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PULLMAN — Over the last few months, Hudson Cedarland has learned his performance number is a six. In the spring, he switched positions and joined Washington State’s tight end corps, a position that forces him to process all manner of signals before the snap: Motions, shifts, trades, everything.
“Mentally,” Cedarland said, “you have to be aware of what’s going on.”
So even as he prepares for his fourth season at WSU, Hudson has learned he can’t get too amped up before the snap, lest he lose focus of his assignments. But he also can’t let himself relax too much, otherwise he won’t have the energy he needs to get off the ball quickly and make his block, run his route, execute his responsibilities.
He knows because he’s felt his head stretched to both ends of the spectrum. He’s made spectacular plays, flourishes that launch his adrenaline to a 10. He’s also made brutal mistakes, blunders that plummet his mental state to a 2. A former linebacker, Cedarland is trying to establish himself in a position group where he has zero experience, which can prompt him to try too hard, leading to mountaintops of ecstasy and valleys of anguish.
“I’m just trying to slow those things down with breathing exercises,” Cedarland said. “Mentally, using different tactics to just separate that last play to the next play. I think I’m in the best mental spot that I’ve ever been in when playing a sport — with him as a resource.”
Cedarland is referring to the engineer behind the mental revolution on WSU’s football team, director of mental performance Kris Kracht, who followed head coach Jimmy Rogers from South Dakota State to WSU last winter. In only some six months on the job, Kracht has introduced to the Cougars a new way of tackling the challenges of thriving as a college football…
Source link : http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/jun/14/kris-kracht-isnt-just-wsus-new-mental-performance-/
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Publish date : 2025-06-15 02:03:00
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