Cougs looking for special edge

PULLMAN – New Washington State assistant coach Dave Walkosky only wants one thing out of this year’s Cougars on special teams.

“I want everyone to be perfect,” Walkosky says.

Last year WSU was nearly perfect. Perfectly dreadful.

The Cougars were last in the Pac-10 in three special team categories: Punt return average, kickoff returns and kickoff coverage. They were a little better in the other three categories, but not much. How does ninth in field goals, eighth in point-after-touchdown kicking and sixth in net punting sound?

It didn’t sound too good to head coach Bill Doba either. So changes were made. Changes in coaching, changes in emphasis and changes in personnel. Doba hopes the tinkering will add up to better special team play and, consequently, better field position, more scores, maybe another win or two.

“The whole concept of special teams has changed,” Doba says. “It’s like ‘It’s a privilege to be on them,’ not ‘Oh, I have to be on them.’ And (Walkosky) wants guys who want to be on them. The intensity in the meetings and the intensity on the practice field are twice what they were a year ago.”

Walkosky, who earned national recognition as the University of Toledo’s special team coordinator the past three years, was brought aboard in late spring to coach cornerbacks but also, in his words, spearhead the special teams effort. He is overseeing punt return, punting and kickoff coverage. Tight ends coach Greg Peterson, who took control of the kickoff return team in the spring, is still filling that role. But every coach on the staff has some responsibility with special teams, as do most players.

The emphasis change is evident in practice, with the energetic Walkosky sprinting here and there, his booming voice encouraging the Cougars to “match his intensity,” according to senior receiver and punt returner Michael Bumpus.

“With the arrival of coach Walkosky and his attitude and his intensity, players have no choice but to feed into and match it,” Bumpus said. “His schemes are great, too. Since I’ve been here, they are the best I’ve seen.”

The attitude harkens back to an earlier time, according to Bumpus.

“My freshman year we had a lot of seniors on special teams – guys who had been to bowl games – and who wanted to be (on special teams),” he said. “As the years went by, guys kind of thought of it as a punishment: ‘I’m not playing, so I’m on special teams.’

“If we can get everybody to realize how important field position is and how special teams controls all of that, we should be fine. I think we’re getting back to that.”

Punt return: Bumpus and Charles Dillon are the top deep threats here, which should come as no surprise. Bumpus’ name is all over the WSU punt-return record book, with his three returns for scores tied with late 1960s-era player Mark Williams for the career record. But the same line could have been written prior to last season, when Bumpus returned 13 punts for a paltry 5.5-yard average and no scores. Contrast that to his first two years when he averaged 12.2 yards on 51 returns.

Punting: Darryl Blunt returns after averaging 41.4 yards on his 53 punts last season but with a renewed emphasis on hang time. He also has a different cast protecting him, including two of the Cougars’ biggest players five yards in front. Defensive linemen Aaron Johnson and Ropati Pitoitua are serving as Blunt’s protectors, part of a major formation change.

Kicking game: Romeen Abdollmohammadi, who didn’t miss a kick last year after taking over for Loren Langley with four games left, won the job in the spring. And, with Langley, who was just 7 of 13 on field goals in 2006, nursing a leg injury, Abdollmohammadi has cemented his spot – and a scholarship.

Abdollmohammadi’s 31-yard field goal at UCLA last season was his first in football competition. The redshirt junior, a soccer star at Stanwood High, attempted one high school field goal and missed. Now he’s expected to be successful in front of 80,000 fans.

Kickoff return: Expect to see different formations, and quite possibly some new returners. Dillon will be there, as should Brandon Gibson, Dwight Tardy, Benny Ward and possibly freshman Jeshua Anderson.

Kickoff coverage: The biggest change is here, with a greater emphasis on speed and athletic ability. Part of that can be attributed to the new rules, which moved the kickoff back five yards to the 30-yard line. The rest can be attributed to Walkosky. The 10 guys who will flank Abdollmohammadi or freshman Wade Penner all can run.

“We’re using starters, good players, on special teams, so with that philosophy, you better make it fun for the players,” Walkosky says. “So what we try to do is get them excited about it, work the drills and then, when we do a game rep, we’re going full go. I’m looking for the right intensity on that snap.

“When we say we are going full go, you want every one to be perfect. That’s all I want, I want everyone to be perfect.”

Position outlook: They may not be perfect, but they can only get better. With a renewed emphasis and an energetic coach spearheading the effort, expect improvement. How much? Enough to possibly make a difference in one, possibly two games.