APR, Bland and Gesser news from WSU
COUGARS
A busy day for those of us at Cougar Central, what with trying to sift through the debris of the APR results for the local Division I colleges as well as deal with the latest Louis Bland news. Oh, and some rumor control. For more on all that, read on.
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• First things first. No, Jason Gesser will not be a graduate assistant at Washington State in the fall. There is no room under current NCAA rules for Gesser, as Kenny Alfred is the offensive assistant and Jason Belford is the defensive guy. But that doesn't mean Gesser, the former Cougar great quarterback, won't be on the staff in some capacity. We're still trying to flesh out all the particulars, and nothing is official, but we've been told by more than one source there is a good chance Gesser will be in Pullman in a non-field role. Yes, there is a proposal before the NCAA to add more GAs, but there is little chance it will happen before this fall. ... OK, now to the less nebulous items. ... Bland, the hard-hitting linebacker from Central California, was arrested by Pullman police last night and was hit with a marijuana possession, less than 40 grams, citation, a stolen property charge – it was a stop sign – and another charge which could be a real big deal or nothing at all, depending on what lab tests show. According to the Pullman police, a white, powdery substance was found on the coffee table in Bland's residence and though field tests were negative for cocaine or opiates, police suspect it might be a prescription drug of some type, so it was sent to the lab for further clarification. As our story covers, Bland was arrested recently on a domestic violence charge that was ultimately reduced and the sentence suspended, pending future behavior. If any of these current charges are upheld, it's pretty obvious Bland's future as a WSU football player is bleak at best. Of course, the news last week that he would have to have another round of knee surgery had put that future in doubt anyway. But an injury is one thing, this is something else entirely. ... As for the APR, the NCAA released the results today, and Washington State had its best showing ever. As our story says, every sport at WSU met or exceeded the four-year rolling average number of 925, the cutoff point for penalties under the NCAA rules. That's never happened before – OK, the APR hasn't been around that long, but still. ... We will post links to the Bland story and to the APR piece when they appear on our website. We're still waiting for comment to finish up the latter, so it may be a while.
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• That's all for now. As usual, we'll be back when events warrant. Until then ...
