Still no news on quarterback front
PULLMAN – Head coach Bill Doba, when asked – again – about his quarterback situation on Sunday, blurted out that he wouldn’t be naming a starter.
And then?
“We’ll probably start, based on that scrimmage, No. 18 there,” Doba said, pointing to freshman Cole Morgan while offering a wry smile.
Barring a number of injuries, Morgan will not be taking the first snap against Idaho Sept. 1, although he did throw some nice passes against backup defenders Saturday.
Instead, as is no surprise, the choice is between Josh Swogger and Alex Brink. After Saturday’s decent showing by Brink and less-than-decent outing by Swogger, Doba opted to defer any judgment until film studies had been done.
On Sunday, he didn’t have much more to say, but did suggest that it wasn’t as bad as it appeared in person.
Quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach acknowledged that Swogger had a rough outing, but said the surprise was that it came after some strong days on the practice field.
“Josh – rusty, man. It’s hard to judge him off a scrimmage because he was playing so well early in camp,” Rosenbach said. “We can sit here all day and say they put too much pressure on themselves but as a quarterback you’ve got to be able to handle the pressure and execute. Obviously, we feel he can improve just because the decision-making process needs to click a little bit better.”
Following the scrimmage, Swogger – never one to shy away from self-criticism – was unusually down on himself. Rosenbach said he takes that as a potential positive, so long as the junior realizes that bouncing back is a must.
“As competitive people you have knee-jerk reactions. I still do,” Rosenbach chuckled. “He was hard on himself and the good thing that comes from that is that he believes he’s better than how he performed.”
During Sunday morning’s abbreviated practice session, Alex Brink led the first-team offense in the two-minute drill and Swogger took the second-team. But that was no indication of a signal-caller preference, as both Doba and Rosenbach made sure to point out, just the normal rotation as each quarterback has been swapping days with the first unit at the end of practice.
“I’m certainly going to be there from a standpoint of support,” Rosenbach said of his quarterbacks, turning towards the inevitable decision that must be made. “We’ve been so busy – me, Coach Doba, Coach (Mike Levenseller) and the rest of the offensive coaches – we haven’t really had time to talk about it.”
Notes
Freshman quarterback Arkelon Hall traveled home to Fresno, Calif., for the funeral of junior walk-on Roc Green’s brother, and the signal-caller is expected to be back Tuesday. Green and Hall went to Edison High School together. … Defensive tackle Ropati Pitoitua has a right thigh bruise that caused him to miss Sunday’s practice, and he’s listed as day to day. … Cornerback Ian Bell, who should factor into the playing mix as a redshirt freshman this fall, got tangled with Troy Bienemann on the tight end’s long catch-and-run during Saturday’s scrimmage. Bell re-injured an ankle on the play that had been a problem in the spring. He’s also day to day. … The Cougars have just one practice session today, followed by a shorter Tuesday morning session and the second scrimmage Tuesday night.