WSU’s Tuel out of practice, status unclear
COUGARS
Jeff Tuel was not at practice Monday night as he was undergoing an examination of his injured left shoulder and a sore right calf. Read on for more from Washington State's short practice.
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• Tuel's left shoulder was sore as was his right calf, a previously undisclosed ailment he suffered early in the Oregon State game. The calf was not bad enough to get him out of the game, but it did limit his ability to run and cramped WSU's play calling a bit. Still, while Tuel was on the field, the Cougars scored two touchdowns, drove 46 yards before turning it over on downs, had a 17-yard drive end in a fumble and went nowhere right before the half. In all, they had 193 of their 315 yards of total offense. Coach Paul Wulff said after practice Monday he expected to know something definitive about Tuel's status Tuesday but until then, Marshall Lobbestael is the starter for Saturday. Lobbestael took a majority of the snaps Monday night, as the Cougars were back in the mode they had when Tuel was out with the clavicle fracture. Connor Halliday took the snaps with the second group. ... Two other WSU players sat out Monday. Backup middle linebacker Mike Ledgerwood suffered a stinger, had a stiff neck and probably would not play this week. In his absence, Wulff said Chester Su'a will get some reps in the middle as a backup to C.J. Mizell, as would Darren Markle. On the offensive side, wide receiver Kristoff Williams also was out. ... Other than that, Monday was dedicated to putting in the game plan. The Cougars, who try to practice as fast as possible, will go even faster this week, especially on the defensive side of the ball. It's all about the Oregon offense, which not only features some of the conference's fastest players, tries to go up and down the field at a breakneck speed.
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• That's all for tonight. We'll be back in the morning. Until then ...
