Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SportsLink

All sorts of shuffling at WSU’s practice

By my count there were 11 limited players at WSU's practice on Thursday and a few more appeared to be absent. That led to a number of players getting reps at new positions or with new units. Afterwards, the Cougars held a Thursday Night Football scrimmage for the second week in a row.

Our practice report is after the jump.

The list of limited players ran long today, with walk-on receivers Dewan Lee Thompson and John Thompson donning yellow jerseys after having pretty good practices yesterday. Additionally, linebacker Darryl Monroe was limited for the first time today. Also limited were Isaac Dotson, Nick Begg, Nate DeRider, Rickey Galvin, Mack Hopkins, Kristoff Williams, Parker Henry and Drew Springfield.

We also didn’t see Darius Lemora Toni Pole, Charleston White, Daquawn Brown, Calvin Green or Riley Sorenson at practice and there could be any number of reasons for their absence during a bye week, none of which the coaching staff are likely to comment on.

With so many players out, a number of backups got a chance to move up on Thursday. Taylor Taliulu is back at starting free safety, while the starting cornerbacks were Patrick Porter and Marcellus Pippins, who took a wallop from Isiah Myers while trying to catch Jamal Morrow on a short pass.

Peyton Pelluer started at middle linebacker and Sam Flor took over at center.

Other players were simply shuffled, such as Destiny Vaeao who took Pole's place at nose tackle. Jacob Seydel saw time with the ones at left guard and appears to be pushing Gunnar Eklund for a starting spot.

"He's practicing well right now and we're working and freshening these guys up," offensive line coach Clay McGuire said.

"It's too hard to tell right now," he added, when asked if Seydel could find himself in the starting lineup permanently. "He's practiced well and does some good stuff and he's fresh right now."
The "good" offense went against the "good" defense for a couple series today and Connor Halliday had a productive day passing the ball. Because the Cougars practiced on the far side of the field we could only see about half the plays (throws to the right side were generally obstructed) but it appeared that Halliday had touchdown passes to Dom Williams and Vince Mayle.

The Cougars held a second underclassmen scrimmage today.

"If you can do it two days in a row with live bullets and everything you can see some consistency growing there," McGuire said. "It's good for those guys."

After practice Mike Leach said that Luke Falk had the better day of the quarterbacks, but the backup never did quite figure out Willie Roach.

The defensive back that converted from wide receiver this year intercepted the backup QB twice. Falk actually got the best of the matchup early, hitting Gabe Marks for a 20-yard touchdown pass that went between Roach and Sebastian LaRue, both of whom appeared close enough to make a play on the ball.

Falk completed his next three passes, but then tried to jump and throw, causing the ball to come out high and slow and Roach easily came down with it. Two plays later Roach picked Falk off again.

Peyton Bender struggled some on Thursday, getting sacked from his blind side by Reggie Coates, who was able to simply bat the ball out of the quarterback's hands as he brought his arm back. Two incompletions later and Bender made a poor throw that resulted in a dropped interception by David Bucannon.

Leach said that Falk had the better day but also had good things to say about Bender.

"(He) throws a really good ball, smart at the line of scrimmage," Leach said. "Ahead of schedule as far as all that stuff goes. Came here with a pretty good knowledge of football and looking at a defense and then the ball comes off his hand real quick."

The defense typically brings a heavy rush during these scrimmages and Chandler Leniu and Hercules Mata'afa also picked up sacks.



Jacob Thorpe
Jacob Thorpe joined The Spokesman-Review in 2013. He currently is a reporter for the Sports Desk covering Washington State University athletics.

Follow Jacob online:






Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.