Cougs Like Where They’re Starting Out Coaches Optimistic Despite Lack Of Experience Going Into Pitt Game

Not that a whole bunch of worrying would help matters, anyway.

But Washington State’s coaching staff seemed remarkably calm and confident Friday on the eve of the Cougars’ 1995 football season opener against Pittsburgh.

“If you compare this team to the one that took the field at the Alamo (Bowl) last year, that’s unfair, because they had 11 games of experience,” said coach Mike Price, whose Cougars will kick it off against the Big East Conference Panthers at 4 p.m. (PDT) at Pitt Stadium.

“But I feel as confident - if not more confident - about this team’s first game as I did in last year’s team and last year’s first game.”

That’s hard to imagine, considering the Cougars have eight new faces on defense and absolutely no experience at the critical defensive tackle spots that were so capably manned by Don Sasa and Chad Eaton last fall.

With junior Leon Bender still trying to finish up some summer-school work to regain his eligibility, Price will be forced to alternate three redshirt freshmen and a junior-college transfer at the two defensive tackles spot and hope they can somehow slow down Panther tailback Billy West, who was the Big East’s offensive player of the year last season.

None of those four - freshmen Gary Holmes, Darryl Jones and Delmar Morais and JC transfer Dav’id Evans have played a down at the Division I level.

But their size, strength and desire is enough to keep Price’s nerves in check.

“I would be real concerned if we had freshmen in there who weren’t big enough to play,” he explained. “And I’d be real concerned if we had freshmen in there who needed to go in the weight room and lift more weights because they weren’t strong enough.

“But those aren’t the problems that we have.

The only problems that we have are that they haven’t played in a game, yet.”

Holmes, a 6-foot-7, 275-pounder with a 32-inch vertical leap, will start at one tackle spot with Evans (6-4, 258), Jones (6-3, 309) and Morais (6-3, 258) alternating at the other, according to defensive coordinator Bill Doba.

“They’re a bunch of young pups,” Doba admitted, “but they’ve been a great, great bunch of kids to work with - no complaining, no loafing.

“They think they’re good and they expect to win. They’ve been a real joy to be around. I just hope we can win with them.”

Working in favor of WSU, which enters the game as a three-point favorite, is that Pittsburgh has been forced to rebuild part of its offensive line.

“We lost one real good player and one great one,” said Panthers coach Johnny Majors, referring to Lawson Mollica, a four-year starter at center, and tackle Reuben Brown, a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills.

“We’ve had to do quite a bit of rebuilding and reshuffling in our offensive line. That should be an interesting matchup because they’re real young up front defensively and we’ve got a couple of newcomers in the middle, too.”

Key matchups

Pittsburgh returns QB John Ryan, a fifth-year senior who led the Big East in passing efficiency last fall, along with a stable of experienced receivers.

The Panthers have been a run-first offense in recent years, but look for Ryan to test WSU’s young secondary which is missing three four-year starters from last season - early and often.

The same should hold true when roles are reversed as Cougar quarterback Chad Davis tries to show what he can do with the offensive reins loosened considerably since last fall.

Pitt’s defense has a solid group of linebackers and experience at both corners. But the safety position is shaky and could give Davis and his veteran receivers some big-play opportunities.

Players to watch

Pittsburgh boasts one of the top receivers in the Big East in fifth-year senior Dietrich Jells, a 4.4 sprinter who can squat more than 500 pounds and has a 36-inch vertical jump.

As a sophomore, the 6-1, 190-pounder set school records for receptions (55) and yards (1,091) to become the Panthers’ first single-season 1,000-yard receiver.

He missed the final eight games of the 1993 season with a knee injury, but came back last fall to haul down 35 passes for 613 yards and four touchdowns.

WSU desperately needs to establish some kind of running threat this season, which means the spotlight will be on senior running backs Derek Sparks and Frank Madu.

Sparks, a sturdy 230-pounder, is injury-free for the first time in three seasons and is running as well as he did as a true freshman in 1991.

Madu, a sprinter on the Cougar track team, has beefed up to 180 pounds and will probably spell Sparks frequently. The two might even line up together on occasion as part of the new two-back offensive package Price has toyed with during fall camp.

“Frank and I have different running styles,” Sparks explained, “and if we can implement them in the same backfield, it will help us be less predictable offensively.

“With his speed and my size, I can’t see anything but good things happening.”

Injury update

Pittsburgh comes in well-rested and healthy.

WSU linebacker Johnny Nansen is hobbled by a bad knee that will require arthroscopic surgery next week, but is expected to start.

Otherwise the Cougar injury list contains only those players who have declared medical redshirt seasons - junior defensive end Dorian Boose (broken foot), sophomore offensive guard Zach Edwards (shoulder) and freshman defensive back Torry Hollimon (shoulder).

Third-and-short

Although Pitt has been playing football since 1890 and WSU since - 1894, this will be their first meeting in football. … Price is 4-2 in season-openers since taking over the Cougar program in 1989. … Majors is 3-1 against WSU, with all three meetings coming during his 16-year tenure at Tennessee. … QB Davis threw just two interceptions in WSU’s final 10 games of the 1995 season and completed 172 of 294 passes for 1,968 yards and eight touchdowns. … Among the jerseys retired at Pitt are those of former Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett (33), Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino (13), defensive end Hugh Green (99) and offensive tackle Bill Fralic (79).

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Cougars at Pittsburgh