Leach doesn’t know if Wilson has quit
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- Mike Leach met with reporters for nearly 30 minutes today during a press conference that grew contentious at times and enlightening at others. But the primary news value is that Leach said he doesn't know whether suspended receiver Marquess Wilson has left the team, or whether he can return to it after serving his suspension. Read on.
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After a report surfaced that Wilson had walked out of a workout session last night, rumors and reports began circulating that Wilson had quit the team, as well.
If he has, Leach doesn't know about it.
"I don’t know,"Leach said. "If he left the team that’s his decision, but he is suspended."
The suspension will keep Wilson out of at least Saturday's game against UCLA, but Leach didn't provide specifics as to what Wilson would have to do to earn his way back on the team.
He did say that while coaching at Texas Tech, if a player walked out of a practice "I'd cut 'em."
Any reconciliation "would depend on the circumstances and we’d have a discussion on it, and so it goes," Leach said.
Leach also declined to disclose the terms of Wilson's suspension.
The WSU players who were chosen to speak with reporters -- quarterback Jeff Tuel, receiver Brett Bartolone and linebacker/defensive end Travis Long -- were also mum on the subject.
Tuel said he's spoken with Wilson since the workout but that "I couldn't tell you" whether he thinks Wilson will return to the team or not.
Tuel said his reaction to Wilson's abrupt departure from practice was "disbelief." The two have been close friends since Wilson's freshman season in 2010.
Athletic director Bill Moos said during his weekly radio call-in show this morning that he spoke with Wilson's father while driving to Spokane, a conversation Moos termed "a good talk" and "a nice visit," while also referring to Wilson as "a wonderful young man."
"These things happen," Moos added. "The media and others want to make a bigger deal out of it than it is. ... I'm confident it will be worked out in the long run."
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple