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NFL eyeing Gocong's skills
'Hundreds of scouts' have been checking out the Cal Poly defensive end and other college football all-stars during practice for the 81st annual East-West Shrine Game this weekend in San AntonioBrian MilneThe TribuneTalking to scouts is nothing new for Chris Gocong.
Cal Poly's senior defensive end talked to a dozen or so scouts during his four-year career with the Mustangs football team.
But Gocong, in San Antonio this week preparing for Saturday's East-West Shrine Game, has never seen anything quite like this.
"We've had two days of practices and there's been hundreds of scouts," Gocong said in a phone interview following Tuesday's practice. "Every team sends at least four or five scouts."
After setting a school record with 23.5 quarterback sacks en route to winning the Buck Buchanan Award, Gocong is now the one being pursued, poked and prodded during the combine-like practices that lead up to Saturday's 1 p.m.
all-star college football game on ESPN2.
"It's kind of funny, at the East-West game the game itself isn't the big thing. For the scouts, they're just there to watch you in practice working on the individual things," Gocong said. "It's like the practice is the game."
Gocong is also learning a new style of defense while practicing with the West squad, which will run a basic 4-3 scheme this weekend.
The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Gocong played in Rich Ellerson's unique flex defense the past four years, which rarely utilized a four-man front until late in his senior season.
"That's been different," Gocong said. "It's changed some of my angles for the pass rush. I'm a lot closer to the tackle as opposed to being two yards out. ... The (Dallas) Cowboys wanted me to pass rush in a two-point (stance)."There have been some other minor adjustments but if you're a good football player you'll take care of it."
While most of the players in Saturday's game are from the Division I-A level, Gocong said he expects to see a good amount of playing time Saturday as the West squad is only two players deep at the ends positions.
Former Arroyo Grande High and Washington State center Nick Mihlhauser, a West teammate of Gocong's, is also expected to see plenty of playing time this weekend.
Wrestling
Fresh off a pair of victories over Boise State (24-14) and Purdue (29-10) on Saturday, the Cal Poly wrestling team heads to Oklahoma State on Friday to face the defending national champion Cowboys.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State is coming off a loss at No. 2 Minnesota on Sunday, 21-14.
The Cowboys dominated last year's NCAA Championships with five individual champions and a school-record 153 team points en route to their third straight national title and 33rd championship in program history.
An Internet broadcast of Friday's 4 p.m. match is available online at okstate.com.
Women's Indoor Track and Field
Danielle Ayers-Stamper has made an impressive first impression with the Cal Poly women's indoor track and field team.
Ayers-Stamper, a transfer from Seattle Pacific where she was a Division II All-American four times last year, won the 55-meter hurdles in her Mustangs debut at Monday's Run for the Dream meet in Fresno.
Ayers-Stamper also finished 10th in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 6 inches.
Cal Poly freshman thrower Julie Dufrense, a state champion in the shot put at Harbor High in Santa Cruz, also competed at the Fresno meet, placing seventh in the shot put with a mark of 45-31?2.
Kristin Heaston, competing for Nike, won the event with a heave of 58-91?2.
The Mustangs travel to the University of Washington Invitational on Jan. 26.
Women's Tennis
Cal Poly head women's tennis coach Hugh Bream has high hopes for freshman singles player Danon Beatty.
Beatty, who Bream has called "the best recruit we've ever had," was the Mustangs' No. 2 singles player in their season-opening
6-1 loss at Pepperdine on Jan. 15. A graduate of Valley Oaks Charter High in Bakersfield, Beatty lost to Pepperdine sophomore Sylvia Kosakowski 6-1, 7-5.
Beatty won a national junior championship and also played in the U.S. Open Junior Championships before this season.
Cal Poly travels to Cal on Saturday.
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'Hundreds of scouts' have been checking out the Cal Poly defensive end and other college football all-stars during practice for the 81st annual East-West Shrine Game this weekend in San AntonioBrian MilneThe TribuneTalking to scouts is nothing new for Chris Gocong.
Cal Poly's senior defensive end talked to a dozen or so scouts during his four-year career with the Mustangs football team.
But Gocong, in San Antonio this week preparing for Saturday's East-West Shrine Game, has never seen anything quite like this.
"We've had two days of practices and there's been hundreds of scouts," Gocong said in a phone interview following Tuesday's practice. "Every team sends at least four or five scouts."
After setting a school record with 23.5 quarterback sacks en route to winning the Buck Buchanan Award, Gocong is now the one being pursued, poked and prodded during the combine-like practices that lead up to Saturday's 1 p.m.
all-star college football game on ESPN2.
"It's kind of funny, at the East-West game the game itself isn't the big thing. For the scouts, they're just there to watch you in practice working on the individual things," Gocong said. "It's like the practice is the game."
Gocong is also learning a new style of defense while practicing with the West squad, which will run a basic 4-3 scheme this weekend.
The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Gocong played in Rich Ellerson's unique flex defense the past four years, which rarely utilized a four-man front until late in his senior season.
"That's been different," Gocong said. "It's changed some of my angles for the pass rush. I'm a lot closer to the tackle as opposed to being two yards out. ... The (Dallas) Cowboys wanted me to pass rush in a two-point (stance)."There have been some other minor adjustments but if you're a good football player you'll take care of it."
While most of the players in Saturday's game are from the Division I-A level, Gocong said he expects to see a good amount of playing time Saturday as the West squad is only two players deep at the ends positions.
Former Arroyo Grande High and Washington State center Nick Mihlhauser, a West teammate of Gocong's, is also expected to see plenty of playing time this weekend.
Wrestling
Fresh off a pair of victories over Boise State (24-14) and Purdue (29-10) on Saturday, the Cal Poly wrestling team heads to Oklahoma State on Friday to face the defending national champion Cowboys.
Top-ranked Oklahoma State is coming off a loss at No. 2 Minnesota on Sunday, 21-14.
The Cowboys dominated last year's NCAA Championships with five individual champions and a school-record 153 team points en route to their third straight national title and 33rd championship in program history.
An Internet broadcast of Friday's 4 p.m. match is available online at okstate.com.
Women's Indoor Track and Field
Danielle Ayers-Stamper has made an impressive first impression with the Cal Poly women's indoor track and field team.
Ayers-Stamper, a transfer from Seattle Pacific where she was a Division II All-American four times last year, won the 55-meter hurdles in her Mustangs debut at Monday's Run for the Dream meet in Fresno.
Ayers-Stamper also finished 10th in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 6 inches.
Cal Poly freshman thrower Julie Dufrense, a state champion in the shot put at Harbor High in Santa Cruz, also competed at the Fresno meet, placing seventh in the shot put with a mark of 45-31?2.
Kristin Heaston, competing for Nike, won the event with a heave of 58-91?2.
The Mustangs travel to the University of Washington Invitational on Jan. 26.
Women's Tennis
Cal Poly head women's tennis coach Hugh Bream has high hopes for freshman singles player Danon Beatty.
Beatty, who Bream has called "the best recruit we've ever had," was the Mustangs' No. 2 singles player in their season-opening
6-1 loss at Pepperdine on Jan. 15. A graduate of Valley Oaks Charter High in Bakersfield, Beatty lost to Pepperdine sophomore Sylvia Kosakowski 6-1, 7-5.
Beatty won a national junior championship and also played in the U.S. Open Junior Championships before this season.
Cal Poly travels to Cal on Saturday.
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