The shadow in the doorway didn't go away. One day passed, then two, then three. Finally, Washington State football coach Mike Price turned around.

	Washington State wide receiver Mike Bush has caught 45 passes for 913 yards and eight touchdowns ...

"The guy was just standing there while we watched film," said Price. "So I looked up one day and it was Mike Bush. I asked him what he was doing.

"He said, 'I would love to play football.' That's how it all started."

That's how Bush became one of the nation's top two-sport athletes.

The Cougars are 9-2 and play Purdue in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve. In it, Washington State will feature Bush, a wide receiver who has 45 receptions for 913 yards and eight touchdowns, a guy who didn't play football for four years before standing in that doorway.

He is the same player who averages 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds for the school's basketball team, who scored 14 against UCLA in a Pac-10 opener last week, who led the Cougars in scoring last season and in rebounding as a sophomore.

It's an old story. A kid who excelled in both sports in high school accepts a college scholarship in one (basketball). He plays a few years, plays quite well, but spends his Saturday afternoons sitting in the stands at football games, remembering how special it felt to break a huddle, line up, run a precise route, make a catch, out-run a defensive back and reach the end zone.

Or at least how special it felt to break a huddle.

"I always had that feeling that I wanted to be back out there," says Bush. "You're only a college athlete once in your life and I wanted to make the most of it."

The 6-foot-6 Bush -- a junior in eligibility for football and senior for basketball -- first had to seek permission from Paul Graham. The third-year basketball coach sat, listened, stood up and walked Bush over to Price's office.

	“	It is mind-boggling to me what Mike has been able to accomplish. To play both sports is hard enough. But to play each at the level he does ... few people in the country could ever do it. ”
		— Paul Graham, WSU basketball coach

"The only thing I wanted to make sure was that if Mike was going to do this, he would do it 100 percent," said Graham. "I didn't want him doing anything 50-50 between both sports.

"It is mind-boggling to me what Mike has been able to accomplish. To play both sports is hard enough. But to play each at the level he does ... few people in the country could ever do it."

It hasn't been easy. Bush's only football season at Kent-Meridian High (Kent, Wash.) was cut short after he was ruled ineligible for using up his prep eligibility while attending school in Riverside, Calif., and then Mercersburg, Penn. He also didn't play his first three years in Pullman.

Predictably, he stumbled through those initial spring drills last April. His legs were tired from basketball and his body wasn't conditioned to playing the part of tackling dummy for defensive backs. Fighting your way through a screen is one thing; running a crossing route as a free safety takes aim is another.

Slowly, it all came back. By fall camp, Bush earned a starting position and the reputation for not only making plays, but important ones.

"We have this conditioning drill where everyone must run 12 50-yard sprints at the end of practice," said Price. "But for every big play during practice, one sprint is subtracted. Each day, I found myself and other coaches calling out Mike Bush's name for big plays. Catch after catch, one-handed, falling down, everything you can imagine. He is not the fastest guy we have ever had, but he's fast enough when someone is trying to catch him."

Considering his schedule, it's nearly impossible.

	... while averaging 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Cougars' basketball team.

It is a time-killing commitment, this balance of two sports and school. Bush split time between the field and court this month, attending football practice some days and basketball on others. He will miss a conference game against USC on Saturday (Dec. 29) while in El Paso for the bowl. Then, it is back to shooting jumpers and moving his feet to cut off the baseline rather than to gain a few extra yards.

Thing is, it takes different skills to succeed at each sport, a fact that makes Bush's numbers so impressive. Football is about sprinting before catching your breath between plays; basketball is about more constant motion. Each sport demands sound footwork and explosiveness, although in different ways.

"I think football has really helped my strength in basketball," said Bush, listed at 190 pounds. "I have gained 15-20 pounds since first going out for football. That has helped me when it comes to guarding people and boxing out in basketball.

"I love both sports, but I have always really loved football. If I hadn't (approached Price) and at least tried, I would regretted it later on."

Bush, 22, has one season of football remaining and yet Graham, for one, is convinced the athlete can play either sport professionally. If not, it won't be for a lack of commitment.

Price tells stories about his team losing at Washington in this year's Apple Cup, taking a five-hour bus ride back to Pullman and Bush being the first basketball player to practice the following day; or there is Dec. 14, the night WSU lost in basketball at Gonzaga by 23. Football practice was scheduled the next day. It was snowing. One of the first players to report: Mike Bush.

"I don't know if he even slept the previous night," said Price. "He is one tough kid, a fierce competitor, a really coachable player. He is a skinny thing, bird legs and all. But any preconceived notions about guys who play two sports don't apply with Mike. He just wants to get better every day.

"He is one of a kind."

Ed Graney of the San Diego Union-Tribune is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ed.graney@uniontrib.com.