Gary Rogers' Diary: Week Two

PULLMAN -- Hey again, Cougfans. Everything is looking good out here on the Palouse. The team is working extremely hard in workouts and continuing to get in better shape. This spring and summer has been a bit different for me from past seasons. I am now taking on the role of starting quarterback head on.

This is the role I have been working towards since I arrived at WSU in 2004.

Being a competitor, I obviously wanted to become the starting quarterback a bit sooner but this is how it has turned out and I plan on making the best of my opportunity, and taking this offense under my wing.

With a new coach and a new staff, there definitely is a learning curve. I think the offense did a good job picking up the system this spring, and we continued to get better throughout. We are now, in the summer, taking all we learned this spring and working on perfecting the offense.

I think that preparation for any new system is key. Since everything is new, you must put in extra work on and off the field. So we're doing just that.

On the field, we are working on timing and polishing everything up. Off the field, we are watching film to try and help us see where we must improve.

This is a high-powered offense and is going to be one to be reckoned with this season. And the process that will get us there is underway right now.

We haven't started our 7-on-7/skelly yet and won't until later this summer. What we are working on are individual drills, along with team timing and plays.

In our teamwork during the week, the offensive skill position players are going through drills and the offense line is also going through their specific drills as well. After we are finished with the drills, the o-line and the offensive skill position players come together and run plays at a high tempo to better our timing.

I saw a question on the CF.C message board last week asking who could have a breakout year among the running backs. That group is looking really sharp this summer.

Each and every running back is working hard and pushing themselves to get better each and every day and from what I've seen, I think Chris Ivory is ready to have a breakout type of year. He has been working very hard and looks faster and quicker than ever. He had a slight pull earlier in the spring but has battled back from that tremendously well.

Dwight Tardy looks to be coming along great and is continuing to rehab the knee he injured last season. I definitely look for him to have a break out season as well.

As far as the offense is concerned, I feel very comfortable with this new offense. One of the main reasons is that this particular offense gives the QB a lot of freedom, and it allows me to get the offense into the best possible play for any particular situation.

Keep the questions coming on the CF.C message boards and I'll be back on next week to talk more Cougar football.

GO COUGS!!!!!

Gary Rogers was named the Cougs' No. 1 quarterback following the spring football session. The 6-7, 233-pounder will be a fifth-year-senior in 2008. At Kamiak High in Mukilteo, he earned first-team All-WesCo accolades and was rated among the top 30 quarterback prospects in the nation. In backing up Alex Brink the past three seasons, Rogers has played in 27 games at WSU, completing 24-of-52 passes with 3 TDs. His best outing came against Auburn in 2006, when Rogers in his first series marched the Cougs down the field on a six-play, 90-yard touchdown drive, completing 4-of-5 passes, including a 50-yard touchdown pass to Cody Boyd. Along with Mike Graise, he graciously volunteered this summer to give CF.C readers an inside look at the world of pre-season Cougar football preparations with a weekly diary.