Jared Cohen
Busken back on sidelines: Back on March 25th, Bernie Busken announced his resignation as the head coach as the Basha Bears. He told Brad Cesmat that he had recently underwent knee surgery and had to have a shoulder procedure as well. Many wondered when or if the long-time Arizona Coach would be back coaching.
On Monday, North High School announced that Busken would be the newest coach of their program. The Mustangs had gone 8-22 over the last three seasons since Bob Chappelle took over for Gary Cook after the 2011 season. That 2011 season was the last time North had a season going at least .500.
Busken has Arizona state championship titles to his name, all of which was during his time at Mesa Mountain View. The furthest he went in the tournament with Basha was the semi-finals back in 2011.
Bruggman on the move: Former Four-Star quarterback out of Brophy, Tyler Burggman was in the news on Saturday night as Britton Ransford of WazuWatch.com reported that he had been released from Washington State. The schools he is allowed to transfer to include Arkansas, Duke, Louisville and Indiana. It is a blow for Wazu as Bruggman was set to compete for the backup role in 2014 and possibly spend three years as the starter following the departure of Connor Holiday. However after spring practice, there were reports that he failed to separate himself from walk-on Luke Falk and spent a good portion of the time running the third team.
If you recall, Bruggman’s signing day in 2013 was the biggest news of the day locally and in Pullman as ASU made a late and strong push after losing their quarterback commit Joshua Dobbs to Tennessee and failing to sign a quarterback for that class. Bruggman was wavering from signing with the Cougs but then showed up at Brophy’s signing day event with a Washington State hat and ended all speculation. It appears that ASU and all other Pac-12 schools are forbidden in Bruggman’s transfer.
The Opening 2014: Players from Arizona put on a great display at The Opening which took place in Beaverton, Oregon last week. The three that were present was Saguaro’s Christian Kirk, Chaparral’s Keenan Walker and Pinnacle’s Brian Lewerke. Kirk, AZ’s top 2015 prospect, was named to the All-Opening team as a wide receiver. He teamed up with Texas A&M quarterback commit Kyler Murray on the “Vapor Carbons” for the passing league games. Texas A&M is also listed in Kirk’s top-10. News also came down from the weekend as he will announce his top-5 next month.
It seemed like Keenan Walker’s name was mentioned by reporters present during every day of the opening. OL/DL Personnel director of the event, Todd Huber, listed Walker as one of the top-5 offensive lineman throughout the week and named him to the Final Five competition at the end of the event. The Arizona Wildcats commit was praised for his great explosion and power with his hands.
Michigan State commit, Brian Lewerke also had a good week participating in the Elite 11 at the Opening. Former NFL Quarterback Trent Dilfer had this to say about Lewerke from his performance during the week via the Detroit Free Press:
“Brian struggled mightily early on,” Dilfer said. “What I love about Brian is he hasn’t flinched at all. He’s a really good kid, he’s a thinker. You’ve got to know what each kid is and how they sit. He is a processor, he sits there and wrestles with it, processes it so there’s some down stuff with that and then when he gets it, it sticks. ‘OK, he got that, let’s move to the next thing.’ Some real inconsistencies, he’d be the first to tell you. But there’s zero flinch in him. The other thing I like about Brian is he doesn’t go on the emotional roller coaster. One of the things we struggle with at Elite 11 is these kids have been so hyped up and we’re part of it. … Brian does not fall into that trap, whether it’s good, whether it’s bad. It could be raining, it could be 85 without a cloud in the sky and he’s (the same). (He) looks exactly the same on every snap. He can throw a seven route in the dirt or he can rip the seam in there as a total dime and you wouldn’t know if you didn’t see the ball any different.”
