Cougars count numbers

PULLMAN – Washington State’s two practice fields, sitting side by side, have been flipped this year, with the solitary goalposts moving from one field to the other because of construction work happening behind the field.

Similarly, the Cougars hope that a little on-field reconstruction this spring will help to flip their fortunes.

WSU, happily 0-0 in 2007 after a three-game losing streak to end 2006, took the field for the first time this spring Thursday afternoon, kicking off four weeks’ worth of practices that it hopes will lead to greater successes in the fall.

While the Cougars have plenty of question marks this year after losing a number of starring seniors – plus some academic casualties – there are some that stand out above the rest.

Most significant, WSU will try to find some direction at cornerback, where both starters graduated, and at running back, where two of the main cogs from last year are missing because of grades.

“I think it’s real important that we try to find some depth,” head coach Bill Doba said. “This recruiting class that we’ve got coming in is maybe one of our better classes, at least in the last two or three years. We’re going to count on some of those guys coming in to help us.”

That’s especially true at cornerback, where assistant coach Ken Greene has five players in camp this spring – and he’s not missing anyone because of injury, either.

Greene had been the secondary coach in years past, but with the staff shuffling over the winter he’s now responsible for just the one position, meaning that he’ll have plenty of time to work with his small handful of players.

“You always want to have enough depth that you’re developing young guys and the older guys, they’re experienced,” Greene said. “The situation is not the ideal situation, but the guys we’ve got, they’re working hard and getting better. And we’ll find out how good we’re going to be.”

Brian Williams, Markus Dawes and Ryan Kensok seem to be the three returners who are closest to earning playing time, but with a number of additional players coming in this fall, no spots on the field are guaranteed to any of them.

“We’d hope that the guys we’ve got here are good enough to start,” Greene said. “They’ll have an advantage over the guys that are coming in, but we’re expecting the guys that are coming in to be able to contribute as well.”

The situation at running back is not identical in nature, but certainly similar. Under new position coach Steve Broussard, the Cougars have one runner with significant experience back in Dwight Tardy. Derrell Hutsona and DeMaundray Woolridge are both tossups at best to be eligible in the fall because of academic issues, which means that the Cougars are probably searching for other contributors in these practices.

Tardy said he doesn’t feel like the job is his and his alone.

“Everybody behind me wants to play,” the sophomore said. “I don’t feel clear at all. I feel like my job’s always on the line.”

Doba has to hope the rest of the Cougars feel the same way.

“This is important, to get some young kids the work,” the coach said. “But I think we really won’t know how good we are until midway through double days (in the fall).”