Nov. 10, 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars running back Teondray Caldwell (34) breaks the tackle of UCLA Bruins cornerback Sheldon Price (22) during the first half at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
Stats: 56 Rush 269 Yards 0 TDS, 14 Catch 36 Yards 0 TD
What he accomplished in 2012: Teondray showed enough for most Cougar fans to think he could be the man in 2013, but as you can see by the stats, he really didn’t do much. I remember a big run against Cal and a couple of breakout gains, though not huge, later on in the season.
He also wasn’t really a factor in the passing game and didn’t score a single touchdown in his freshman season. Calwell just wasn’t particularly effective anywhere. However at times he showed quickness and play-maker tendencies, so Coug fans may have been a little deceived in expectation.
What I expect in 2013: I expect a real battle in the Spring and on into the Fall with Arizona transfer Daniel Jenkins. Then I see Gerard Wicks getting involved in the race. While a lot of Coug fans think that Teondray will start, I’m not too sure. He has the body and the speed to be a decent back but another area he really has to improve is in the blitz pickup, where quite frankly he was a bit of a liability last season. And he’s not the biggest cat, at 5’8″ 189 lbs.
It’s going to be a real battle for playing time with 3 bigger backs coming in. I expect Wicks at some point to make Leach think long and hard about getting his abilities on the field and I also expect Jenkins to come in and be ready to play a lot of snaps, as he’s already pointed out that he wants to be seen as an NFL caliber back after this season.
So if Caldwell is to play a prominent role he’ll have to show up and simply out-perform everyone around him in every phase. If he’s able to, I think we’ll have a very good and much improved running back on our hands. If he’s not able to, his production could really fall off of the map.