Spring Practice Report: Day 11
From Pullman -- Washington State held the first of its three official "scrimmages" on Saturday, running 115 plays at full speed. Each school is allowed 12 contact practices, eight of which may involve tackling. No more than three of those eight tackling sessions can devote more than 50 percent of the practice time to 11-on-11 scrimmages, including the spring game.
Our practice report is after the jump.
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It was an up and down scrimmage for both sides of the ball, with lots of explosive plays on offense and defense. As such, lots of players on both sides of the ball finished with impressive stats.
"I thought there was pretty good enthusiasm on both sides," coach Mike Leach said. "An occasional bust by either one but it wasn’t really the whole group in any case, it would be a guy here or a guy there."
The quarterbacks, for example, all had good days on paper. Starting quarterback Connor Halliday went 24 of 31 for 222 yards and three touchdowns. Backups Luke Falk and Tyler Bruggman split time against the second and third string, according to Leach, although from our vantage point it looked like Falk got more time against the 2's. Bruggman went 15 of 28 for three touchdowns and an interception by Peyton Pelluer following a pass batted down by Mortiz Christ. Falk completed 24 of 32 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns.
With 725 passing yards it was obviously a good day for a few of the receivers. Daniel Lilienthal led the way with seven catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns but it was Robert Lewis who stole the show, hooking up with Bruggman for receiving scores of 44 and 50 yards. On the first he caught a shorter pass and quickly shot upfield, outrunning the secondary to the end zone. On the second he raced up the sideline, catching a deep pass and breaking one tackle before scampering in for the score.
But the defense had its moments, too, taking advantage of a youthful offensive line to rack up seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss. Redshirt freshman Emmitt Su'a-Kalio was practically unblockable at the defensive end spot, collecting three sacks and an additional quarterback hurry.
"They’re growing, they’re getting better, they’re learning," Kalafitoni Pole said of the offensive line. "The first day, when you have redshirt freshmen playing guard and tackle it’s a young group. We graduated so many seniors last year."
Mitchell Peterson, the backup at Sam linebacker, had six total tackles as did backup free safety Beau Glover, trailing only Pelluer. Glover has strung together a number of impressive practices and has brought a surprisingly physical element for a 5-foot-9, 170 pound defensive back.
"Doesn’t talk much but always in the right spot, always wants to make a play, effort is 100 percent," linebacker Darryl Monroe said. "One guy who I know passionately loves football more than a lot of people I know; Beau Glover is the guy."
Sebastian LaRue got extensive time at cornerback, a sign that the coaches want to bring him along quickly. It appears to be working -- the former receiver had two tackles and didn't appear responsible for any major defensive breakdowns.
Former WSU star and Pro-Bowl cornerback Marcus Trufant dropped by practice, as did former stars Deone Bucannon, Jack Thompson and Jason Gesser.
"He’s a tremendous palyer, he’s a Coug and he’s just a great example of a guy that really worked hard and made himself a player and did a tremendous job," of the former Seattle Seahawk.
Trufant addressed the team after practice and here is video of his message, courtesy of WSU athletics:
The athletic department compiled official statistics for the scrimmage. Those are below:
