Gesser Looks More Mobile

It appears that time off has helped Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser recover from a sprained ankle. The senior looked considerably more mobile during Thursday’s practice at the Coliseum than he had in the regular-season finale against UCLA.

Gesser suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of the Cougars’ 29-26 triple-overtime loss to Washington on Nov. 23. He played the UCLA game essentially on one leg and threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-27 victory to clinch the Pacific 10 Conference title and the Rose Bowl berth.

“It’s been doing a lot better than it did before,” he said of the right ankle. “I would say I’m at 75, 80%. Now I can actually plant my foot and not hobble when I hand the ball off.”

Coach Mike Price said he was pleased with how Gesser looked in practice. The quarterback continues to wear a brace.

“He was scrambling around out there,” Price said. “I didn’t want him to do that. I told him to slow it down a little bit. But he’s been getting better every day.”

Gesser said he was over the disappointment of not being invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy award presentation. He said he thought his candidacy ended in the Washington loss, even though he wasn’t around at the end.

Gesser was selected co-offensive player of the year in the Pac-10 with USC quarterback Carson Palmer, who won the Heisman.

“You know that you can’t lose late in a season like that,” he said. “You can always look back at what could have happened. But we got to where we wanted to be.”

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All-America defensive tackle Rien Long said he knew his stock has risen in the last couple of weeks after winning the Outland Trophy as college football’s best interior lineman.

But that won’t sway his decision to return for his senior season and not declare for the NFL draft. He is loving college football too much.

“You always have that idea in your mind but I’m coming back for sure,” Long said. “I came in here with my class and I’m leaving with my class. Knowing that I have an extra year to play this game, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Long, a 6-foot-6, 286-pound junior, would be a possible first-round pick if he came out but said he would like to become the second player to win the Outland twice. Dave Rimington was a two-time winner for Nebraska in 1981 and ’82.

Long has recorded 13 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss for the Cougars this season.

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The Cougars took their turn at one of the Rose Bowl’s long-standing traditions -- the 47th annual Lawry’s Beef Bowl. Oklahoma will dine on its prime rib feast on Saturday.

Washington State last came to Lawry’s in 1998 where, according to Price, they ate more beef than Michigan, but didn’t win the game.

“I hope there’s no correlation,” he said.

The Cougars did their best to put a dent in the restaurant’s reserves, eating a collective 585 pounds of meat according to restaurant General Manager Todd Johnson.

The top consumers, not surprisingly, were linemen -- seniors Phil Locker, Derrick Roche, junior Josh Parrish and freshman Brent Evans all had four servings of prime rib.

-- Eric Stephens and Mike Terry