HOT COUGAR ACTION: A Look Ahead At WSU's Fall Camp

Fall camp is now less than a week away and in advance of the first practice, Christian Caple has a few details on what to expect.

Teams are allowed to open fall camp four weeks prior to their first day, so WSU will begin fall camp on August 2. While a typical fall camp might involve a handful of two-a-day practices, you won't see any at WSU.

For one, Leach doesn't run two-a-day practices during the fall, meaning the Cougars will practice just once per day. But as Leach is quick to point out, this doesn't mean his players are getting a break.

"We'll get our pound of flesh," he said, noting that meetings and other duties will fill much of his team's days. "It'll be one-a-day, but they won't be short practices."

By not running two-a-days, WSU will actually lose a couple of available practice sessions. The NCAA allows 29 fall camp practice sessions, but there are only 28 days between the start of fall camp and the opener at BYU. Throw in a couple days off for rest and travel and WSU will likely be in the 25 practice range.

That will cost them somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 practice hours. NCAA rules stipulate a practice can last up to three hours or a total of five hours per day in two-a-days.

Here are a couple other rules to consider as fall camp nears:

• Rosters are limited to 105 players during fall camp. Once school begins they can expand to add non-preferred walk-ons.
• Each player must go through a five-day acclimatization period. The first two days, the player can only wear helmets. That is followed by two days of helmets and shoulder pads. Finally on the fifth day, players can don full pads. If any player doesn't practice at the start of fall camp, their acclimatization period begins whenever they join practice.

Football

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