Worst Seat In The House: If you are good enough...

To say the least, it has been an interesting week for all of us. You remember Groundhog Day? Apparently the groundhog didn’t see his shadow this year and spring was going to be just around the corner for us. Why are we paying attention to what a groundhog does when a bunch of guys dressed up in early days garb yank said groundhog out of a hole from a deep sleep and, depending on the weather, the groundhog does or doesn’t see his shadow?

In other words, if the sun is shining on Feb. 2 the groundhog will apparently see his shadow, get scared and go back in the hole and go back to sleep. If it is overcast and snowing then the groundhog will want to come out and play? “Hey, winter is over! It’s time to get out your Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts.”

Just remember, spring will start on March 20 like it does every year, weather permitting. The weather will be what it will be and as humans I suggest that if it looks like rain or snow wear a jacket. There are a lot of satellites that are used to forecast the weather, and believe it or not they are better at predicting an early spring better than a rodent yanked out of the ground from a deep winter slumber. This rant was brought to you by Groundhogs For A Longer Winter Hibernation. I hope you survived Snowmageddon. We followed our instincts and stayed home.

Early last week, EWU QB Gage Gubrud was denied a sixth year of eligibility for a medical redshirt. Gubrud was planning on playing for the WSU Cougars as a graduate transfer, just like Gardner Minshew had done last year. The NCAA usually allows the sixth year if an athlete only plays a third of a season. Now is when it becomes tricky. The Eagles play an 11 game schedule and then made the playoffs and eventually got to the NCAA championship game in Frisco, Texas for a total of 15 games. Gubrud was injured in the fifth game of the season against Montana State and never took the field again after season ending surgery.

Had the Eagles not made the championship game it would have been a moot point. However, Gubrud didn’t want his college career to end with that weird injury, and who could blame him? Gubrud decided to appeal the decision.

Now, I’ve had people ask me, “Why wouldn’t Gubrud want to play out his senior season at EWU?” The simple answer is Gubrud watched from the sidelines and saw that Eric Barriere had become the leader of this Eagle team. Gubrud and Barriere are good friends and Gage is also a team guy and must have realized that he didn’t want to upset what EWU had become with EB as its leader. He walked-on at Eastern and was now hoping to try his luck at beating out several other QBs once again.

Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon. While watching the WSU basketball game on the Pac-12 Network, news scrolled at the bottom of the screen stating in so many words that Gage Gubrud would be granted a sixth year of eligibility and play football for WSU. Gubrud will be enrolled at WSU in time for spring ball on the Palouse. Gubrud is talented and battle tested, and if he wins a starting role for the Cougars he will have earned it. Just don’t expect him to have a mustache.

Two receivers that he threw to a lot at EWU are in the NFL and those passing connections were fun to watch. He is also a mobile QB. He was on the winning team in his first start as an Eagle with a win over WSU. Following the game WSU Coach Mike Leach said, “the best player on the field today was Cooper Kupp and the second best player was the quarterback whose name I can’t pronounce.”

Trust me, Mike Leach knows how to pronounce Gage Gubrud’s name today, and if he is good enough and gets the job done he will look good in crimson and gray.