Washington State Football is now in its 18th day. Auburn is less than 10 days away and the Cougars are beginning to tune both their offense and defense for a possible upset down in SEC country August 31st.
The keys will be both consistency of the offensive line and depth in the defensive rotations, on the defensive line, at linebacker and in the secondary.
The good news on the O front is everyone is bigger, stronger and more experienced. Unfortunatley the starters are pretty much the same with the exception of Rico Forbes at Right Tackle and Joe Dahl at Left Guard. Depth has been significantly addressed. Senior Matt Goetz, Junior Jacob Seydel and Freshman Cole Madison have given the second team a base to work from. The starters along with Forbes and Dahl include Seniors John Fullington and Elliott Bosch, both All PAC 12 Honorable mentions from 2012, along with RS Sophomore Gunner Eklund at left tackle who started 9 games last year. Youth on the offensive line rules the day as there are no fewer than 12 freshman and redshirt freshman working to move up the depth chart. The goal is to not retain the dubious honors of both the highest sack total (57) and the fewest rushing yards in division 1 football. Cutting the sacks from 57 to less than 30 would be a huge boost to the Air Raid Offense.
The strength of the offense clearly is in the depth and quality of the receiver corps. The team will travel with 10 and regularly rotate 8 players at the inside and outside receiver positions. The starters all return and include sophomores Gabe Marks and Brett Bartolone who lead the team in receiving last year. Juniors Dominique Williams and Isiah Myers who will be in the rotation along with Bobby Ratliff, Kristoff Williams Rickey Galvin and newcombers freshmen Robert Lewis, River Craycraft and JC transfer, 6’3″, 230lb Vince Mayle.
At Running Back Teondray Caldwell, Marcus Mason and Leon Brookes are getting most of the reps with the ones and twos. Two freshman Gerard Wicks and Jamel Morrow are playing with the scout team and will likely redshirt this season. The Cougs hope to make gains in their rushing totals in 2013 but the passing game will still be the dominating focus for the offense.
Quarterback seems to be clear as Junior Conner Halliday is getting plenty of reps with the first unit. Mike Leach likes competition so he has not announced a starter. Austin Apadoca, a redshirt freshman from Colorado, has had some strong practices both last Spring and during fall camp. The future looks bright at the quarterback position and this blogger feels that top recruit Tyler Bruggman will redshirt the 2013 season.
The defense is becoming a strength of the Cougar squad. The D-Line is big and loaded with talent. Xavier Cooper,6’4″,303, Tony Pole, 6’1″,302 and Ioane Guata 6’3″,290 all return with depth behind them. Mathew Bock and Logan Mays both started games in 2012 and now make up the depth that will allow WSU to rotate at least 6 players through the D- line. Sophomore Nose Tackle Robert Barber will, add depth as well.
The Linebackers are having a very competitive camp and other than Daryl Monroe locking down the middle backer spot no fewer than 7 others are vying for places in the rotation. They include Justin Sagote and Cyrus Coen who both started games last year along with Eric Oertel, Tana Prichard, Jered Byers, Jeremiah Allison and freshman Peyton Pelluer. The hybrid “Buck” position has been awarded to Destiny Vaeao, a 6’4″, 290 lb sophomore from American Samoa. Depth will be provided by Kache Palacio and JC transfer Ivan McClellan. Above all there is depth at all the linebacker positions.
Finally the secondary. The safety position has quality depth not only in the fact that Deone Bucannon is the best player on the Cougar team but the top four players at this position have all been starters at one time or another. Seniors Casey Locker and Anthony Carpenter along with Sophomore Taylor Taliulu will all see time in the defensive backfield. Third team depth includes David Bucannon , Mitchell Peterson and Paris Taylor. The weakest part of the defense might be at cornerback. Two Seniors will man the islands. Nolan Washington and Damante Horton when healthy can be productive players but they have each had injuries over the past few years. Three freshman corners are looking strong and will be the future possibly as soon as this season. They include Daquawn Brown, Alex Jackson and Charleston White.
If the injury bug does not strike this team they can do well this season. The defense held up well in games against Stanford, UCLA and ASU last year and they are clearly deeper and better in 2013. In my estimation we can win 7 or 8 games and return to a bowl in 2013.
A few players under the radar might include Running Back, Jeremiah Laufasa, Tackle, Eduardo Middleton, NT, Darryl Paulo and DE, Lyman Faoilu. Freshman who might see the field include WR. River Craycraft, CB, Daquwan Brown, OL ,Cole Madison and MLB Peyton Pelluer.
