Spring football is underway in Pullman, and with it comes new hope for what the Cougars can accomplish on the field in 2015.

No single entity has broken my heart or let me down more than WSU football in the 21st century. After 11 years of failing expectations, or being downright awful, this was going to be the spring where I’d expect a 2-10 record in the fall. That way winning even three games (which should come against Portland State, Wyoming and Colorado) would exceed my expectations, and leave me feeling just a little bit better in November.

After the great signing day fiasco that saw a number of highly touted recruits flip last minute, the departure of one of the staff’s best coaches in Dennis Simmons, and the fact that the team is coming off their second 3-9 season in three years, it is hard to gauge the level of excitement and optimism among Cougar fans.

This year there are legitimate, concrete reasons to expect a decent season. In years past, a lot of weaknesses were overlooked, and a lot of players were overhyped by a fan base and a program desperate to return to the glory days of 2001-03. Looking at some key elements, I’ve abandoned my narcissistic stance on Cougar football, and I am getting my hopes up.

Shoot me now.

The first element is the offensive line. The Cougars are returning every member of a unit that played pretty well a season ago. Furthermore, they all weigh more than 300 pounds, and not a Paul Wulff-style 300 pounds of fat, dead weight and slowness. Mike Leach linemen have a trademark of muscle and athletic sturdiness. Leach is a coach who has stressed the offensive line as the most important part of the offense from day one. Players improve most during the offseason, and improvement to an already solid group signals good things to come in the fall.

The second element that has me excited is the skill positions on offense. Running backs Jamal Morrow and Gerard Wicks showed some explosiveness last season in the running game that had not been seen for some time. With a full season under their belts, both backs are more experienced, more improved and still young.

Some people have questions marks with the receiving corps. The Cougs will have to replace more than 2,000 yards and 21 touchdowns with the graduation of Vince Mayle and Isiah Myers. Mayle’s large frame in the redzone will be tough to replace as well. However, many forget about the return of Gabe Marks — arguably the team’s most talented receiver who redshirted last season due to injury. I’d expect him to be even better than Myers was a season ago. I’m also excited to see incomer CJ Dimry, whose 6-6 frame could see him develop into a similar type of player as Mayle. Factor in sure-handed River Cracraft and a bunch of depth, this underrated receiving corps will be dangerous again.

Last but certainly not least on offense is the quarterback position. Connor Halliday was really good by his third season in the air raid, but Luke Falk is well ahead of where he was at similar points in the quarterbacks’ careers.

After his first year in the air raid, Halliday threw 291 passes, and completed just 52 percent of them. He also threw 13 interceptions that led to a quarterback rating of 114.5.

So far, Falk has thrown 243 passes, a handful less than Halliday, but has completed 64.2 percent of them, and thrown just seven interceptions for a QBR of 140.2. Halliday might’ve had the better arm, but Falk has shown he possesses the other skills necessary to thrive in the air raid.

The Cougar offense is going to be good. That leaves defense and special teams — which can be viewed with a glass half full, or a glass half empty.

The good news is those teams cannot be any worse than last year, and the team was in a lot of close games last year. New defensive coordinator Alex Grinch seems like he brings a lot more energy to the field than Mike Breske did. He’s the type of coach players like playing for. Any improvement he can bring to the defense could be enough to get the team over the hump and start winning those close games.

The bad news is the team lost its best defensive back in Daquawn Brown, and the thought of getting younger in the secondary is incredibly scary. No other position in sports can see youth get exposed like cornerback, except for maybe quarterback. However, some good traits displayed by Charleston White and safety Sulaiman Hameed suggest improvement in the secondary, which has me viewing the Cougar defensive backfield as a glass that is half full.

The Cougar defense wasn’t very good in 1998-99 as the team won just three games each year. But those secondary’s featured youthful players like Lamont Thompson, Billy Newman, Virgil Williams and Marcus Trufant. All were apart of WSU’s great run between 2001-03, and all had opportunities with NFL teams.

This will be Mike Leach’s fourth season with the Cougars. It is finally his team. No more can anyone make excuses that he doesn’t have his guys yet, or that the team is too young and inexperienced. They are young, but experienced, which is a dangerous combination. I’d expect six wins to be a reasonable expectation this year that can springboard sustainably good football for years to come.