Washington State Football: The Forgotten Qb?

Does anyone remember Austin Apodaca? Listen, when Leach first arrived in Pullman he took a look at all of the previous commitments from Wulff’s 2012 class to decide who was going to fit his system and who wouldn’t. I don’t know if anyone remembers what Leach said about Apodaca because it’s been lost among the Tuel Spring breakout event, the general excitement for Halliday to get his shot after the performances last year and the Tyler Bruggman signing.

Let me refresh your memory. Coach Leach said that Apodaca “may be the most accurate passer I’ve ever recruited”. This is no light statement, it comes from the Qb guru.  I think Austin was a woefully underrated out of HS, as low as 2 stars by Rivals. He is 6’2, 175 and is a very aware Qb. Great feet, great pocket presence and throws a beautiful football. As a senior he threw for 3,849 yards with 44 tds and only 10 interceptions, while keeping a 70% completion percentage. Folks, that is a tough, tough thing to do. He averaged 275 passing yards per game! No those aren’t the best stats in the country but they are stellar numbers that probably should have rated him better.

From what I know about the kid, he is very humble and driven. He’s a natural leader, will work as hard as anyone else on the team, compete for the starting job from day 1 (not realistically but he is that type of person) and he’s so, so excited and proud to be a Coug. It’s going to be tough to root against him, though it won’t be easy on his part to beat out the talent that Leach has inherited and now plucked up in Halliday and Bruggman. Don’t sleep on Apodaca, he’ll challenge everybody for playing time.

Here’s a great highlight tape of the Silver Creek, CO Qb (tell me if you don’t get a little excited about watching him throw it around Martin Stadium):