Washington State Football: Is CB Rahmel Dockery In Or Out?

Sep 14, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach reacts to a play during the second quarter against the UNLV Rebels at Sam Boyd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Make it three seasons of personal struggle for Washington State redshirt freshman Rahmel Dockery.

The electric youngster had to “grayshirt” before arriving to campus because of academic problems, missing the final season of Wulff-ball, the head coach that originally recruited him. He then briefly walked away from the football team before the beginning of the 2012 season, having been pretty vocal about his displeasure of being moved to the defensive side of the ball, only to return shortly thereafter with the decision to try and embrace the move by new head coach Mike Leach.

After a redshirt year on the practice squad and the insertion of a couple more dynamic athletes at cornerback in the 2013 class, history repeated itself this week when Dockery did not show up to practice on Wednesday or Thursday. According to CF.C, it’s not clear if Rahmel had decided to transfer and then recanted that decision, but it seems as if he injured his ankle on Aug. 2nd after being instructed to tape. Of course the Cougars were practicing at an elementary field in Lewiston at the time and we certainly knew that ankles were going to be at risk.

Dockery was then criticized openly by defensive coordinator and secondary coach Mike Breske for not taping and responded poorly over the last two weeks. After talking to his father and his high school coach from Tacoma, it was apparently clear that Dockery had decided once again to rejoin his teammates. However on Friday he had planned a meeting with coach Leach before making his final decision.

This is an interesting story to follow, but I don’t know how much longer the coaching staff will put up with the flip-flopping of Dockery. If you look at his highlight tapes, it’s certainly clear the kid is a talented individual who should eventually see significant PT here at Washington State. It would be a shame if his momentary decision costs him his career in the Pac-12 and especially because he’s likely just a twisted ankle or two away from himself being lined up in the rotation this season. Not sure what the final decision is, we’ll find out today most likely.

*Editors Note: Just found out that Rahmel has officially “left” the football team, via Leach late on Friday. We probably won’t get too much more information on the situation so we won’t speculate past what we know. The situation is he had stated he was coming back and now he’s no longer a member of the team. We wish him the best in his future football endeavors.