Cougars return to practice field
PULLMAN – There was no wasted time Sunday. There couldn’t be.
The 2007 Washington State Cougars have too many questions to answer, so the first day of football practice was a busy one.
With only one notable player missing – receiver Michael Bumpus, who is expected back today – the Cougars took the first strides toward answering those questions.
And how were those first-day steps?
“It was not terrible,” said head coach Bill Doba, smiling.
Doba, who noted before practice the defensive backfield and the offensive line as two areas of concern, saw the first inkling of the answers in those spots, though some of the new players the Cougars are counting upon had stumbling starts.
“There was a lot of paralysis through analysis for a lot of those junior college kids,” said Doba, entering his fifth year as Cougar head coach.
No one had a better view of the new secondary faces than returning free safety Husain Abdullah. And, though he liked what he saw, he also knows it will take time for the defensive backfield to coalesce into a unit.
“I know we are going to have a good rotation, I like the faces around me,” Abdullah said, “but to just throw them in right now, I really don’t know. It’s going to be a gradual process. … To just throw someone in there in like two weeks, it’s kind of rough.”
Still, Abdullah thinks the potential is there.
“We had a lot of people flying around, a lot of people looking good,” he said of the first day. “You can see the potential in a lot of these guys, you can see why they were recruited and why people speak so highly of them.”
Though there was a lot of talk before practice about freshman corner Chima Nwachukwu and junior college safety Terry Mixon, returnees manned the first unit.
B.J. Williams and B.T. Walker took turns running at one corner, while Markus Dawes held down the other side. At safety, Christian Bass worked with Abdullah.
The offensive line is a little more experienced, with returning starters Kenny Alfred (center), Dan Rowlands (guard) and Bobby Byrd (guard) joined on the first unit by junior college transfer Vaughn Lesuma and redshirt freshman Micah Hannam at the tackles.
But the next few weeks will be spent developing the individual lineman into a unit, according to Alfred.
“It is always important to get that cohesiveness,” said Alfred, who started nine games last season. “And also working together to get the young guys to learn what they need to learn as fast as possible.
“It takes time, but that’s what camp is for.”
One unit that seemed to already have some cohesion was the wide receiver group, even without Bumpus, who had a team-leading 60 catches last season.
The senior was unable to practice because he lacked the proper paper work from a class in the spring. Doba assumes Bumpus’ status will be cleared up in time for practice this morning at 9.
NOTES
There was only one minor injury Sunday. Defensive lineman Kevin Kooyman strained his neck in a drill and saw limited action the rest of the way. He is expected to practice today. … Defensive end Lance Broadus is still recovering from shoulder surgery and did not participate in practice. Doba is not sure he will be available for Wisconsin on Sept. 1. Mixon is playing, though a foot injury limited his conditioning over the summer. … The news about a couple of others who were expected to contribute was not good. Senior defensive lineman Bryan Tarkington failed to meet NCAA academic requirements and is out of school, his career over. Junior receiver Michael Willis will redshirt after also failing to achieve NCAA benchmarks, while sophomore linebacker Jason Stripling may appeal his ineligibility to the NCAA, citing a shoulder injury, and subsequent surgery, as a mitigating factor. “With the kids that we lost, it was kind of a wake up call for some of the kids,” Doba said, noting 76 players were in summer school and collectively earned a 3.01 grade point average. … Other familiar names from last season who did not return this year, for a variety of reasons, include running backs DeMaundray Woolridge and Derrell Hutsona, academic casualties, and offensive lineman Derek Hunter, who decided to transfer. A total of 10 players from last year with eligibility remaining did not return this season. … The Cougars have three new coaches: Dave Walkosky, who will work with corners and special teams; Marty Long, who has the defensive line; and former WSU star Steve Broussard, who has the running backs. … Former Mead running back Skylar Jessen, still recovering from a hamstring problem, will not join the squad until school starts Aug. 20, when numbers can expand from the NCAA-mandated 105.