Advertisement
football Edit

QB Missey stays true to his commitment to Cougars

Bryce Missey
Bryce Missey

Two decommitments by quarterbacks in the past month leaves preferred walk-on Bryce Missey as Washington State’s lone pure signal caller for the 2016 class.

Unlike Quentin Davis and Cody Brewer (If you want, add Ian Book to the list of former Cougar quarterback commitments for the 2016 class as he flipped from WSU to Notre Dame in August), though, Missey fully intends to enroll for classes at Washington State this summer following his graduation from Bethel High School in Spanaway, WA.

WSU commitment Justus Rogers from Bellevue is listed by Rivals.com as a quarterback, but could end up playing another position for the Cougars.

Special teams coordinator Eric Mele extended the preferred walk-on offer to Missey during the past season. Missey kept in constant contact with the Cougar coaches throughout the 2015 season and visited Pullman for a couple of games and practices.

Mele visited Missey at his home earlier this week.

Missey, who held a few offers from non-Division I schools but chose to pay his own way to Washington State and try to earn a scholarship instead, describes himself as a pocket passer with good enough footwork to keep defenses honest.

“I like to think I do a lot of my damage from the pocket, but I wouldn’t say I’m a pure pocket passer,” Missey said. “I can get out and extend plays with my legs if I need to. But I like to do a lot of my damage from the pocket.”

Bethel finished the 2015 season with a 6-4 record and reached the first round of the playoffs. Missey threw for about 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns in seven games. He missed three games because of an injury.

Not surprisingly, Mike Leach’s quarterback-friendly Air Raid offense was a major factor in convincing Missey to walk on at WSU rather than accept a scholarship at a lower division program.

“Obviously, if you’re a quarterback, who doesn’t want to go to a team that throws the ball about 80 percent of the time,” Missey said. “It was definitely a big factor. I love that offense.”

With Luke Falk entering his junior season, and Peyton Bender and Tyler Hilinski ahead of him on the depth chart, Missey has realistic expectations about 2016 – the odds are overwhelming he will redshirt before competing for a spot on the depth chart in the spring of 2017.

“I’m there to compete, but whatever role the team needs me to fill, I’ll push the guys in front of me and that’s what I’m here to do,” Missey said. “But if I can get onto the field and compete for a spot, that’s something I would love to do.”

Ironically, many folks in Missey’s family are Washington fans. But he developed into a Cougars fan in junior high and has remained a WSU loyalist since.

“As a little kid, you do what your family does, but as you get older and start understanding some things, you develop your own perception,” Missey said. “That’s when I started to have an interest in the Cougars. I see how the program is different. You have to be a different type of person. Everybody around these parts seems to be a Huskies fan.”

Current Washington State wide receiver John Thompson is likewise a Bethel High graduate. Missey had numerous conversations with him about the Cougars program and the school before he committed.

“Washington State has more of a family-based atmosphere,” Missey said. “Everybody seems to know each other around there. It’s not the big city and bright lights, but there are a lot of good, hard-working blue collar people around there. It’s something I want to be a part of. (Thompson) told me how much he loved it there and what a great program it was.”

Advertisement
Advertisement