A Grip on Sports: Once again, a Seahawk top draft pick faces a make-or-break season

A GRIP ON SPORTS • From highschool to the NFL, there’s a lot occurring within the soccer world right now. We’ll attempt to contact on all of the vital markers on this cool Tuesday however we might miss one or two. It’s that crowded of a day.

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• We’ll begin in Seattle, the place the Seahawks must make roster cuts by the early afternoon. Will there be any surprises? One could be Rashaad Penny, however even when the operating again isn’t chopped, he’ll be on the block all season.

It’s a make-or-break year for the first-round choose of 2018, something that seems to happen with regularity around the Hawks. Hardly ever does a John Schneider first-round choice step proper in and have success straight away. It appears, recently at the very least, he’s completed higher discovering gems decrease within the draft than on the high.

A part of that may be blamed on the Hawks’ success. They haven’t had a extremely excessive choose shortly. And a part of it’s Schneider’s philosophy. He would relatively draft an entire bunch of men within the mid-to-lower rounds than one first rounder, so Seattle trades down rather a lot.

However it’s plain. The Seahawks haven’t hit large on the high of the draft shortly. The final star? Both Earl Thomas in 2010 (their second first-round choose that yr) or Bruce Irvin in 2012. All of it will depend on your definition of a star.

Since Irvin, nevertheless, the 4 alternatives – Seattle didn’t have a first-round choice in 2013, 14, 15, 17 or 21 – haven’t knocked anybody’s socks off.

Penny is simply the newest of he group to hit the top of his usefulness in Seattle. If he has. That will probably be decided quickly.

• Down the street in Pullman, the Cougars introduced their depth chart for Saturday night time’s late (8 p.m.) opener towards visiting Utah State. There have been a couple of surprises however the “or” between quarterbacks Jayden de Laura and grad switch Jarrett Guarantano isn’t one in all them.

We might not know who begins at that all-important place till simply earlier than kickoff.

We additionally don’t know why senior defensive lineman Dallas Hobbs was not listed wherever on the two-deep. And that may be a shock. All we all know this morning is he’s not there and could also be missed.

• Highschool soccer kicks off in Spokane on Friday night time. It began in Idaho final week. And it entered the nationwide highlight, in an terrible means, yesterday.

Should you occurred to overlook ESPN’s presentation of Sunday’s sport between IMG Academy (a prep college owned by a conglomerate) and Bishop Sycamore, you didn’t miss something. Effectively, a 58-0 rout that was ugly from the opening kickoff.

Perhaps ugly doesn’t actually describe it. Prison could be higher, as a result of there appears to be components of fraud concerned.

Bishop Sycamore isn’t a real school with a real address, physical or virtual. The soccer staff, which performed and misplaced a sport Friday night time earlier than the Sunday one, doesn’t have many gamers and a few of them, in line with stories, won’t be highschool age.

The underside line? ESPN was duped into exhibiting a sport that wasn’t really a game. And the community that touts itself because the WorldWide Chief didn’t do its due diligence, counting on one other firm for the legitimacy of the match.

There could be some good to return out of this, however I doubt it. Perhaps such matchups between nationwide powers exterior the purveyor of highschool athletic associations will probably be scrapped. However we doubt it. There’s cash to be made.

• We’ll step away from soccer for a second to say goodbye to a neighborhood athletic director.

As we speak is Mike Roth’s ultimate day in that place at Gonzaga College. (Don’t miss Theo Lawson’s interview with him or Dan Pelle’s photo essay of his penultimate day within the workplace.)

If Mark Few is motive No. 1 for the massive athletic adjustments at GU this century, then Roth is shut No. 2.

Sure, basketball’s success has fueled the rise of an athletic program from unknown to among the many best-known nationally amongst non-football colleges.

However Roth, who, by the way in which, made the choice to raise Few from assistant to move coach, has astutely ridden the basketball-caused wave – and guided the floodwaters into the correct reservoirs.

Underneath his watch, the south finish of campus has been remodeled. What as soon as was an out-of-the-way dwelling for athletics has change into not simply the college’s entrance porch however its entrance parlor, the place most vital introductions to Gonzaga are made.

