WSU embraces the heat
Washington State took to its indoor practice bubble, a clime much closer to what it will see this weekend in sunny Tempe.
We reporters are allowed to watch the first 15 minutes or so of practice (we typically stay a little longer) but the practice bubble is rather opaque so we didn't see as much as usual after that. What we did see I've summarized after the jump.
…
-- The coaches may have to deal with some shaky practice film tonight. The hydraulics on one of the Genie lifts the Cougars use to get an aerial view of the field had its hydraulics repaired before practice and it appeared to be swaying a bit more than usual despite being indoors.
-- Pat Porter and Charleston White were indeed the starting cornerbacks on Tuesday, and Daquawn Brown ran with the twos. Brown is unavailable for the first half of Saturday's game.
-- There was one white jersey running routes with the wide receivers on Tuesday evening. Cornerback Sebastian LaRue came to WSU as a receiver and practiced there for much of last spring before eventually switching to defense. He and his coaches never ruled out the possibility, however, that he would wind back up on the offensive side of the ball.
-- Jeff Waldner is a new limited player. Cole Madison and Sulaiman Hameed were also limited, as was Nick Begg. Rickey Galvin was wearing a yellow "no contact" jersey but he fully participated in the drills that we saw.
-- Theron West appears to be healthy – he suffered a pretty nasty hit against Oregon State and did not return. Marcus Mason is listed No. 2 on the depth chart at running back, however.
-- Darryl Paulo has been getting some reps along the interior of the defensive line. Mike Leach says that being able to play two positions helps the numbers work out defensively, and defensive line coach Joe Salave'a says that versatility is one of the first qualities he looks for when recruiting defensive linemen.
"You don't want to be one dimensional," Salave'a said. "If there's one kid that can play lights out at one position, that's one thing, but we've got to look at ways to recruit athletic kids that can move around a bit and still not lose that physical part of the game. Those are the guys that we've got now, we've just got to find ways to get those guys on the field."
