Roundup: Washington's Cooper battling back

Here’s a Gregg Bell “Unleashed” article about the return of the most popular Husky, aka Deontae Cooper, who is fighting back from his third reconstructive knee surgery with hopes of playing in his first collegiate football game on Aug. 31. Great dude with an inspiring story.

There is a lot of talent in that Utah backfield, so while Kelvin York is the No. 1 running back for now, the competition continues for the Utes. Karl Williams, Lucky Radley and James Poole are all doing some nice work as well. Remember, no more John White in Salt Lake City. Aside from White’s running prowess, he also had the distinction of having the two best nicknames in the conference (The Wolfman and Juan Blanco Cuatro).

With Max Wittek, Cody Kessler and Max Browne all still in the thick of it, USC’s starting quarterback derby is still raging. Expect a lot more of these kinda articles till Kiffin names a starter. As such, here’s a bonus link, courtesy of our very own Bryan Fischer from his Tuesday trek to Troy: It’s no hype and all work at USC training camp.

Sports Illustrated chose Arizona State as one of five teams with BCS sleeper potential; Tulsa, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt and Fresno State being the others.

Much to Mike Riley’s liking, there was no stupid stuff when the Beavers put on shoulder pads for the first time this year, though there was a case of Obum Gwacham pantsing teammate Larry Scott (the OSU defensive back, not the Commish).

Looking forward to this: Cal will scrimmage next Monday at 4:30 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium. First scrimmage of fall practice for Sonny Dykes’ boys.

I’m telling you, these never get old: Here are Ted Miller’s best-case and worst-case scenarios for Arizona.

It pays to be an athletic director, and Colorado AD Rick George’s contract includes up to $8.5 million in bonuses with a base salary of $700,000 per year, the highest ever for an administrative salary at Colorado.

Our Pac-12 baseball guru David Lombardi switches gears to do a stat breakdown of Stanford football’s offensive efficiency for The Bootleg. Very good info in here, as always.

UCLA held its first practice in San Bernardino Wednesday, and here is Jim Mora talking after the Bruins’ first practice.

Washington State men’s basketball announced its 2013-14 schedule on Wednesday, with dates against Gonzaga in Spokane and Butler in the Old Spice Classic in the Orlando area being the most enticing ones in the non-conference portion.

With Arsalan Kazemi, E.J. Singler and Tony Woods gone from Eugene, the Ducks are back to a guard emphasis and Oregon should be ready to fly. Never count out a Dana Altman-coached team.