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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Derting’s return gives lift to Cougs

PULLMAN – Will Derting thought he was in perfect position to help cover Jason Hill as the wide receiver ran a square-in pattern.

But when the ball zinged over Derting’s right shoulder and into the hands of Hill, angling upfield on a post pattern, the middle linebacker screamed in agony at his mistake.

No matter to the Cougars, though. As they see it, having a rusty star back on the field is better than having him injured on the sidelines.

The senior made his return to practice Thursday, 15 days after pulling his hamstring in the first week of fall camp.

“It’s always good to have (No.) 51 back, the great linebacker he is,” said Leon Burtnett, Derting’s position coach. “He not only brings something to the linebacker corps, he brings something to the whole defense. When he’s on the defense, he’s the leader and he pulls everybody else together.”

Derting said he doesn’t anticipate having any problems getting back into the rhythm of practices and certainly no trouble preparing sufficiently for the season opener against Idaho, six days away.

Last season’s wrist dislocation at about the same time during camp cost the linebacker almost all of fall camp as well. While in 2004 he also managed to play the season opener, Derting said he’s in much better position to start the season this time around.

“Last year they wouldn’t let me do anything. No lifting, no anything,” he said. “Well, I got to go in and lift this time while I sat out, so that really helped me out. It keeps your mind off it a little bit.

“They were talking about how I might be out for Idaho and I was like, ‘No. I’m not going to be out for Idaho. Come on, guys.’ “

Playing without the use of his left hand, which was essentially immobilized by a cast for much of 2004, didn’t stop Derting from making a team-high 93 tackles last season. Derting, who was named to the Butkus Award watch list on Thursday, and his coaches said the team captain is much more comfortable at middle linebacker, a new position last season. He’s back at 100 percent – or close to it – and should be fully ready come game time.

“He’s feeling comfortable in there. This is probably the best he’s felt in two years,” Burtnett said. “He was a lot better early (this fall). I thought he was almost getting to the point where he was on the outside as far as his instincts.”

Derting said he was surprised at how long the recovery took after suffering the first hamstring injury of his career. Last year, he had poked fun at outside linebacker Pat Bennett, who struggled with a similar muscle pull for much of the season.

“Bennett last year, he fought it all year,” Derting recalled. “I always gave him crap about it. So I’ve talked to him a couple of times and he said, ‘Now you know how I feel.’ It takes a long time. I was surprised.”

Derting ran hard Wednesday to test the injury and reported no lingering pain in the hamstring before Thursday’s practice, yet another good sign that the recovery is near complete.

He said playing last week would have been an option if this were the middle of the season, but coach Bill Doba encouraged him to wait for a while longer before returning to practice.