LEWISTON, Idaho — There have certainly been a lot of eyes on Gage Gubrud the last few days, weeks, or months depending on your perspective. On Tuesday, we got to hear from him.
"Comfortable," Gubrud said of how he feels in the offense. "I wouldn't say it's like I've been running it for four years or anything like that, but yeah, I feel comfortable operating every single play in the play book. I know my reads and all that stuff. It's just being disciplined enough and kind of knowing how things open up. Just getting reps. Coach Leach says all the time you just need a bunch of reps in any offense to really get familiar and feel how things open up. Still working on that."
The Air Raid is advertised as a quarterback's dream. So far, Gage agrees.
"It is fun for a quarterback to play in the offense when you're throwing the ball almost every play. You have a lot of freedom. You can really run any play that you want any time. If you see leverage or see anything you like you can go to that kind of stuff and go to a route you like on that. It's been a lot of fun. It's also a lot of learning because you've got so much freedom. You've got to know when to check and when to keep in it. It's a work in progress."
Beyond the differences in offense, there are a whole slew of differences between Eastern Washington and Washington State. What are the ones Gage has noticed the most?
"Just the level of football. Getting used to the speed of the game everyday. It's not that it was a slow game back at the FCS level, it's just every day is just a little bit faster and guys are one step quicker so you have to be that much sharper with your reads. That's been the biggest difference and the resources and stuff that we have. You have all the resources that you need to be successful here. Whereas, at an FCS level school like an Eastern or a lot of other schools, with the exception of some, you're lacking the money to be able to provide all the stuff that players could use to benefit themselves to the fullest. Two biggest things right there."
Which begs the question, what's the biggest difference resource wise?
"The food. Training table man, we get fed really well.Chef Raul takes care of us. That's the biggest thing. At Eastern, you get a meal plan and you're eating what everyone else eats in the student body. Here you get all this great food. If you need to gain weight, all the resources are there. If you need to lose weight or maintain, all the resources are there for you so that's the biggest thing for sure."
And food-wise, one meal at WSU stands out.
"Crab legs. We had that the first day coming back, kind of a welcome back for fall camp thing so that was good."
No matter the differences, Gage still feels a close bond to his former university. Monday, Coach Best said he wishes Gage all the best and differently wants him to succeed.
"It means a lot to hear that from Coach Best," he said. "Talking to some of the players from back there still and some of my buddies who graduated from Eastern with me, they're all behind me. It feels good to have all those guys behind my back and know that there aren't any hard feelings of things like that."