Back to game preparations with a Sunday night practice
The Cougars returned to game preparations with their weekly 8 p.m. practice on Sunday night. Washington State only practiced for about 45 minutes or so but we've still got a practice report, and some quotes from defensive coordinator Mike Breske, after the jump.
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The players had just three practices during the bye week and all the coaches were present for all three, spending most of the week on the road recruiting. After seven consecutive games to start the season, Breske said the team needed a light week.
"We got a lot of academics taken care of and trying to get our health back," Breske said. "Had some good reps, getting our legs back underneath us so we're nice and fast against a team that's going to do a lot of plays. Probably the fastest tempo we'll see all year."
That fast offense belongs to No. 15 Arizona and is led by explosive redshirt freshman quarterback Anu Solomon. Running backs Nick Wilson and Terris Jones-Grigsby average 6.2 and 5.2 yards per rush, respectively, and combine to average almost 180 rushing yards per game.
"They're a run first team and they have what we call their 'key passes' off the zone read where the quarterback will push it and dump it off here, dump it off here, and just call it the triple option," Breske said.
One defensive player who could get called upon is true freshman cornerback Kevin Griffin. Although Griffin hasn't played yet this season, Charleston White hasn't returned to practice since suffering an injury against Stanford, and the Cougars have relied on youth in the secondary all season.
Griffin ran with the twos during Sunday's practice as the boundary cornerback.
"I think he's deserved it and he's done a good job for coach Leach down on scout team and we'll take a good look at him," Breske said.
Also missing from practice were defensive lineman Kalafitoni Pole and safety Darius Lemora. They and various other players have missed time this week, and Breske said that they've used the bye week to take care of things off the field, and that he hopes they'll return soon.
"They've had some extra work to do and take care of business and we'll hopefully get them back this week," he said.
Limited during Sunday's practice were Sulaiman Hameed, Nick Begg, Nate DeRider, Mack Hopkins, Drew Springfield, Isaac Dotson, Kashan Greene and Riley Sorenson, although Sorenson did participate somewhat.
With those players out, Taylor Taliulu and Colton Teglovic/Beau Glover saw the most work at safety while Sam Flor took over as the team's primary center.
