Alex Brink is the longest tenured quarterback in the Pac-10. He's on pace to shatter almost every relevant Washington State passing record and ranks in the top five career passing leaders among active quarterbacks nationwide.
Brink has a 3.6 grade-point average in his sport management major. He wrote his senior thesis comparing the lack of black NCAA Division I-A football coaches with the lack of black executives in Fortune 500 companies, showing, in his words, "how that comparison showed a racist discourse throughout society."
Brink does so much charity work that the WSU athletic department can't keep track of it all. He has been named to the Pac-10 all-academic first team two years in a row, and was a second-team All-Pac-10 quarterback last year.
Then how come you've never heard of him?
"If you're talking about national press and national attention, I'm certainly not one of the players people talk about often," said the senior, whose Cougars play Arizona on Saturday at 7 p.m. "That's kind of the nature of where I play, our record the past few years and not getting into a bowl game and things like that."
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There's no denying that out-of-the-way Pullman, Wash., is an impediment to any kind of nationwide hype.
"In Pullman, you have to be undefeated or have one loss and be right in the hunt to draw any national attention," WSU quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach said.
Before the 2002 season, mocking Oregon's quarter-million dollar billboard in Times Square promoting Joey Harrington for the Heisman Trophy, Washington State painted a slogan for then-quarterback Jason Gesser on a grain silo in Dusty, Wash. It read, "Gess Who 4 Heisman."
Brink is certainly no Heisman candidate, but he's been a solid major conference quarterback for almost four years. Consider:
● Arizona's Willie Tuitama could pass for 225 yards in each of his 20 remaining career games and still not match the career passing yards Brink has today.
● He owns WSU's pass completions record and figures to pass Gesser for the top spot on the yards passing and touchdown passes record in the next few games.
● He has started 32 consecutive games, second only nationally to Iowa State's Bret Meyer, who has 40.
Brink's statistics speak for themselves, but postseason play — or lack thereof — is the main reason for his anonymity.
Ryan Leaf led the Cougars to the 1998 Rose Bowl; Gesser took the Cougars to the Sun Bowl in 2001 and the 2003 Rose Bowl. In the following season, Matt Kegel led WSU to a Holiday Bowl upset win against No. 5 Texas.
The Cougars haven't played in the postseason since.
WSU coach Bill Doba said he could see why Brink remains fairly anonymous.
"He hasn't taken them to a bowl game," Doba said. "He hasn't won the big upset, beating Michigan, Ohio State, Southern Cal. He's the 'Steady Eddie,' he's a good kid, and he's a darn good quarterback."
The Cougars (2-2) need him Saturday, more than ever. After playing the UA, they face Arizona State, Oregon, UCLA and Cal.
Quite simply, WSU needs to beat Arizona to get a crack at the postseason.
"When I look down the road — and you're not supposed to — our next four opponents are 15-1," Doba said. "If we want to go to a bowl game — and that's always the goal — our kids, we need to do something pretty quick here."
Doba was asked if the Cougars and Wildcats are in the same boat, a little bit.
"Not a little bit — a lotta bit," he said. "We're both fighting for our lives right now, because this doggoned conference is so tough."
Last year, the Cougars needed to win one of their last three games to make a bowl. At 6-3, WSU lost to Arizona 27-17 and then to Arizona State and Washington. Brink said last year's team assumed it would continue winning, instead of focusing on each individual game.
"You realize, as you get older and as you go through it more, that each game is important in its own right," Brink said.
On a team that boasts two of the Pac-10's top seven receiving yards leaders — Brandon Gibson (90 yards per game) and Michael Bumpus (70) — Brink figures to have a giant say in the outcome Saturday.
The magnitude of Saturday's game isn't lost on Brink. His bowl hopes — and maybe his legacy — could hang in the balance. He knows Arizona feels the same way, too.
"We're both at a crossroads," Brink said. "We need to take it and go somewhere with it."
"Steady Eddie"
Alex Brink is not a quarterback out of central casting. He was so unheralded coming out of Eugene (Ore.) Sheldon High School that he was not recruited by the hometown Ducks. Instead, he committed to Boise State before changing his mind when Timm Rosenbach — who recruited him at Eastern Washington — was hired at WSU.
Rosenbach admits that Brink is not a quarterback out of central casting.
"He's not gonna throw the ball 50 yards downfield with no arc," said Rosenbach, a former Phoenix Cardinal and WSU quarterback. "He doesn't run a 4.4 40 (-yard dash). He's not 6-6 and 240 pounds."
Still, Rosenbach is amazed by his consistency. Here's a look at his career stats:
YEAR COMP-ATT INT TD YARDS
2004 97-194 5 7 1,305
2005 205-358 13 24 2,891
2006 241-396 10 19 2,899
2007 98-141 3 12 1,112
TOTAL 641-1,089 31 62 8,207
Quarterback U?
In the past 30 years, Washington State has quietly fielded some of the Pac-10's best quarterbacks.
Here's a look at those who found their way into the pro ranks after stellar college careers:
• Jack Thompson (1975-78) — "The Throwin' Samoan" set a national passing yards record before being drafted third overall by the Bengals in 1979.
• Mark Rypien (1983-85) — Two-time Pro Bowler played 11 NFL seasons.
• Timm Rosenbach (1986-88) — Supplemental draft pick by the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989.
• Drew Bledsoe (1990-92) — Drafted No. 1 overall by the Patriots in 1993 and retired after last season.
• Ryan Leaf (1994-97) — Picked No. 2 behind Peyton Manning in the 1998 draft, but became maybe the biggest bust ever.
• Jason Gesser (1999-2002) — On the Titans' roster before moving to the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League.