It’s a legacy that can by no means go. At the same time as Roth’s time on the college has.

Sooner or later a constructing will probably be named after him. Perhaps the Mike Roth Athletic Administration Advanced or one thing. It would occur. He’s earned it.

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WSU: We delved into the Cougar depth chart a hair above, however Colton Clark looked at it in-depth in this piece. … He additionally takes a first look at Saturday’s opponent, Utah State. The Aggies have revised their roster fairly a bit since final season. … Security Daniel Isom is attempting to make the most of his second probability. … The followers of the Jacksonville Jaguars feel pretty much the same about Gardner Minshew as Cougars followers. … Elsewhere within the Pac-12 and faculty sports activities, Jon Wilner rates the most-impactful newcomers within the convention within the Mercury Information. A WSU defensive again makes the checklist. … We will go alongside six the explanation why Washington will win the convention title. Jimmy Lake has his thoughts on the matter as nicely. … Oregon launched its depth chart for the sport towards Fresno State and there was a surprise on the offensive line. It was as a consequence of damage. … Oregon State did the identical. The key spot? Quarterback, the place Colorado transfer Sam Hoyer will begin towards Purdue. … Colorado has a brand new starter as nicely at that spot. Brandon Lewis takes over from Hoyer. … Utah has new quarterback too. (It seems to be a theme within the Pac-12.) And a new-look stadium. … The NIL information simply retains on coming at UCLA. The followers? Not so much. … USC can’t overlook San Jose State. … Right here’s a query. What if the NCAA’s investigation into Arizona State’s COVID-19 recruiting practices doesn’t uncover violations? What then? … ASU faces Southern Utah this weekend whereas Arizona performs a new-look BYU squad. … The Wildcats will begin WSU switch Gunner Cruz and he might play the whole sport.

Gonzaga: In addition to the gadgets on Roth (Theo’s story and Dan’s photographs) we linked above, we are able to additionally go alongside Jim Meehan’s common Monday look on Larry Weir’s newest Press Box podcast. … Should you occur to observe West Coast Convention video games on ESPN, you’ve been happy to hear Dave Flemming’s voice come by means of your TV. Perhaps it’s as a result of he not often works with Invoice Walton however primarily as a result of he’s such a professional. Among the best play-by-play abilities on the West Coast.

EWU and Idaho: Across the Huge Sky, Northern Arizona hosts FCS defending champ Sam Houston State this weekend. … Montana State and Wyoming match up with a variety of similarities. … Montana hopes to carry up towards host Washington.

Mariners: If something can derail the M’s push toward a playoff berth, it’s the sequence towards the Astros. Even at T-Cellular. The M’s lost 4-3 final night time – squandering a 3-2 lead within the eighth – and have misplaced 4 of 5 video games on the homestand. … They want offense. So that they recalled Jose Marmolejos from Tacoma. He then hit a home run in his first at-bat again. He’s going to save lots of them, proper?

Seahawks: No matter Pete Carroll noticed from his corners in coaching camp, it wasn’t enough. Schneider traded for John Reid final week and Monday made another swap, getting former UW participant Sidney Jones from Jacksonville. … Russell Wilson is a Tier 1 quarterback once more. No. 4 general on Mike Sando’s list for The Athletic.  

Kraken: Brandon Tanev is an effective man to have on the roster and never simply due to what he does on the ice.

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• As we speak is the ultimate day of August. We hate to see it go. It was all the time our favourite month rising up. Certain, there wasn’t any baseball however by the point the month began we had been taking part in because the first of the yr (I grew up within the L.A. space, keep in mind). So the respite was welcomed. As was the time on the lake. This was earlier than forest fires appeared to devour the wild lands yearly. Water snowboarding wasn’t for me, however sitting on the dock, studying, that was heaven. Sci-fi novels, mysteries, even books on my highschool’s summer-reading checklist had been devoured. (If you wish to know, again then Isaac Asimov and Alistair MacLean had been my favourite authors.) The most effective days. Lazy days. Wait, I simply remembered. Annually we needed to stain the skin of the cabin earlier than we left. Prep it for winter. That was all the time a ache within the arm (solely I didn’t say arm). Till later …