‘You believe in them and you push them’: How has WSU’s defensive line stayed afloat with so many injuries?

PULLMAN – When he talks, Jack Janikowski comes across as thoughtful. He chooses his words carefully, like he is speaking in front of the United Nations, not like he is discussing his role on Washington State’s defensive line. He is articulate and intentional, eager to talk about the things that matter to him.

When he surged into the backfield for a sack last weekend, the first of his career, Janikowski looked like something else entirely. He slammed his fists on to the turf. Unleashed a primal scream. Looked to the sky. Celebrated with teammates. He looked like a man possessed, not a considerate one.

Turns out, he can be both.

“There might be some days where it is a little bit of a lull,” WSU defensive line coach Jalon Bibbs said during fall camp, “but we can always count on Jack Jack to get things spiced up a little bit, and usually that intensifies the practice.”

Janikowski’s emergence at WSU, which visits fellow Pac-12 holdover Oregon State this weekend, highlights one critical development within the program. It has to do with the Cougars’ defensive line, which has slogged through a staggering number of injuries, including ones to the following: Starter Max Baloun, who is out for the season with a knee injury; backup Kaden Beatty, who has missed three straight games with an injury; key rotational piece Mike Sandjo, who has also missed three straight contests; defensive end Raam Stevenson, who has missed the last two-plus tilts; even breakout star DE Isaac Terrell, a surprise scratch from last week’s game against Toledo.

Somehow, none of that has diminished the production from the Cougars’ defensive front, which delivered three tackles for loss in a victory over Toledo, which entered that game averaging a shade over 200 rushing yards per game. The Rockets managed only 61 against the Cougars, who have had to reach down their depth chart and pull reserves off their bench in recent weeks. Still, across their last four games, their defense is allowing only 13.5 points.

It borders on mind-boggling territory. The Cougars love what they are getting from Janikowski, for example, but he was not expected to make such a big splash this fall. Now, thrust into a key role, he is supplying valuable pass rush. The same goes for younger players on WSU’s defensive line, including redshirt freshman Malachi Wrice, sophomore Malaki Ta’ase, third-year sophomore Michael Hughes and transfers Darrion Dalton and Soni Finau, all of whom recorded at least one pressure in Saturday’s game.

Plus, that’s to make no mention of true freshman Donovan Fitzmaurice, who has logged 42 snaps in the last four games. He generated one pressure earlier this month against Virginia. It is unclear whether he will play in a fifth game and burn his redshirt, but now that he has become a part of the Cougs’ defensive line rotation, coaches may not have much of a choice.

All of which begs what feels like a relevant question: How? In the absence of so many key players, how do the Cougars get such consistent production from their defensive line?

“I think you believe in them and you push them,” WSU coach Jimmy Rogers said. “And it starts from the culture that coach Bibbs has created in that room. Coach Bibbs is really passionate about coaching these players and being really close with them and caring about them. I mean, I think he takes their lack of execution about as personal as it could probably get.

“And I think that’s a good sign as a coach, that you care so much about your players that when they fail, you feel it. So he’s driven to push them day in and day out, and believe that if they’re gonna get into the game, they’re gonna win us the game.”

An important detail here: WSU (4-4) rotates a lot up front on defense. Watch any of the Cougars’ games this fall and you know that it is not uncommon to see a group of four new linemen come shuffling onto the field, replacing the four who had just taken a few snaps. It is an intentional measure from coaches, who prioritize keeping their guys fresh. If Terrell’s comments after WSU’s close loss to Ole Miss are any indication – “It just kinda fueled me to try even harder, because I was just seeing them tired,” he said then – it is probably fair to say it is working.

But that feeds back into the same dynamic: Even with so many injuries, even with the same frequent rotations, the Cougars have not seen some dramatic reduction of production. In fact, it has stayed consistent: In just nine snaps against Virginia, Fitzmaurice tallied one critical pressure, which helped force a third-down stop. Finau collected back-to-back sacks toward the end of WSU’s road win over Colorado State last month. And the players at the heart of this effort, starting defensive tackles Bryson Lamb and Darrion Dalton, logged three pressures apiece last week.

The answer at the foundation of all this may lie in the culture Rogers is working to establish within the Cougars’ program. He is blunt, he likes to say, and he tells recruits the truth when getting to know them: He is working on landing their replacements. If you start, Rogers tells players, it is also up to you to keep that starting job. He is not trying to be manipulative or conniving – he is building depth. He is just straightforward in how he communicates it.

“It’s the starter’s job, if they want to be a great team,” Rogers said, “to teach the lessons that they were taught from a prior teammate to the younger generation, to say, this is how it looks. This is how you do it. That’s competitive maturity, and the closer we can get to that as a team, as far as our older, veteran, experienced players that are having success taking the young buck and teaching them what it takes to have a pro life mentality, the wins will keep coming.”

“I think it’s great. I think that’s what makes Rogers who he is,” Janikowski said. “He’s truly to his word. He says what he means, 100%. If you want to hear the truth, you’re gonna hear the truth, no matter what. And I truly appreciate that, and everyone on the team loves that about him, because as a football team, especially nowadays with money flying around and all that stuff, you don’t know what coaches are saying. But Rogers is truly to his word, and all of our coaches are to their word. They’ll tell you straight up what’s happening and how it’s gonna go.”