With a solid win over San Diego State behind them, the Cougar football team is showing real potential for the season, Coach Bill Doba told the Pullman Kiwanis Club Thursday at their noon meeting in the Gladish Community and Cultural Center.
“We must win … Saturday’s game against Idaho,” said Doba, “and then it’s on to Southern California and Arizona. Arizona has been playing very well – and it’s going to be a very, very tough conference this year. We’ll need to play at the top of our game to get five more wins in the conference…to make it to a bowl game,” Doba said.
He lauded quarterbacks coach Tim Rosenbach and said a good amount of the credit for the last game’s success had to go to Alex Brink and three outstanding receivers. “He’s one of our smartest quarterbacks ever – he makes the right decisions,” said Doba.
Brink had a record-setting game in Seattle. He now has four 400-yard passing games, the most in school history.
Doba also highlighted freshman quarterback, Marshall Lobbestael, a redhead from Oak Harbor. “He has a quick arm at six foot two – and he has a GPA of 3.9,” he said.
All eyes are also on freshman wide receiver Jeshua Anderson. “He’s going to be a lot of fun to watch,” said Doba, recounting the story of how Anderson was recruited last year. “Jeshua ran track and set the national record in the 300-meter hurdles. Reebok was trying to get him to go pro and skip going to school. But after a weekend here at WSU, he gave us a verbal commitment.”
His mother was present when Jeshua called the three other schools recruiting him to tell them the news, explained Doba. One of them just wouldn’t give up and finally she got on the phone with the recruiters. When they told her that her son was making a mistake going to WSU and that a verbal commitment is not binding, she said, “In our family a verbal commitment matters and I don’t appreciate you bashing the school of my son’s choice!”
“There’s something else you’re going to hear about,” Doba said, referring to aspects of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) policy that goes into effect this year. Under APR, every eligible player on the team is awarded two points. If a player is not eligible, the team loses a point. Points are lost if students leave the school before graduating or if they are not on time with academic requirements.
When a team falls below a certain APR level, they are in danger of losing scholarships – and if it’s too low, it can affect whether that team is eligible for bowl games, Doba said.
“We may lose a couple scholarships for next year,” he said, because the coaches won’t keep a player who misbehaves just to save a point. “The kids have to fit into the community.”
More about Cougar football online at http://wsucougars.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/wast-m-footbl-body.html
