Cougars Close Spring By Leaving Behind Fall Final Scrimmage Shows Price, Players Believe They’ve Overcome Skid, Exodus
Call it “The Spring of Emotional Healing.”
And be sure to tune in next fall to see exactly how far Washington State’s football team has carried the process since last year’s disappointing 3-8 season that ended with six consecutive losses and the exodus of several key, and disgruntled, players.
Saturday, the Cougars capped an immensely important four weeks of spring practice with a 2-hour, game-like scrimmage in Martin Stadium. And from all indications, the healing is close to complete.
For the record, the Crimson team, quarterbacked by projected starter Ryan Leaf, beat Steve Birnbaum’s Gray team 24-17.
But much more important than the final score of the final spring scrimmage were the comments of players and coaches, who insist the losing streak, the locker-room turmoil it caused and the off-season defections of onetime starting quarterback Chad Davis and four other potential starters are all in the past.
“I don’t think the losses hurt us that much,” said junior offensive tackle Scott Sanderson, who missed the scrimmage with an ankle injury. “It was an unfortunate situation, but I’m glad it’s over with. Now we have no distractions heading into the 1996 season.”
Junior linebacker James Darling was even more direct in his assessment of the loss of Davis, offensive linemen Rick Austin and Paul Mickelbart, defensive tackle Darryl Jones and linebacker Phil Glover.
“When those guys were here, they’d come into the locker room and bitch every day,” said the three-year letterwinner from Kettle Falls. “Before Davis left, they’d come in and tell everybody how bad everything was around here.
“It got to be a real pain … and everybody was like, ‘Just get out of here. Leave.’ They would come in, not lift, not go to class, not work out and expect to play, and it just doesn’t work that way. They had to learn the hard way that you either do what you have to do or move on.
“And now that they’re gone, everyone who’s left wants to be here and wants to win together.”
There was certainly a stronger sense of togetherness at Saturday’s scrimmage than there has been in past years, and Cougars coach Mike Price is hoping that translates into more wins next fall.
“You can feel the optimism in the players,” Price said. “Even with the kids leaving, the kids that are here kept a positive attitude. Maybe that was good. They got out of the locker room and stopped bitching.
“You’re always going to have a little bit of it, but we obviously had too much of it and it probably hurt us.”
The Cougars seem to have accepted Leaf, a 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman who showed signs of brilliance late last season after Davis was benched because of his disruptive attitude, as their leader.
Leaf completed 17 of 30 passes for 177 yards in Saturday’s scrimmage and tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Shawn McWashington.
Birnbaum, a freshman who redshirted last fall, was 18 for 34 for 160 yards and one touchdown.
But the real standouts were a pair of junior college transfers - wide receiver Kevin McKenzie and running back Michael Black.
McKenzie caught eight passes for 55 yards and Black rushed for 133 yards on 18 carries.
“We’ve obviously corrected some of our deficiencies,” Price said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen two community college players who have come in and made any bigger impact than Kevin McKenzie and Michael Black have to this program.”
Price added that his team still has plenty of weaknesses to shore up prior to next fall’s season-opener at Colorado.
But McKenzie, Black and a lot less locker-room lawyering should make the rebuilding task much easier than it looked like it would be when the 1995 season ended.
, DataTimes