WSU’s Jimmy Rogers updates injury statuses, explains late-game gaffes in loss to Virginia

PULLMAN – Washington State will likely have to play a third straight game without its starting right tackle.

That’s the word from head coach Jimmy Rogers, who said Monday that veteran offensive lineman Christian Hilborn is doubtful for Saturday’s game against Toledo, the Cougars’ first home game in more than a month. Hilborn has missed the last two games, with his left knee in a big brace.

“I’m gonna get the report here later on Christian,” Rogers said. “I know he was in earlier, so we’ll find out.”

With 45 games and 38 starts under his belt after Week 5 of this fall, Hilborn is one of the team’s most tenured players. He’s played all over the offensive line, but he’s found a niche the last couple years at tackle. It’s unclear when he suffered his injury, but because he was not seen in any discomfort in a Sept. 27 win over Colorado State, it’s likely it happened during WSU’s bye week, which came the following week.

But the Cougs remain shorthanded on their offensive line. Hilborn’s replacement, Division II transfer Jaylin Caldwell, exited early from Saturday’s game against Virginia with his own injury. That happened late in the first quarter, when he got tangled up with a Virginia defender, who tossed him to the ground a couple feet out of bounds.

Caldwell went to the injury tent, and after 10 to 15 minutes in there, he re-emerged with his left knee wrapped in ice, holding some sort of walking stick as he sat on the bench. Caldwell’s status remains unclear as of Monday.

“Still trying to hear what the doctors say later today,” Rogers said.

With both Caldwell and Hilborn out, WSU moved left guard Johnny Lester to right tackle and subbed in redshirt sophomore Noah Dunham at left guard. In 22 pass-blocking snaps, Dunham finished with a PFF grade of 68.7, which is above average. Lester allowed four pressures on 31 pass-blocking snaps, resulting in a grade of 44.0, far below average.

If Caldwell is out against Toledo, look for the Cougs to roll with that offensive line setup: Left tackle Ashton Tripp, left guard Dunham, center Brock Dieu, right guard AJ Vaipulu and right tackle Lester.

Elsewhere on the injury front, questionable for Saturday’s game are defensive end Raam Stevenson and defensive tackle Mike Sandjo, Rogers said. Stevenson left early from WSU’s Oct. 11 loss to Ole Miss with an injury, while Sandjo missed that game entirely. Neither suited up Saturday against Virginia.

Stevenson had started all six games before his injury. He had totaled one sack on 11 pressures, making his absence costly for WSU, which is already thin on the defensive line. Starting defensive tackle Max Baloun is out for the year with an injury, and backup Kaden Beatty sustained an injury against Colorado State. He has not played since.

Beatty is expected to miss this weekend’s game against Toledo, Rogers said.

Out for a second straight game was junior college transfer wide receiver Devin Ellison, who has played in just two of the team’s first seven games of the season. He missed the first trio of games with a heel contusion, Rogers said, and then Ellison returned to play in games against Washington and Colorado State.

Ellison was suited up for last week’s game against Ole Miss, but he didn’t play because he was banged up from an ankle roll in that week’s practice, and with the Cougs’ offense looking good early, coaches opted not to play him. But Ellison was healthy for Saturday’s game against Virginia, Rogers said, and he still did not see the field.

“I think a lot of this stems from, you gotta be healthy,” Rogers said. “And you gotta through a week’s worth of practice staying healthy. You gotta know what you’re doing when you’re out there. And we’ve gotten into a rhythm right now, where players that are at practice, that are going through practice, that get the reps.”

“We gotta trust that they know what they’re doing, because they’re the ones that are taking the reps. And then when you get reps, you can’t make mental mistakes. You gotta be able to execute. You gotta do the little things right.”

Ellison, who chose WSU over recruiting finalists Boise State and UCF in what profiled as a big-time portal addition for the Cougars last offseason, has not panned out the way coaches were hoping. He caught a touchdown pass in his season debut against UW, but so far, he has played only 19 snaps in two games.

Rogers offers explanations on late-game mistakes against CavaliersMaybe the most costly error WSU made in a 22-20 loss to No. 18 Virginia on Saturday was on a kickoff with a shade under three minutes to play. Coaches instructed their return team not to take the ball out of the end zone. But as return man Leyton Smithson was about to catch the kickoff, running back Kirby Vorhees accidentally called for a fair catch, which triggered the rule, landing WSU at its own 2. A few plays later, Vorhees was dragged down for the losing safety.

Rogers explained that because players understood the importance of not taking the ball out of the end zone, Vorhees was trying to communicate that to Smithson, but his arm gesture caught the attention of a nearby official, who made the call for a fair catch.

“I don’t know if we were getting it to the 25 with where they (Virginia players) were at on the field and where the ball was being caught, is my point,” Rogers said. “That would have put us in a bad situation, that I would have been losing my mind, that we would have brought the ball out. It was just the lack of communication of what went from the huddle to the players in that certain situation. So that’s on me. And they heard that this morning too, and there’ll be a clear line of communication moving forward and expectation in every single situation, especially in those, because those are critical.”

Moments later, WSU was facing a third-and-long from its own 1, when coaches called a run up the middle for Vorhees, who couldn’t get out of his own end zone. In hindsight, maybe the Cougars should have called a different penalty, Rogers said. But he also lamented more about that entire sequence.

“Looking back on it, maybe we should have just snuck it by how close we were. At the same time the timeout shouldn’t have happened to start with,” said Rogers, referring to a timeout he took seconds prior, which he said he did in an effort to help players regroup after three straight costly penalties. “And then we came out and they kinda blitzed into it.”