Greg Hansen: 'Mr. Football' on QB roommates, Minshew Mania and Kevin Sumlin in Pullman

Dear Mr. Football: Do quarterbacks Khalil Tate and Gardner Minshew know one another?

A: At the prestigious Manning Brothers Passing camp late last June in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Tate and Minshew — total strangers — were assigned to bunk in the same dorm with big-name QBs Jake Browning of Washington and Steven Montez of Colorado.

I can picture the introductions: “You’re from Washington State? Really?”

Minshew, a grad transfer from East Carolina, did not arrive at WSU until training camp began in August. Now he’s the presumptive All-Pac-12 quarterback.

Dear Mr. Football: Is Minshew Mania unusual in Pullman, Washington?

A: Since Arizona joined the Pac-10 in 1978, the Cougars have had six first-team all-conference quarterbacks: Jack Thompson, Mark Rypien, Drew Bledsoe, Ryan Leaf, Jason Gesser and Luke Falk. Minshew will be No. 7.

Arizona has had zero.

Not only that, WSU has had seven second-team All-Pac-10/12 quarterbacks. Arizona? Three: Tom Tunnicliffe, Keith Smith and Matt Scott. What were those odds 40 years ago?

Dear Mr. Football: How did the Cougars find someone like Minshew with immediate availability?

A: Since he was 26, WSU coach Mike Leach studied from the Book of Mumme — long-time offensive guru Hal Mumme, creator of the “Air Raid” offense — at Valdosta State, Iowa Wesleyan and Kentucky. They are close in mind, body and spirit.

When WSU quarterback Tyler Hilinski committed suicide last January, Leach phoned Mumme, then the offensive coordinator at small-school Jackson State of Mississippi.

He asked if Mumme knew of any quarterback who might be available.

This became the most serendipitous conversation in college football, 2018. Minshew had been studying/connecting with Mumme since Gardner was 12. Minshew considered Mumme a mentor, a second-father, a genius and more. Unbelievably, Minshew was living 30 miles away from Jackson State in his hometown of Brandon, Mississippi.

“Well, there’s this kid just down the street,” Mumme reportedly said.

Leach told reporters that he phoned Minshew and said “How’d you like to come to Washington State and lead the country in passing yards?”

Here’s the statistic those dorm-brother QBs at the Manning Passing Camp couldn’t have imagined in 2018: Minshew has accounted for 3,938 yards at WSU; Tate has 2,107 yards at Arizona. Mind-boggling.

Dear Mr. Football: Has Arizona developed any good young players this season?

A: True freshman offensive tackle Donovan Laie has started all 10 Arizona games. That’s unprecedented in school history.

According to my research, Laie is the first true freshman offensive lineman at Arizona to start every game in his first year out of high school. Mickey Baucus started 53 consecutive games at tackle for Arizona from 2012-15, but he had the advantage of a redshirt season in 2011.

The best-ever center in modern Arizona football is Joe Tofflemire, a three-time all-conference center, 1985-88. But Tofflemire redshirted in 1984.

Few saw this coming; Laie, a 3-star recruit from Oceanside, California, chose Arizona over Colorado, San Diego State and Utah State at this time a year ago.

Dear Mr. Football: Is UA coach Kevin Sumlin a quote-machine to rival WSU’s Leach?

A: Sumlin limits his public conversations, reveals about as much as a Russian spy, displays little humor, and according to Jon Wilner of the Pac-12 Hotline, is available for media questions less than any coach in the Pac-12.

But when asked about the potential for a cold night at WSU’s Martin Stadium, Sumlin showed rare humor.

He detailed his coaching career at WSU, Wyoming and five years at Minnesota. “Pick one of those places,” he said. “It was pretty cold.”

The coldest game Arizona has played in its Pac-10/12 history was, predictably, at Martin Stadium on Nov. 8, 1986. After a heavy snowstorm, it was 34 degrees at game time. (Arizona won 31-6, and only attempted one pass.)

Thanks to the magic of wunderground.com, I was able to determine that Sumlin has not coached in a game any colder than 39 degrees (twice): in a November 1992 Wyoming-San Diego State game, and a Minnesota-Indiana game in 1997.

At least now, given the $141 million makeover of Washington State’s football facilities, the press box/loge boxes at Martin Stadium have more than the ineffective space-heaters that forced even the big-money WSU boosters to show up in ready-for-the-Antarctic gear.

Dear Mr. Football: Who is the “Martin” in Martin Stadium?

A: In 1970, Harvard grad Dan Martin contributed $250,000 to the construction of a new WSU football stadium; the old one had been destroyed by fire. He gave the money with the stipulation the stadium be named in perpetuity for his father, the late Clarence Martin, governor of the state of Washington and also part of president John F. Kennedy’s White House administration.

A decade later, the widow of Clarence Martin contributed $250,000 for further renovations at the stadium. Now you’d have to pay multiple millions of dollars to get your name on a Pac-12 football stadium, and it wouldn’t likely be for perpetuity.

How did the Martin’s get their money? They operated the Martin Grain and Milling Company of Cheney, Washington, about 55 miles west. No longer do people joke about the WSU football program being a bunch of hayseeds.

Dear Mr. Football: Does Sumlin consider Pullman home?

A: Sumlin’s first college coaching job was as a graduate assistant at WSU, in 1989 and 1990, under Mike Price.

He coached against Arizona on Oct. 21, 1989, at Martin Stadium in a rainstorm. No. 22 Arizona beat the No. 15 Cougars, 23-21, on a late field goal by Doug Pfaff.

Now, Pfaff’s son, Blake Pfaff, is a freshman reserve defensive back at Arizona.

What else has changed? On the day Sumlin coached against Arizona, there was no live TV of the game. It started at a more welcoming time, 2 p.m., than Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. Tucson time kickoff.

TV didn’t control college football in 1989. On the day of the game, the only Pac-10 game to be televised was UCLA-Oregon State, and only six college football games, total, were televised in Tucson. Now you have an option of more than six games at 10 a.m., and in excess of 30 for the day.

There’s a price to pay for progress.

Now, with Arizona and WSU both expecting to be paid close to $30 million in media rights money for the year, the start times have been sold to the TV people. If it’s freezing in Pullman, so what? If it’s too late to watch until conclusion in Tucson, so what?

That TV money helps Arizona and WSU pay down tens of millions of dollars of accumulated athletic department debt.

Besides, there’s potentially a Rose Bowl berth at stake. That should spread warmth and keep fans of the winning team alert for weeks.

Washington State 34, Arizona 26.