After practice on a summer day in Lewiston, Idaho then freshman Peyton Pelluer stood on the field and explained one of the reasons why he chose to attend WSU.

"I knew we're on the way up," he said.

That was in 2013, and Pelluer's words have proved prophetic.

Five years later, he sits inside an office inside the Cougar Football Complex, a building that didn't exist when he began his career.

"It's been a journey," he says of the intervening time period.

The journey has lasted over 1,900 days and counting, from that that sweltering late summer day in 2013 (a season Pelluer redshirted) to the snow at Martin Stadium during the 2018 Apple Cup and will end at the Alamodome, Dec. 28 in the Alamo Bowl against Iowa State. In all, Pelluer will play in a school record 54 games.

"When I came in as a freshman I knew this place had the potential to be something great," he said. "I feel like we built an atmosphere that's strictly a brotherhood and when you have that, have that commodore it's really tough to splinter and get beat."

Beating Washington State this season has been a tough task for the opposition during 2018.

The Cougars finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, its first 10-win season since 2003 with the Alamo Bowl yet to be played. The success did not go unnoticed as the Cougars were ranked in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings and, in October, ESPN College GameDay visited campus for the first time.

"Who would have thought of all the years it would be this year that GameDay came," said Pelluer, "that we would be in the position that we are now with no signs of letting up?"

"This season has been so much fun because there have been so many surprises everywhere. It's been a blessing just to be back out on Martin Stadium.

The  blessing of returning to Martin Stadium in 2018 was not a certainty at this time last year.

On what was supposed to be his final season in 2017, Pelluer started the first three games but missed the final 10 games with a foot injury.

However, he was granted a sixth-year of eligibility after his extension of clock waiver was approved by the NCAA in January 2018.

"I was confident, Pelluer said of receiving the sixth year, "I met all the criteria."

But still, when he heard the news he acknowledged that there was a sense of relief. 

He was working to get healthy as fast as he could to, as he says, "come back stronger than I had."

And being out and away from his teammates also changed his perspective.

"Being out for so long last year, not being to play with my boys I came in here with was tough," he said. "But it made me appreciate things a lot more that maybe I had taken for granted earlier.

And this year, Pelluer says, has been different.

"I'm not playing with the guys I played with previously. I got a bunch of young kids.

"Now I'm the grandpa of the team," he says with a smile.

Pelluer earned his bachelor's degree in history and is now working on a master's in teaching.

With his background in history, Pelluer has a deep appreciation for the subject. It extends beyond to how he has seem the program develop since 2013 and his role with that growth.

His family's lineage with Cougar football extends four generations. His great grandfather, Carl Gustafson played flanker for the Cougars from 1925-27, his grandfather, Arnie played end for WSU from 1953 to 1955 and his Father, Scott, started at linebacker for the Cougars from 1977 to 1980.

"I think about it every now and then, you have to," Pelluer acknowledged. "I have a certain appreciation for how wild it is that my great-grandfather played here and my grandfather and my dad, a lineage of 100 years of ballplayers here. That's just special in itself."

And it's been special for Pelluer to be around the success the program has enjoyed during 2018, something he foresaw on that practice field in Lewiston in 2013.

"It's just been fun being here, being able to be a Coug, call myself a Coug. We really do have a special fan base and a special thing going here.

"Pullman is unlike anywhere else. I wouldn't change it for the world. I am definitely very appreciative for what I've been able to do here and just the times and memories I've made here."