Washington State’s Wade Jacobson, a 2008 graduate of San Benito
High School, had his unofficial Homecoming last Saturday when the
Cougars battled Stanford in Palo Alto
PALO ALTO
When Wade Jacobson fell on a loose football Saturday at Stanford Stadium, it didn’t go unnoticed.
Hardly.
The starting left guard for the Washington State Cougars was openly cheered for by the 100 or so fans in attendance who can recall the lineman’s playing days at San Benito High School and Gavilan College.
Yes, with a quick pounce on teammate James Montgomery’s fumble, Jacobson’s name was announced over the PA system, resulting in scattered screams across Stanford Stadium from a small but pro-Jacobson crowd, and perhaps leaving the remaining 36,000-plus people wondering what the heck just happened.
After all, it’s not everyday an opposing team’s offensive lineman is celebrated for something so common. But then again, it’s also not everyday an offensive lineman, one who’s playing in his own personal Homecoming game, can crack the box score.
“For a lineman to get the ball, that’s a big thing,” said Jacobson, a 2008 graduate of San Benito High and Gavilan College alum.
Later, joking about the situation — a fumble recovery leading to so much applause by so few people, and in an opponents’ stadium, no less — Jacobson added, “That made my game right there.”
Although his parents have made the trip to each one of the Cougars’ eight games this season, last Saturday’s Pac-10 game against Stanford — a 38-28 Cardinal victory — welcomed approximately 100 Jacobson supporters. Almost all of them were adorned in some sort of Washington State gear, while others, like Conner Stevens, Matt Vallejo, Jon Ribera and Andre Lucas, dressed in T-shirts that spelled out “W-A-D-E” in block letters.
Paul Cardinalli, meanwhile, wore a T-shirt that said, “It’s Pancake Time,” referring to one of the only statistics recorded for offensive linemen, the pancake block.
“It’s not like playing at Hollister High,” Jacobson said. “But when you have people like this here, it feels like playing at home.”
Jacobson hasn’t let the leap from junior college to big-time FBS football influence his game much. He said the countless practices and knowledgeable coaching staff at Wazzu help turn the games into slow-motion versions of themselves.
At 6-foot-6, 304 pounds — he’s lost all of six pounds since he signed with the Pullman, Wash., college in December — Jacobson has even embraced his new position at left guard since he took over at the beginning of the season. Although he was initially recruited at left tackle — he even played in the No. 1 spot through spring practice — Jacobson has started in seven of the Cougars’ eight games this season at guard.
“I don’t care where they put me. As long as I’m playing, I’m a happy kid,” he said.
It hasn’t necessarily been all sunshine and rainbows for the Cougars’ front line this season, though. Quarterback Jeff Tuel has been sacked 31 times already this year, which is second most in FBS, while starting left tackle David Gonzales is out for the season with a broken arm.
Reports out of Pullman, though, have said last week’s performance by the offensive line at Stanford, in which Tuel threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns and the Cougars averaged 4.9 yards per carry, was one of the better showings this season by the Cougars, especially considering true freshman John Fullington was filling in for the injured Gonzales.
“The thing that hurt the most was seeing him go down,” said Jacobson of Gonzales, a Fresno product whom he carpools with when heading back to California. “We’re a family. When one goes down, it hurts us all.”
Jacobson was forced to move one spot over to the left tackle spot after Gonzales suffered the arm injury two weeks ago in Arizona. He was quickly called for two holding penalties while lining up against defensive end Brooks Reed, who has 4.5 sacks for the Wildcats already this year. But he eventually settled into the left-tackle role he’s played for most of his football life.
“I’m not gonna lie. You can’t be a lineman and not hold,” Jacobson said. “But in those two holding calls (against Arizona), I got beat. I got beat and he was gonna get to my quarterback, so I took him down.
“I’ll take a holding call to save my quarterback.”
So is the life of an offensive lineman, a position not necessarily for those seeking fanfare and publicity. They don’t pass the ball, or run or receive. They don’t exactly tackle anybody either, and they’re never in a position to record an interception.
They block and protect. And if an offensive lineman goes relatively unnoticed during a game, then he’s most likely doing his job correctly.
It’s why a pair of offensive holding calls won’t win any lineman points with the coaching staff, and it’s why a fumble recovery in front of 100 of your closest friends at Stanford Stadium is enough to make it a pretty decent unofficial Homecoming.
“When someone recognizes a lineman for a positive thing, it’s very nice,” Jacobson said.
“But when we score, that’s a lineman’s accomplishment. That’s our media attention.”
