Price Surprises Cougars With Early Scrimmage
Mike Price dressed his Washington State Cougars in full pads for the first time Wednesday morning and immediately put them to work trying to knock off each others’ helmets.
The seventh-year Cougars coach surprised nearly everyone on his roster by ordering a full-scale scrimmage shortly after the completion of stretching drills.
“We kind of shook them up a little bit by scrimmaging so soon,” Price said following a 2-hour workout that included the unexpected 25-minute scrimmage. “We’d had eight practices without pads, so we thought we’d take the edge off them.
“It’s awfully hard to go half speed when you have the pads on, so we figured, let’s go ahead and scrimmage and have some fun.”
The Cougars were scheduled to open practice with half-speed “thud” drills, in which tackling is forbidden and ball-carriers are merely tapped on the shoulder by defenders.
One player who didn’t mind the change in plans was senior linebacker and co-captain Chris Hayes.
“I don’t like thud (drills) anyway,” Hayes said. “He kind of opened our eyes with (the scrimmage) and I liked it. We came out right away full go and got the intensity high.
“It shocked me for a minute, but then I was like, ‘Let’s go! Let’s go!’ It was good getting the pads on and working out the stiffness.”
WSU’s veteran offense had its moments during the scrimmage as starting quarterback Chad Davis and back-up Ryan Leaf threw crisply and accurately.
“Our receivers were slipping a little bit out there,” Price said, “but I thought the (pass) protection was excellent, and as long as the protection is there, we’re going to be fine.”
Price said he was also impressed with the running of senior Derek Sparks and redshirt freshman Jason Clayton, who broke off a long run against the No. 1 defense.
Senior running back Frank Madu was held out of practice because of a pulled muscle in his leg.
Early aches and pains
Several players, including projected starters Greg Burns, Gary Holmes and Zach Edwards, missed all or part of Wednesday’s two workouts with injuries.
Burns, a senior cornerback coming off a medical redshirt season to rehabilitate an injured knee, spent the morning and evening practices on the sideline in sweat clothes nursing a sore shoulder.
Holmes, a redshirt freshman defensive tackle, missed both practices because of an ankle sprain and Edwards, a redshirt freshman offensive tackle, popped his left shoulder out midway through the workout.
Defensive end Da’vid Evans and defensive back Duane Stewart suffered mild concussions in Wednesday morning’s scrimmage and were held out of the evening drills.
In addition, defensive end Dwayne Sanders and linebacker Johnny Nansen were held out of contact drills in the evening because of fluid build-up on their knees. Defensive tackle Delmar Morais left the evening practice early after spraining an ankle.
Price said he was not too concerned about the rash of injuries.
“This is the time when we need to learn to play with pain - not injury, but pain,” Price said. “Our young kids need to learn how to play when they’re sore.”
Painful position change
Redshirt freshman Miguel Meriwether, once considered a top quarterback prospect, has been moved to running back.
The 6-foot-1, 184-pounder from West Covina, Calif., made his debut at his new position during Wednesday’s scrimmage and ran well before being forced to leave practice with a bruised back.
“He just got a helmet in the back,” Price said. “He’s bruised, but he ran well. I like him back there.”
Meriwether’s position change leaves the Cougars with just four quarterbacks on their roster - starter Chad Davis, redshirt freshman Ryan Leaf, fifth-year senior Shawn Deeds and true freshman Steve Birnbaum, a 6-4, 180-pound left-hander from Chino Hills, Calif.
First scrimmage
The Cougars will hold their first full-scale scrimmage of fall camp Saturday at 8 p.m. on the grass practice field outside Martin Stadium.
Price said the scrimmage will simulate game conditions, but will probably not include live returns of punts or kickoffs.
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