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Tuel rides bike, other WSU practice notes

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FROM PULLMAN -- Obviously, there's one question on everyone's mind when it comes to who practiced and who didn't for Washington State on Monday: who biked the fastest? Wait, that's not it. Read on.

...

Jeff Tuel was one of the last players to arrive at Monday's practice. And he came with a large brace attached to his right leg and walked without a noticeable limp. Still, Tuel didn't practice. He spent plenty of time riding a stationary exercise bike with his right leg extended in front of him, and stood behind the offense watching during scout work. Connor Halliday took all of the snaps with the No. 1 offense, and had a decent day throwing the ball.

Tuel's status, of course, will be forever uncertain because coach Mike Leach doesn't discuss injuries. He also doesn't discuss a heck of a lot about his policy concerning whether players have to practice during the week to play on Saturday (or, in this case, Friday).

"We practice them whenever we think’s best and helps us the best," Leach said. "It typically works out pretty good. We’ll see how it goes."

So, if Tuel doesn't practice this week, can he still play in the game?

"If we decide to," Leach said, so there you have it.

Elsewhere ... Feddie Davey spent some time working with the SAM linebackers, and linebackers coach Jeff Choate said afterward that he thinks that might be the best fit for him going forward. Davey has played on special teams the past two weeks, and his speed might be an asset as a blitzer on the outside. ... Gunnar Eklund played a bunch at left tackle with Dan Spitz absent from practice while tending to a class issue. John Fullington moved  inside to play left guard, but also spent some time at tackle. Clay McGuire said they're just trying some things out there, though I'd guess much of that was precipitated by Spitz's absence. Not sure I'd read much into it. ... As noted on the blog this morning, the offensive line was put through a pretty intense workout on Sunday night. Leach didn't go into much detail about it, but did say they worked on some upper-body exercises in the sand pit to "develop some focus skills." That was all prompted by WSU's barrage of holding penalties in its first two games, three of which nullified potential touchdowns.

"It’s just a lack of technique, their fundamentals broke down late and it’s just not doing their job, not focusing in the fourth quarter," McGuire said.

... Leach said he wasn't happy about Deone Bucannon's late hit in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game, and that he's addressed it with punitive measures. "It was a late hit, it was a bad hit and it’s something we don’t tolerate," Leach said. The Pac-12 office hasn't contacted him about it, he said, and he doesn't know if they will.

That's all for now.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple



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