What’s the status of WSU’s special teams unit?

PULLMAN – Washington State has some reshuffling to do with its special teams unit.

Gone are longtime placekicker Dean Janikowski and punter Nick Haberer, the latter of whom transferred to Vanderbilt and the former of whom exhausted his eligibility. Even some of the players who returned kicks and punts have moved on.

On a WSU team chock full of 74 newcomers, this is where a handful come in. The Cougars’ placekicking duties are likely to go to redshirt freshman Jack Stevens, who missed his only field goal attempt and hit two PATs last season at South Dakota State, where he redshirted. Also in on that competition is true freshman Adlai Lounsbury, who was committed to SDSU until coach Jimmy Rogers took the WSU job.

Across WSU’s fall camp, which wrapped up Day 12 of 14 on Wednesday afternoon, Stevens has manned most of the Cougars’ field goal kicking duties. But because their specialists usually practice at Gesa Field for space reasons – or Rogers Practice Field when the rest of the team is at the stadium – getting a read on the unit can be tricky.

For his part, Rogers has taken care to sing the praises of Stevens, who booted a couple field goals toward the end of Wednesday’s practice. His slender frame belies his leg strength, which allowed him to connect on a field goal of some 40 yards with ease.

“He’s improved quite a bit,” said Rogers, who indicated Stevens has added some 25 pounds in the last year, “with his weight game and strength game, just his overall leg strength. But he’s pretty consistent, and he doesn’t get into his own head. That’s maybe the thing that stands out about Jack.”

For WSU, less is changing on the kickoff front. That job will belong to third-year sophomore Ryan Harris, who also kicked off for the Cougars last season. That year, he recorded 10 touchbacks in 11 games, including three touchbacks apiece in wins over Texas Tech and Washington.

To hear Rogers tell it, Harris has only gotten better. Rogers is rarely in the area where specialists practice, but afterwards, he always checks out the film of how the specialists are looking. At this point, he doesn’t feel as much of a need to evaluate Harris, saying he “doesn’t know how much practice he really needs at that,” adding that Harris “can put it nine yards deep, deep into the end zone pretty consistently on kickoff.”

For that reason, Rogers said, coaches have turned Harris’ attention to the punting job. WSU is losing a staple at that position – in 2023, his last full season of action, Haberer averaged 44.4 yards per punt with a long punt of 62 yards – but Harris is working to fill his shoes.

“He’s improved drastically with his time-ups,” Rogers said.

A few candidates are in the mix to return kickoffs and punts. The list includes speedy wide receiver Tony Freeman, who returned 12 punts last season for 6.8 yards per return, as well as senior wideout Leyton Smithson, who returned one kickoff for a touchdown in 2023. The Cougars could even try veteran safety Tucker Large, who broke off several long punt returns at SDSU in 2023.

At the long snapper position, fifth-year senior Colson Brunner and third-year sophomore Sean Bures are competing for snaps. So is senior Colton Peoples, who started his career in 2022 at Notre Dame College before playing the past two seasons at Tennessee-Martin, where he played in all 14 games, landing on Phil Steele’s All Big South-Ohio Valley Conference third team.

“The addition of Colton Peoples was huge,” Rogers said. “He’s a really consistent long snapper with great timing. And I think both the other two, Sean Bures and Brunner, have improved themselves, and they’ve taken it upon themselves with us taking a transfer to still compete for a spot. We’re gonna see how that shakes out with some short snapping as we progress throughout the fall camp.”