Inside the quick ascension of WSU LB Anthony Palano, who has earned a starting spot — as a redshirt freshman

PULLMAN – Marc Palano knows his son well enough to know when something is up. Anthony may only be 19 years old, a burgeoning young prospect at linebacker, but he’s picked up a few habits as he matures.

One of the more prominent ones that dad has picked up on: When Anthony gets a phone call that might be about something serious, he tends to quietly remove himself from the room and find a quiet area to take the call.

“Whenever we see that,” Marc said, “we know something’s going on.”

So late last December, when Anthony left the living room to take a call away from Marc, his mother Jessica and sister Gianna, all three knew it was serious. It was one of the last days of the calendar year, and Anthony had just finished his freshman season playing for South Dakota State, which had recently fallen in the FCS national semifinals in North Dakota. So with winter break underway, the four took some time off at their vacation home in Siesta Key, Florida, where they were getting ready for dinner.

After some 10 minutes, Anthony returned to his parents and sister. He told them the news: His head coach, Jimmy Rogers, had recently accepted the same job at Washington State. He had just gotten off the phone with his defensive coordinator, Jesse Bobbit, who was following him there.

“I think he was very calm when it happened,” Jessica said, “but we were freaking out.”

“It was a little bit of shock, probably,” Marc said. “He had no idea that any of this was happening.”

That’s about when the quartet of Palanos began to scramble: Where was Pullman, Washington? If Anthony decided to enter the transfer portal and take his talents to WSU, how would they move his stuff there all the way from South Dakota? The family hails from a suburb of Chicago. They had just returned from North Dakota. How on earth would all this work out?

That set into motion a rush for the ages. Because he didn’t have time to return to Brookings, Anthony’s parents shipped his car to Pullman, where it arrived stuffed to the brim. “We packed that car like you wouldn’t believe,” Marc said. “I don’t even know how Anthony got in it to drive it away from the transport when the guy showed up in Pullman a few days later.”

By the end of the scramble, around the time Rogers was introduced as WSU’s new head coach and the Cougars’ new coaching staff came together, Palano began to understand he was not the only Jackrabbit turning into a Cougar. When the dust settled, he was one of 16 making the jump, following Rogers to the FBS level.

But among that group, Palano was special in a certain way. He was the only former SDSU player who would go on to become a surprise starter, ascending the ladder at middle linebacker, where he will be the Cougs’ starter in their season-opener Saturday evening against nearby Idaho.

That confirmation came directly from Rogers, whose coaching staff is taking something of a risk starting Palano at mike linebacker. He has yet to play a snap of college defense in his life. He still has two more years until he can enjoy a legal beer. He’s the quarterback of the side of the ball Rogers values most, which will force him to make all kinds of decisions, the type coaches usually reserve for players with a wealth of experience.

But to those who know Palano best, to those who led the charge in identifying him as a prospect in the first place, they are hardly rolling the dice. Instead, they are rolling with the right guy for the job, with the teenager who has a tendency to energize his teammates and prompt them to gravitate toward him, with the 6-foot-1 Italian kid who blows his coaches away with his smarts.

Turns out, all he needed was a clear runway for the opportunity.

***

As one practice unfolded during one day of fall camp, Bobbit raised his eyebrows about as high as they could go. It was a brutally hot day, one of many in the Cougs’ 14-practice slate, and Palano was set for a particularly high number of team period reps: 48.

To put that in perspective: Most players log around 25-30 per practice.

“And he didn’t say a word, didn’t complain,” Bobbit said. “He just attacked it.”

To Rogers, Bobbit and other coaches, that became another clue that Palano could be their guy at middle linebacker. He was already a smart player. Processed things quickly. Had the athleticism, the tackling form. As fall camp neared its end and Palano kept running with the first-team defense, they were catching onto another promising trait of Palano’s: He had the stamina, too.

Before long, their decision became even easier. During both spring ball and fall camp, Palano was competing for the starting role with fifth-year senior Keith Brown, a veteran who always figured to be square in the mix for starting snaps. But in early August, Brown went down with an undisclosed upper-body injury, sidelining him for the entire season. “From that point on,” Bobbit said, “it was gonna be Anthony’s job.”

In short, Palano earned the opportunity because he had spent the previous few months – “I would say it’s a whole year with us,” Rogers said – preparing for it. He built his body for the moment, sharpened his mind. When spring ball kicked off back in March and coaches knew Palano would be in the mix for the starting linebacker job, they took care to impart on him the same type of message they gave him last fall in Brookings: Don’t worry about other people. All you can control is yourself.

Then, by the time spring ball wrapped up, the ever-eager Palano peppered coaches with questions: Where do you see me? Where do you see them? Bobbit was happy to answer because he understood that for Palano, this was coming from a place of competitive fire, which has always been one of his biggest strengths. He knows because he was Palano’s lead recruiter out of Arlington Heights – not even four miles from his own hometown of Palatine.

But Bobbit had to reassure Palano that the competition for the starting role would roll on through fall camp, that the best thing he could do was to put blinders on and ignore those in the mix with him.

