WSU wraps up spring football
Washington State practiced for the 15th and final time this spring on Tuesday.
I confess, I didn't watch all of practice because I'm also covering the Pac-12 golf championships at Palouse Ridge. But here are some things I saw, and some other things we learned while watching the Cougars this spring:
-- Some backups that have come on strong in recent practices appear to have grasped positions with the second unit, for now at least. Chandler Leniu looks like a strong backup for Peyton Pelluer at Mike linebacker, although don't discount Aaron Porter once he arrives this summer. Linebacker actually looks like one of WSU's strongest positions heading into next season. Pelluer and Jeremiah Allison both played well in their more traditional roles, and the Rush linebackers will be one of the most talented, deepest units next year.
I also think Carlos Freeman is likely to stick at backup center. He's got some nasty to him that the coaches like and, a former wrestler, he's got some athleticism, too. I'm not sure I see him beating out Riley Sorenson, who has uncommon size and athleticism for the position, to say nothing of a year of starting experience. But the sophomore will be a player to watch along the line.
Colton Teglovic has held off all challenges at the No. 2 nickelback spot backing up Darius Lemora, and today I saw Deion Singleton running with the twos at cornerback. BUT…
-- Singleton will not be eligible to play next season and will sit out as an academic redshirt. The defensive back had some grade issues coming out of high school and that's believed to be why he wasn't on the team this past season despite signing as a member of the 2014 recruiting class. Starting in 2016, the NCAA will institute something called an "academic redshirt," that will allow some students to receive financial aid and be held to lower academic stands for their first year as long as they redshirt.
Mike Leach told me after practice that Singleton redshirting was a condition for getting him into school. So it's likely that Singleton is a nonqualifier who was granted a partial approval of a waiver. That means that he cannot compete next season but can receive financial aid and practice. If this is the case with Singleton, it means the NCAA believes there were mitigating circumstances in his failure to qualify and his academic record makes it seem likely that he will be academically successful.
-- The Cougars bounced around and all that during team period. Peyton Bender completed an early pass to D.J. Thompson, who made a bunch of guys miss as he reversed course and cut upfield. However, he fumbled at the end of the run, although I think the ground caused the fumble. Bender completed eight of his first nine passes, the 10th was a drop, and then two more after that. Pat Porter showed up with a nice pass breakup in tight coverage of Gabe Marks in the end zone, and Dylan Hanser followed with a sack. Bender had the final say, though, hitting Thompson in the end zone for a touchdown.
I had Falk going 7-of-10 with a 10-yard scramble and a sack by Kache Palacio. He hit Gerard Wicks on a wheel route out of the backfield for about a 12-yard touchdown. Wicks was wide open due to some defensive miscommunication. Charleston White had a nice pass breakup.
-- More than anything, even the quarterbacks, this spring was about the defense. Alex Grinch got his first 15 practices as defensive coordinator, and he's been pretty blunt about the fact that the defense isn't quite what he's used to working with in the SEC. But, to my eye the defense is getting better, especially at closing to the ball, and I think he's seeing the same thing.
I asked him after practice today if he was feeling good about the defense and he said, "No, quite honestly. But by the same token, they're getting better. The work that we'll do both on their own and this summer will be crucial." He emphasized that the defense needs to be better on the first day of fall camp than they are today and it's obvious that he thinks that a lot of what will determine whether or not the defense will be improved next year will be what happens this summer.
Grinch's energy has been good for the defense, it seems and the players seem to respond to him. They certainly say they do (what else are they gonna say, right?). But where Grinch has really stood out so far this spring is his emphasis on individual technique, mostly with the secondary, and we've seen that show up recently in the improved play of guys like Charleston White, Deion Singleton and Marcellus Pippins.
Safety could still be a little better and it's not going to help Sulaiman Hameed's development that he spent most of spring football limited. Isaac Dotson is a big-hitter and his coverage has improved, but I'm not sure he's a great open-field tackler yet. You could see a little tentativeness when he closed on Kyrin Priester during the spring game, and Priester was able to make a move and get by him. Sure, Priester's a good receiver. There are a lot of good receivers in the Pac-12.
But I do think Dotson will be an improvement at safety and Hameed has some good tools if he's healthy. Shalom Luani's arrival should help the Cougars on the back end, too.
-- The bulk of WSU's special teams struggles last season were related to coverage issues and I do think that will be a lot better. Once Eric Mele became the special teams coach midseason a lot of those issues cleared up, and the Cougars drilled kickoff and punt coverage a fair amount this spring. But the kicking/punting game will be a worry until it isn't.
The Cougars effectively went through spring without a punter. Erik Powell did a yeoman's job filling in considering he hasn't done it since high school, but didn't do enough where I would be comfortable sending him out in a tight game if I was a coach. After him, the punters were Frankie Luvu and a Jugs machine, and Luvu was limited for most of the spring.
Maybe the Jugs machine still has some eligibility?
The Cougars will doubtlessly bring in punters but if it was that easy to find someone off the street than everyone would do it. The hope is that incoming kicker Matt Abramo can suffice as a freshman and maybe he can. Again, we'll see. Abramo will get every chance to contribute early at kicker as well, since Quentin Breshears didn't have an incredible spring and badly missed a short putt in the spring game. Powell looked a little better, but lost his starting job early last season. So either one of those two needs to improve significantly or the Cougars could be relying on a freshman at both positions.
-- The guy with the safest spot on the team is left tackle Joe Dahl. Dahl hasn't gotten enough ink this spring, but he's been crushing people in every practice and has been a rock for the Cougars. Very few sacks come from the quarterback's blind side when the first string offensive line is in the game and having a cornerstone left tackle will make whoever plays quarterback next season's job a lot easier.
