. Following a bye week, he had both good news and bad news.
No secret the Washington State football team has encountered a second consecutive season plagued with injuries. No news there, good or bad. That's just the way it is.
The good news.
Coach Wulff was clear both defensive lineman Bernard Wolfgramm and offensive lineman Zack Williams are ready to go to battle this coming Saturday against the Cal Bears in Berkeley.
Both center Kenny Alfred and linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis had stitches removed Monday and will see limited contact during practice to assure their wounds heal. They should be ready to answer the bell against Cal.
Now for the bad news.
Coach Wulff said, "There’s still some question marks with (offensive linemen) Steven Ayers and BJ Guerra . I think they’ll be able to practice a little bit this week but I’m really not sure what their status will be for the game." He added, "(offensive lineman) Tyson Pencer is still nursing a sore ankle from the Arizona State game."
The situation with offensive lineman Brian Danaher is serious. He's definitely going to be out. Danaher had a serious concussion 18 months ago and now a second one this season. His potential return to football will be a doctor’s call.
Staring into the face of a significant reduction to the roster of players because of serious injuries, Coach Wulff addressed the possibility of giving more true freshmen playing time. Wulff was crystal clear on his preference.
"I think there’s a freshman or two that could definitely help us to a certain degree. It’s just not worth it. At this point we have enough guys playing and who can continue to play through the season and grow." - WSU Coach Paul Wulff
With so many talented recruits making up the incoming class of 2009, there are a number of student/athletes who might be able to step in and contribute. History would suggest the odds are against many of these young men actually being successful seeing Pac-10 competition so early in their college football careers.
Wulff isn't viewing the remaining games this season with a tunnel-vision perspective. Winning Cougar football games is important. That's a goal of Coach Wulff and his staff. Building a program that not only produces wins, but includes developing young men and returning to a level Cougar Nation can be extremely proud of.
To elevate Cougar football requires looking at the big picture.
"The number one thing we can do is right now, physically, we have who we have. What can we do different and what can we improve on based off the first half that we can make improvements on (is basic). We’re not necessarily going to get taller or gain more weight or get a tenth faster (in the 40). Those types of things are what they are right now.
But what we can control is our mental preparation. Can we practice harder? Can we prepare even harder? Can we demand even more from each other?
Continue to take a larger step in that maturation process.
When you have a team that the core of it’s very young, you don’t have a mature group savvy enough to where they understand how to prepare every week. It’s a learning process.
We’ve got to develop some maturity on how to prepare each week and how to attack each game. Then flush that game, win or lose, then move on to the next week.
Mentally, we can just be more mature in our approach.
The facts are what they are. We’re on pace to break the record for the most freshman starts in school history. We’ve got young guys playing so we’ve got to get them to be as mature as we possibly can. That’s what we’re doing. That’s the focus right now. That will help us right now.
It will help us beyond right now as well." - WSU Coach Wulff
Coach Wulff appears unwavering in his passion.
As the Cougs work on the game plan for Cal this week, passion for playing Cougar football remains undaunted. The team had an extra week to "flush" the outcome of the last game.
Bring on the Bears.
WSU running back James Montgomery recovering
Coach Paul Wulff offered an update on junior running back James Montgomery who had season-ending surgery on his leg a few weeks ago.
Montgomery is still wearing a boot on his injured leg, but he's getting around without crutches. Wulff said that Montgomery seemed to be doing quite well and can move his foot a little. His range of motion is still quite limited right now.
"They’re starting therapy to see how he really can progress and to what level," Wulff added.
Originally published in Lew Wright's column on Examiner.com
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