WSU spring football: Cougars want faster defense

PULLMAN – The Washington State football players will emerge on Thursday from a winter spent in their expansive new weight room.

But to the public, able to see the Cougars at the 2:30 p.m. Martin Stadium practice for the first time since the Apple Cup, WSU will look pretty much the same.

None of the WSU defenders were put on the Deone Bucannon workout plan for packing on muscle this offseason, since new defensive coordinator Alex Grinch wants a faster defense, not a bulkier one.

“The strength is there,” said linebacker Jeremiah Allison. “But as far as gaining weight, no, he wants us to be able to move around.”

Installing Grinch’s defense will be the most critical goal of WSU’s 15 spring practices, which include the April 25 spring game at Spokane’s Joe Albi Stadium. While the Cougars will still run a 3-4 defense, in theory, Grinch expects WSU to spend most of its time in a nickel defense with a linebacker subbed out for a fifth defensive back.

The nickelback won’t necessarily be the third best cornerback or safety, either. WSU’s best defensive back could end up playing the position, according to Grinch, who hopes that eventually he will have players who spend their entire careers focused solely on nickelback.

“Ideally you get to the point where it’s a position on the defense, just like any other position,” he said.

While there was also offseason coaching staff churn for offense and special teams, defense is the only area in which the spring practices will be crucial for implementation.

Graham Harrell is the new outside receiver’s coach and he spent last season as an offensive analyst for the Cougars, while special teams coach Eric Mele assumed his role in the middle of last season.

Furthermore, head coach Mike Leach values repetition over experimentation and seldom changes practice routines, so his fourth set of spring practices at WSU should look a lot like the three that preceded it.

However, it will be notable to see how firm Luke Falk’s grip on the starting quarterback job is and how many repetitions backups Peyton Bender and Tyler Hilinski receive.

On defense, the players will have the pressure of a whitewashed past. Guys that were unable to catch the eye of the previous defensive staff have a new chance to earn playing time, and those that worked their way to the top of the depth chart must again show themselves to be the best at their position without the benefit of starter’s reps.

It’s always likely during these coaching transitions that a couple of players will find themselves in new positions, too, under coaches that value different attributes than their predecessors.

Grinch says he intends to put the 11 best players on the field, and back them up with the next 11, even if it means some defenders are playing out of position.

“That’s kind of the aim is to make sure you’re not stacking any positions,” Grinch said. “That’s what you don’t want to do is to have great depth at one spot and limit it elsewhere. So, we’ll jockey some guys around.”

The new defensive coordinator will be learning as well. After serving as the safeties coach at Missouri for three years, Grinch was named WSU’s defensive coordinator on Jan. 14. Having never run a major conference defense before, this spring will be critical for Grinch to fine-tune his defensive philosophies and get a feel for being the guy in charge.

Sensitive to the resentment that could develop among players who hear, “This is how we did it in the SEC” too many times, Grinch has preferred to show his new charges NFL video to get concepts across.

The defensive backs watch tape of the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks for examples of how to properly attack a ball in flight, and the entire defense watches the Philadelphia Eagles for schematic examples.

Grinch, new outside linebackers coach Roy Manning, and returning assistants Joe Salave’a and Ken Wilson, and their films, can only do so much, however. Whether or not the Pac-12’s No. 10 scoring defense can improve significantly in just one month will depend in part on a few upperclassmen to get some talented young players up to speed.

“We’re not going to baby anyone,” Allison said. “You’re playing the Pac-12, one of the top-five conferences out there. So, either you get ready and do what you have to do, or you don’t. That’s the reality of football.”