Day 11 at WSU
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- Another day, another practice for Washington State. We were there, as usual, to observe and pass along some notes. They are below.
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On the injury/non-injury/what-are-injuries front: freshman defensive lineman Robert Barber went down during team session with what appeared to be some kind of right leg injury. He was taken off the field and watched the rest of practice from a cart. ... Those who rode bikes today included WR Kristoff Williams, LB Darren Markle, DT Toni Pole and DL Xavier Cooper. Cooper was also put through some work in the sand pit, as was freshman CB Alex Jackson (though he participated fully in practice). ... DL Chas Sampson was not present at practice, with coach Mike Leach saying afterward he didn't know whether he was there or not. ... WR Dominique Williams was able to practice for the first time in a few days, as was center Taylor Meighen.
... Have we mentioned that Gabe Marks looks pretty good? He did again today, beating Alex Jackson pretty badly for a long touchdown pass during 7-on-7s. He caught the ball in the end zone, ran through it and stopped right in front of myself and a couple other reporters, held out the ball and exclaimed, "There it is! That's what y'all want!" before running back to the drill. ... Isiah Myers caught a ball over his shoulder near the front corner of the end zone over Jackson on the next play.
... The first-team offensive line during team session featured John Fullington, Matt Goetz, Elliott Bosch, Wade Jacobson and Jake Rodgers at right tackle. Dan Spitz had occupied that spot for most of camp. ... Taylor Taliulu saw a bunch of time at safety with a defense that featured mostly No. 1 personnel. Jared Byers also saw some time with the starting linebackers. ... Justin Sagote had the day's lone interception during team session, taking a ball off of Brett Bartolone's hands and returning it for what would have been a touchdown. ... Kache Palacio put a pretty big hit on Drew Loftus as he came across the field on a screen pass. ... Loftus went high for a tough catch over Tracy Clark down the right sideline. ... The main portion of practice ended when Jeff Tuel launched a long pass over the middle for Marquess Wilson, who hauled it in and sprinted into the end zone for a dramatic touchdown (or, as dramatic as practice touchdowns can be). Wilson and bobby Ratliff leapt high to chest-bumpeach other in celebration before Tuel sprinted down the field and yelled "Thank you!" a couple of times. The reason? The losing team in those end-of-session scenarios has to perform a series of up-downs, as the defense did today.
All for now.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple