Pac Ten Alley

Tough news for Garcia, and Husky fans today.

Juan Garcia, the leader of UW's offensive line having started the last 25 games at center, said Tuesday there's a chance his college career is over after he was diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury, a complex mid-foot sprain, in his left foot.

I think you all remember that this same type of injury knocked Isaiah Stanback out of competition for almost an entire year, so it doesn't look good for Juan to return in 2008 even though his goal will be mid season.

Every injury of course is different, just like any individual, but these type of injuries are tougher to rehab then an ACL tear. As far as future NFL prospects he still will have a decent shot in the next draft since he should be fully recovered by next years draft combine.

Hasty Suspended Again

UW coach Tyrone Willingham announced before practice that running back J.R. Hasty has been officially suspended and is unlikely to return before spring ball. He said he is weighing whether Hasty will be allowed to return, though he wouldn't go into specifics or entertain questions.

Willingham wanted more time to evaluate whether he had made the right decision in allowing him back, Hasty said.

Now what exactly does that mean?

Nathan Ware

Nathan will be wrapping things up until August after the spring game so catch him while you can.

If you go to the spring game, you won't recognize this defense. It's completely different than last year and that's - obviously - a good thing. Donatell has done a nice job in the short term and it would appear that he was an excellent hire. Just the fact that you get different types of plays/looks on each down - as simple as that might seem - is fun to watch.

Pac Ten Alley

Let's take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.

There are plenty of insiders who expect Oregon to roll over UW in the opener, but until they get the QB position figured out that will be far from being guaranteed.

On a cold and blustery Friday the defense turned the tables on the offense. Last week it was just the opposite. Besides limiting the passing game to an average of less than two yards per attempt, the defense put the clamps on the running game for lost yardage on 20 of its 48 attemptsThe quarterbacks were a combined 7-of-29 for 45 yards with Cade Cooper as the lone bright spot at quarterback. He had a touchdown drive and went 5-of-8 for 29 yards, and ran nine times for 12 yards. LeGarrette Blount, who had a hay day last week, managed minus 4 yards on his first seven carries. Granted, that was with the 3rd string offensive unit. He did much better on a late drive with the first unit when he went 53 yards on 4 carries, including a 21-yard touchdown run. The Ducks have three more full spring workouts before next Saturday’s Spring Game at 2 p.m. in Autzen Stadium.

The basketball coaching search begins at Stanford, don't expect Mark Few to interview.

Heard from a variety of sources Monday: Finally, there’s news on the Stanford search.
It’s not big news, and it’s not all hard news. Some of it is pseudo-news. But as Bob Bowlsby moves through this hiring process, now two weeks old, the fog is beginning to lift.
Current assistant Doug Oliver interviewed with the search committee Monday afternoon, according to a reliable source.

Not much going on at Arizona now that spring practice has concluded.

Former UA basketball star Andre Iguodala, who has led the Philadelphia 76ers to the playoffs, tells Sports Illustrated he had "no regrets" in leaving the Wildcats for the NBA in 2004 after his sophomore year.

Cal's Spring practices are past the midway point.

Cameron Jordan is on a roll. Literally. Cal's 6-foot-4, 286-pound defensive end is down on the rubberized fake grass of Memorial Stadium, rolling from one goal line to the other. Practice -- the 10th of 15 Cal will conduct this spring -- is over. An autumn-like chill is in the Friday evening air. The weekend awaits, smelling of promise. But Jordan continues his long, strange trip. Roll on, you Bear. He's at the 50... the 40... he could roll all the way. In fact, that's the purpose of this little team-building pseudo-punitive exercise, typically assigned to a player for some minor violation of a little-known -- perhaps even nonexistent -- team rule. A small gaggle of Jordan's linemates shepherd him down the field, heckling him, cheering him, reorienting him when he veers off course.

It is all baseball all the time at the Beaver blog!

Sometimes it's about quality over quantity, and that's the reason Lonnie Lechelt is this week's BTD player of the week. Against Arizona State on Friday, Lonnie came into the game late as a defensive replacement. In his only at-bat, he hit a triple down the left field line to drive in two runs and set the Beavers up for a ninth inning comeback against then No. 2 Arizona State.
He went 1-for-4 with a 3-run homer on Saturday in Oregon State's rout of the Sun Devils, and was back at it again Sunday with a 3-for-5 performance. He doubled in that game, giving him a double, triple, and homer in the series. Lonnie is hitting .326 on the year with two home runs and is 14 for 44 at the plate. He hasn't been getting as much playing time at third base as last year due to Drew George's performances at the plate. But with second base still somewhat up in the air, it looks like Lonnie will get a chance to play there when his bat is hot.

Updates from USC on Spring practice.

Matt Meyer was one of USC's top recruits and driven enough to graduate early and enroll for the spring semester. But during the first part of spring practice, he was described as a ``fish out of water,'' by those inside the program. But slowly, he began to demonstrate a grasp of what was going on. Whether that means he could play next season is debatable. But at least he has a head start on the other freshman linemen who arrive in the summer.

Spring practice is over at ASU.

Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter said he was in agreement with coaches and doctors that waiting until after spring practice to have surgery on his injured throwing thumb was best.
"The doctors said I wouldn't hurt it any more and it's only a four-week recovery," Carpenter said Tuesday. The senior will undergo surgery to repair scar tissue Wednesday. "That's plenty of time to have the surgery, rehab, be recovered and not miss anything in spring ball. It worked out best for everybody. "I talked to coach (Dennis) Erickson and said I wanted to go through spring practice. The doctors told me I could do as much as pain would permit. Back-to-back practices were a little harder for me. The thumb was tender and sore and got a little inflamed so it was hard to hold the ball and painful."

Cowan and Olson are pretty fragile so UCLA better build up some quality depth behind them if they don't want a replay of 2007.

Both Cowan and Coach Rick Neuheisel downplayed the injury and team officials said an MRI came back negative. Still, it was a reminder how fragile the Bruins were at quarterback last season, when they lost Cowan and Ben Olson to injuries for extended periods of time. Cowan suited up and Neuheisel was confident he would return Thursday, when the Bruins practice again. "All I know is there was very little swelling in the morning, so hopefully it is going to be inconsequential," Neuheisel said. "He was out there at practice and he could have gone, but we wanted to give him today. We'll see how he is on Thursday."

Spring practice at WSU has been over for a couple of weeks, but there still is some great news, and general opinion being spewed by the guys at the WSU blog.

A sad story might be taking a turn for the better about Glenn Johnson, the voice of your Cougars. He was hospitalized on Sunday with stroke-like symptoms and very little was known. Now, however, the news is heading in the right direction. He's now doing much better per his wife, and the diagnosis sounds as though it was merely a severe blood-pressure spike with some short-term memory loss.