Starting D wins in OT during WSU practice
First off, I'll apologize for being a little brief with today's practice report. We're pulling triple duty today with football practice, the baseball game and a basketball story. And thank you to everyone for being so understanding with my absence from Saturday's scrimmage – my family and I really appreciate all the well wishes.
As far as interesting news from the scrimmage, it sounds like both the offense and defense had some big plays, which were sorely missing in the scrimmage the previous Saturday. Tyler Baker, yes, THAT Tyler Baker is covering the Cougars for Cougfan.com, and he was nice enough to let me know of a few position changes, that did not appear to last the weekend.
Shalom Luani was at nickel with the ones (Parker Henry didn't participate, but was at practice today), so Jalen Thompson and Charleston White took over the safety spot. Deion Singleton started at cornerback alongside Darrien Molton, with Marcellus Pippins running with the twos.
Logan Tago is still at defensive end, and Nnamdi Oguayo is still at rush linebacker, so that switch appears to be getting more permanent. Nick Begg was running with the twos at defensive end again, so the switch from tight end is looking pretty good so far.
Luke Falk was sharp all last week in practice, and that extended to today's skeleton drill. Falk completed 14 of his first 15 passes, not taking very many shots but consistently picking up yardage in the intermediate range.
Then Peyton Bender came in and took some shots. I only unofficially have him completing 8 of 15 passes, with an interception to Colton Teglovic, but also touchdown passes to Jamal Morrow and Robert Lewis. He would have had another score but Kirkland Parker made a great defensive play on a ball that Kyle Sweet got in his hands, ripping it out before the receiver established possession.
The defense held Tyler Hilinksi out of the end zone during the team period. Treshon Broughton intercepted a pass in the end zone, and James Williams was wrapped up in the backfield close to the goal line.
Falk had a very Falkian drive, cutting the defense with a thousand small cuts and then scoring thanks to a 12-yard touchdown run by Morrow, and running in his own score from seven yards out.
Leach gathered the team and declared an overtime period. Falk was intercepted on the first play by Shalom Luani, then Bender led a drive that culminated with a nine-yard touchdown pass to freshman Isaiah Johnson.
