Swogger can add a bum shoulder to long list of ailments
PULLMAN — Washington State University sophomore quarterback Josh Swogger is experiencing growing pains — in more ways than one.
Swogger hurt his left shoulder during a 23-17 loss to Stanford at Martin Stadium on Saturday, another addition to his growing medical chart.
“Now he’s got both ankles, a knee and a shoulder,” head coach Bill Doba said. “He’s starting to catch (oft-injured former WSU quarterback Matt) Kegel.”
On the field, Swogger and the rest of WSU’s offense is still going through on-the-job training, seemingly alternating between making big plays and making mistakes.
“This is not a 6- or 10-game plan,” offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller said. “This is a 20-, 30-, 40-game plan for some of these guys. Jason Hill is a heck of a player. Michael Bumpus is a heck of a playmaker. Chris Jordan is a real solid guy. Those are two sophomores and a freshman.
“Josh hasn’t seen everything in the world yet. He got a little turned around on a couple calls, wasted a couple timeouts and that hurt.”
WSU burned back-to-back timeouts prior to a second-and-5 play midway through the fourth quarter. That left the Cougars with only one timeout when they got the ball back at their 29-yard line with 2:36 remaining.
“I don’t know for sure, but I think Josh might have got dinged up a little bit,” Doba said. “We made the call on the sideline and I think he forgot the play, and he called timeout again to find out what it was.”
Swogger finished 18 of 36 for 257 yards with three interceptions and one touchdown. Two of those interceptions occurred in the second half. The first came when he underthrew Hill on a deep pass in the third quarter. The second stopped a fourth-quarter drive as Stanford free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe was stationed in front of the intended receiver.
“Josh was under a lot of pressure and he has a bad knee,” Bumpus said. “His mobility isn’t there yet, but we still have a lot of faith in him.”
Levenseller, an admittedly tough grader, wasn’t upset with the performance of the offensive unit. He pointed out that WSU had 437 total yards, the most production against Stanford’s defense this season. USC picked up 383 yards against the Cardinal.
“I didn’t go down and rip ‘em,” Levenseller said. “I don’t think anybody has moved the ball too much on Stanford all year. We played really hard. We had to, and our defense did a great job and gave us opportunities.
“But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit there and panic. I promise you we’re going to come out of thisone hell of a team. We have a lot of young players learning under fire and that was a very veteran defense. We saw a lot of juniors and seniors.
“They feel the pain; it’s part of growing up.”
When Levenseller met with the offense afterward, he went right to the grease board and drew a line.
“It goes across the board and it rises just a little bit,” he said. “Last week (after the Oregon game), I drew a line that went up and down. They know what the line means and the line is getting better every time.”