“And he did that,” Bobbit said. “He didn’t worry if KB was up first, or he was up first, or who got more reps at practice, or who was with the ones. He didn’t. It wasn’t something that was on his mind, or at least he didn’t show it.”

“Doesn’t matter where we are on the depth chart. We don’t really care about that here,” Palano said after one day of fall camp. “We’re just trying to make each other the best. Because without each other, we won’t be where we wanna be.”

But Palano wasn’t putting on some facade to impress his coaches. It comes naturally to him. He’s always been able to handle lots of information, lots of plays and shifts and personnel looks, which gives him the wherewithal to be the kind of teammate respected around the locker room.

Jeff Vlk realized that back in 2022, when Palano began to earn more playing time at Buffalo Grove High, where Vlk has been the head coach for 20 years. After making varsity as a sophomore, Palano returned for his junior campaign and earned a starting role at safety, where he could unleash his speed and smarts on opposing quarterbacks and receivers.

But early in the year, coaches realized they had something special on their hands. Palano always lined up where he was supposed to. Showed teammates where they were supposed to be. Vlk didn’t always feel comfortable asking defenders to disguise their coverages because he feared confusing them. Not with Palano.

Early in Palano’s senior year, the Bison’s top receiver, Sam Cho, went down with an injury. Coaches needed production at that spot, so they asked Palano to play slot receiver.

“He looked like he’d been there for four years,” Vlk said.

Then coaches tried him at running back.

“He looked like he’d been there for four years,” Vlk repeated.

Then coaches wondered about his ability to return punts. They hit on that bet. In September 2023, Palano set the school record with a six-touchdown game, which came soon after Cho went out of commission. Palano’s final touchdown came on a punt return, which he took back for six.

“We just kept giving him more,” Vlk said, “and every time you move him to a new spot, it was like he’d been there for four years.”

“At one point, he even played quarterback,” Jessica, Anthony’s mom, added.

But in his three years of coaching Palano, Vlk’s favorite moment – the one he thinks speaks volumes about Palano’s mindset, his quick ascension – happened nowhere near the end zone. It came shortly after Palano’s punt return touchdown, which didn’t just set the school record. It also put the Bison up big on their opponent, and with time running out, it was time for Palano to take the rest of the game off.

That’s when Vlk and other assistant coaches began putting in their younger players, who would get a taste of varsity action. Then Buffalo Grove’s opponent called a timeout. When players began heading to their respective sidelines, Vlk looked over and noticed something.

“The first guy to go to get water and run it out to the backups on the field,” Vlk said, “was Anthony Palano.”

***

Six touchdowns or not, Palano was not exactly a hot commodity on the recruiting market. His list of offers included three teams, all from the FCS ranks: Valparaiso, Butler and South Dakota State. A two-star prospect in the class of 2024, Palano got on Jackrabbits coaches’ radars when he attended an SDSU prospect camp, which is one of these coaches’ most effective tools in identifying prospects.

Before long, he got to know Bobbit, realized they were from hometowns so close to each other that they’re connected by multiple streets. He trusted Bobbit, who understood the kind of promising talent he had on his hands.

In Pullman, his teammates and coaches do too.

“AP is a dog,” cornerback Kenny Worthy III said. “I ain’t seen a lot of linebackers that can move almost like a safety. I talk to him a lot. He told me he has a safety background. I ain’t seen a lot of linebackers that have hands and just an ability to move sideline to sideline like that. We click, and he leads the defense from the middle. He leads every day. He’s the same guy every day. You know what you’re gonna get from him every time.”

“He gets everybody aligned. He gets the front set, the pressure set in the right direction,” cornerbacks coach Mike Banks said. “He doesn’t really make mental errors, you know. When the bullets are live, he’s getting guys on the ground. He’s doing his job. So I’m really impressed with where he is. He’s just a redshirt freshman as well. For that to be on a young kid like that, and for him to succeed the way he’s doing right now, it’s pretty impressive.”

Palano is being asked to do a lot. The Cougars open with a home matchup against FCS Idaho on Saturday, but also on their slate: One road game against an SEC foe. Another against an ACC opponent. A home game against archrival Washington. For lack of a better term, WSU is playing some big boys.

Bobbit has a tacit understanding with Palano that the middle linebacker spot is his for Week 1. But the Cougars’ coaches want Palano – and everyone on the team – to know that things can change. Their spots could go to someone else.

That’s where Palano’s great gift, his determination to stay ready, kicks in. He was even ready for the phone call that changed his life.

“I think the biggest thing is his confidence, his understanding of the game, his intellectual curiosity of the game, what he wants, his determination, motivation, to be great,” Bobbit said. “I know he’s gonna have success, but there’s no guarantee of that. There’s gonna be learning curves. There might be some games where the outside world is like, ‘what the heck is number 0 doing? Knock on wood. But at the end of the day, there’s gonna be growing curves and learning curves. I just know how he responds to adversity and how he’ll respond to failures and mistakes, and he’s gonna have a ton of success.”