Cougars Put Focus On Unity Team Goals Stressed Now That Offense Isn’t Under Fire From Swaggering Defense

The thinking around the football practice field at Washington State has become a bit convoluted these days.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the loss of eight defensive starters forbodes disaster for the Cougars and their ambitious dreams of bringing the school its first back-to-back bowl berths.

Especially when one considers that four of those defenders - linebacker Mark Fields, the Pacific-10 Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, and linemen Chad Eaton, Don Sasa and DeWayne Patterson - were first-team All-Pac-10 selections.

And that three of the four who weren’t - cornerback Torey Hunter and safeties John Rushing and Singor Mobley - were four-year starters.

And that the eighth was linebacker Ron Childs, a three-year starter who was named the outstanding defensive player in WSU’s 10-3 Alamo Bowl win over Baylor, a win that capped a remarkable 8-4 season that landed the Cougars in the No. 21 spot of the Associated Press’ final 1994 college football poll.

Yet, there are those among coach Mike Price’s 36 returning letterwinners who believe WSU’s team goals could be better served without the likes of Hunter, Eaton and Patterson, who weren’t shy about getting in the collective face of the Cougars’ young, beleaguered offense and trumpeting the defense’s superiority.

“That kind of hurt us a little bit last year,” senior slotback Jay Dumas said of the cocky, intimidating demeanor of the nation’s No. 2-ranked defense. “There would be times when we didn’t even come and practice against our defense.

“It gets hard to stay upbeat, especially late in the season when you can’t get anything done in practice because they know all our routes and all our audibles.”

Dumas, who led all WSU receivers with a modest 41 catches last fall, has a point.

The defensive losses might well translate into some gains for the offense, particularly in the area of self-esteem. But it still seems unlikely that the newly found confidence of the worst offense in the Pacific-10 Conference last season will offset the departure of the most-decorated group of defenders in WSU history.

“We’ve got some real concerns on defense,” admitted Price, in his seventh season at WSU, “particularly at the defensive tackle position.”

It is there that the Cougars must fill two massive holes resulting from the departure of Eaton and Sasa, a pair of magnificent physical specimens who dominated opponents at the line of scrimmage for the past two seasons.

Adding to Price’s concern is the academic uncertainty surrounding 6-foot-5, 269-pound junior Leon Bender, the only returnee with game experience at the position.

The Cougars seem destined to start at least one redshirt freshman - either Gary Holmes (6-7, 275) or Darryl Jones (6-3, 309) - at defensive tackle this fall and could end up starting two if Bender fails to make the grade.

Even the third candidate, Delmar Morais (6-3, 258) is a redshirt freshman with no game experience.

“So (defensive-line coach) Gary Emanuel has got a great coaching challenge ahead of him,” Price said. “If Bender doesn’t get eligible, then we’re puppies in the middle. We’re big - huge, even. But we’re like Malamute puppies.”

Elsewhere, the losses should be less noticeable.

Dwayne Sanders, a legitimate all-American candidate, returns at one defensive end spot and Chris Hayes, a Butkus Award nominee and co-captain, will move from strong- to weak-side linebacker, where he will team with junior James Darling, a budding star in the middle, and junior Johnny Nansen, a former quarterback prospect.

The secondary will be much more experienced than it has a right to be, considering Hunter, Rushing and Mobley had 126 starts between them. The biggest plus is the return of senior cornerback Greg Burns, a two-year starter, who took a medical redshirt season last fall to rehabilitate an injured knee.

Burns led the Cougars in interceptions in 1992 and 1993 and enters his final season tied for sixth on WSU’s all-time interception list with eight.

In addition, the Cougars return senior Brian Walker and junior Ray Jackson, who shared starts at the other corner last fall. Jackson is expected to start at free safety, with junior Derek Henderson penciled in as the strong safety.

There are also some little-used, but capable, backups in tow, including sophomore safety Duane Stewart, junior Terrell Henderson and junior-college transfer Shad Hinchen, who is also one of the team’s best kick returners.

“We’ve got some weapons - players who could have played last year but who were playing behind great players,” said Hayes, whose 74 tackles last fall were third-best on the team. “It’s going to be hard to replace a Mark Fields or a Ron Childs, sure, but I don’t want to hear that we’re inexperienced.

“I heard that (in 1990), man, and that was a 3-8 season.”

There are some who think even 3-8 might be a stretch, especially if the offense doesn’t make major strides from last year, when it averaged a paltry 279.9 yards per game - the lowest in the Pac-10 by more than 40 yards.

Seven starters, including junior quarterback Chad Davis, return from that unit, but the skeptical must wonder if that is good news or bad.

Davis, despite not having played a down since his senior year in high school, completed nearly 56 percent of his passes and threw for 2,013 yards and 10 touchdowns.

And he did it without even a threat of a running game. WSU was so poor that three opposing backs - Washington’s Napoleon Kaufman, UCLA’s Sharmon Shah and Arizona’s Ontiwaun Carter - had more yards than WSU’s entire team.

That allowed opponents to ignore the play-action fake and zero in on Davis, who suffered the majority of WSU’s leaguehigh 47 sacks and finished the season a physical wreck.

This year, with seniors Frank Madu and Derek Sparks returning, the Cougars hope to improve immensely on last year’s average of 2.0 yards per rush.

“We have to, there’s not question about it,” said Davis, who transferred from Oklahoma in 1993. “You look at the Miamis and those successful teams that run the one-back and spread offenses - they can run the football, which opens up a whole lot of things with the passing game.”It’s amazing what (a running attack) can do. You stats go way up and all of that. Our passing game wasn’t great last year, but it was good, especially for as young as we were. But if we would have had the running game that they had in ‘92 with Shaumbe (Wright-Fair), it could have been a whole lot better.”

Sparks and Madu reported to fall camp in the best physical condition of their careers, but any improvement in the running game will start up front, where senior co-captain Marc McCloskey (6-4, 313) and junior all-conference candidate Scott Sanderson (6-7, 286) return to anchor a massive interior front five that could average as much as 307 pounds.

“We’re going to be a lot better,” claimed Sanderson, a tackle. “We’ve got some young guys who probably are as good or better than the guys who played last year.”

Those young guys include sophomores Ryan McShane (6-7, 306) and Jason McEndoo (6-6, 297), who both gained valuable experience last fall while seniors Paul Reed and Ron Lewis were injured.

The only spot that will feature an untested talent is right guard, where sophomore Rick Austin (6-2, 338) will start. Sophomore Zach Edwards (6-3, 293) was in the hunt but injured a shoulder and will undergo season-ending surgery.

In an effort to make his spread-passing offense less predictable, Price has added several two-back looks that should also help improve the running game.

Davis has a couple of well-tested possession receivers returning in Dumas and junior Chad Carpenter, but there still doesn’t seem to be a deep threat.

Sophomore Bryant Thomas passes the looks test, but has yet to prove he can catch the ball consistently in traffic.

The kicking game might cause concerns, considering junior Tony Truant made only 9 of 18 field goals last fall. But Price is convinced he and punter George Martin can get it done.

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