You hate to get too excited over a player with just two career starts under his belt. But it's hard to ignore what WSU's Andy Mattingly is starting to do at WSU. Mattingly, a true sophomore, got his first start at outside linebacker vs. ASU two games ago, and thus far has made a tremendous impact as a starter. Mattingly totaled four sacks, five tackles for loss among 17 total stops in his first start vs. ASU, a game where WSU's defense played one of it's best games of the season. They hung tough for four quarters before falling to the unbeaten Sun Devils on a missed field goal in the waning moments. The following week, WSU was flat-out embarrassed by Oregon, but you can't lay the blame at Mattingly's feet for that one. He held his own, with two more sacks. That makes six sacks in just a two-game span as a starter, an impressive total that is one of the best two-game totals in recent WSU history. He's already tied for third in the conference with the six sacks, just one-and-a-half behind conference leader Nick Reed of Oregon. And his nine tackles for loss this year is already good for second in the Pac-10.
This week, Mattingly has caught the eye of the local scribes, as he's been featured in several stories, including Cougfan.com, the Seattle Times, and a detailed background story in the Tacoma News Tribune. The News Tribune story went into his training with older brother Chris, a specialist in hand-to-hand combat in the US Army. Andy spent a couple of weeks in 2006 at Fort Benning, GA, learning jujitsu from Chris. The training appears to be paying off on the football field:
"When you're battling with offensive linemen and trying to get in there, the quick hands help get them off you," Andy said. "And it also helps in the aggressiveness and toughness aspect when you're getting hit in the face and stuff."
