First-day mixed bag

PULLMAN – Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the newness of it all. Maybe it was an adrenaline drain. Or maybe it was just a learning experience.

Whatever the reason, the first practice of the Paul Wulff football era at Washington State started off sizzling and ended, well, fizzling.

“It comes back to first practice, it’s a pretty warm day, (but) us coaches, we expect them to bust their butts all the way through practice, regardless of the elements,” Wulff said Tuesday after WSU opened the 2008 season with split-squad practices.

“It’s a combination of (those things),” Wulff said. “Their heads swimming a little bit, it’s the first day – it’s all of it.”

The morning session, the first fall practice Wulff had been a part of at WSU since his playing days ended in 1989, was for starters and immediate backups. The intensity level faltered as the day got warmer.

Still, such a performance wasn’t unexpected.

“The first day, they are always sluggish,” Wulff said. “It was a great day in the sense we got so much we can draw from to move forward to the next day and we’re going to get better off of it. It was a very productive day for us, for the first day, to be honest.”

Part of that productivity came in splitting the team into two groups. After the veterans worked out for nearly two hours in the morning, the shorter afternoon session gave incoming players and a few returnees a chance to show their skills.

“I was really pleased with the (afternoon) practice,” said co-defensive coordinator Chris Ball, back for his third stint as a WSU assistant. “We could have had a little bit more enthusiasm with the morning practice, but part of that, too, is just change and our expectation level. Things are just different.”

“I think we maybe lost our focus towards the end of practice,” said running back Dwight Tardy, who participated for most of the early practice despite being less than 10 months removed from surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered against UCLA last season. “I don’t know if it was the heat or a little adversity the first day you practice, but we came out strong with what seemed like a good tempo.

“Guys are excited for the season. Everyone’s got a new outlook, we’ve got new coaches – everyone’s excited.”

That excitement showed early in the veteran’s practice, highlighted by skeleton passing drills and non-contact scrimmages featuring the new up-tempo offense.

“It was nice to come out here and see everyone put the work in during the summer, and (see them) apply it in the fall,” said senior Gary Rogers, the No. 1 quarterback for the first time in his four years in Pullman.

“It’s not much different,” Rogers said of his new role. “I’ve been kind of doing this role all summer and spring, so I’m just continuing to take it over into the fall.”

The offense isn’t the only side of the ball experiencing a remodel. Under Ball and co-coordinator Jody Sears, the defense was more aggressive, leading to two scrimmage interceptions, one each against Rogers and backup Kevin Lopina.

Such changes could be expected considering the Cougars are coming off a 5-7 season, have a new coaching staff and were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-10.

“Some guys read that stuff, some guys don’t,” junior center Kenny Alfred said. “I particularly don’t bother with any of the publications that say that stuff, for the most part, because it’s just an unnecessary stress for some. But for some guys, it really is a good motivator.”

Wulff, for his part, hopes his team is listening and reading.

“Naturally, if you’re a competitor, you should have a chip on your shoulder about that,” he said. “We’re going to find out if our chip is big enough.”