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From Lewiston -- As Sunday is upon us and summer days wane away, I'm sure many of you are trying to nurse the last moments you have with your family on vacation or enjoy some final minutes on the water or wherever you find your enjoyment. So I am happy to oblige with a brief summary of what happened Saturday as WSU held a full-pad scrimmage that consisted of roughly 50 plays on Saturday in Lewiston.
Offense
Mike Leach was pleased with how the practice went overall as he has been each day of camp so far. When asked whether he thought one side got the upper hand, Leach replied, "I though the whole day was even. I thought the offense moved it steadily and didn't get it in. The D-line I thought played pretty good, but I thought overall just steady work."
Quarterbacks
Four quarterbacks were put on the field of scrimmage. Connor Halliday, of course, ran with the ones and looked good on several plays moving the ball, but struggled in the red zone only connecting once to Rickey Galvin for a touchdown. The big disappointment for Halliday was a red zone interception pass to Cyrus Coen who looked like he could have had a pretty decent return had not the play been blown dead by the coaches.
"Cyrus was playing the five-yard out and jumped underneath it. I never saw him," said Halliday explaining how he had progressed through his reads before making the pass Coen picked.
Falk moved the ball reasonably well, but also struggled in the red zone not coming away with any touchdown passes. When the third team rolled out for the first time Connor Ennis was at quarterback and seemed to manage well save an interception pass he threw to Chandler Leniu. Later Peyton Bender took the field and was impressive in the red zone connecting for two touchdown passes. Since each offensive depth unit was matched up with the corresponding depth unit on the defense. it's difficult to compare apples-to-apples since each quarterback saw a different defense. But here are the QBs' stats.
|
QB |
Competions |
Attempts |
Yards |
TD |
INT |
|
Connor Halliday |
9 |
15 |
96 |
0 |
0 |
|
Luke Falk |
11 |
16 |
95 |
1 |
1 |
|
Connor Ennis |
6 |
9 |
47 |
0 |
1 |
|
Peyton Bender |
6 |
8 |
38 |
2 |
0 |
Offensive line
Leach didn't say much about the offensive line except that he was reasonably satisfied with the way that the ones played.
"I thought the O-line with the ones played pretty good. A little bit spotty with the twos, but some of it has to do with the D-line and the depth we have there," said Leach.
Of note was Riley Sorensen playing at center with the ones. Leach said that the players who were put out Saturday with the ones would be the starters if the first game of the season that day. So it appears that Sorensen may now have an edge up on Sam Flor.
Running backs
The running game never really got going. On a total of nine carries the offense only amassed ten yards. Running backs did contribute to the receiving effort totaling seven receptions for 38 yards but a lot of those went to Mason who worked with the threes.
The big story is that Gerard Wicks ran with the ones when he was not in the conversation or on the pre-camp depth chart at all.
|
Running Back |
Run Attempts |
Yards |
Receptions |
Yards |
|
Gerard Wicks |
4 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
|
Squally Canada |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Jamal Morrow |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Theron West |
2 |
-2 |
2 |
10 |
|
Marcus Mason |
NA |
NA |
4 |
26 |
Wide Receiver
No receivers caught more than three passes. Besides Halliday's touchdown pass to Galvin, the three team was the only other team to get in the end zone with touchdown passes to Tyler Baker and Daniel Lilienthal coming from Peyton Bender. Kristoff Williams was tops on receiving with three catches for 36 yards.
|
Running Back |
Receptions |
Yards |
TD |
|
Kristoff Williams |
3 |
36 |
0 |
|
River Cracraft |
2 |
26 |
0 |
|
Dom Williams |
2 |
26 |
0 |
|
Calvin Green |
2 |
25 |
0 |
|
Rickey Galvin |
2 |
23 |
1 |
|
Drew Loftus |
3 |
22 |
0 |
|
Tyler Baker |
2 |
17 |
1 |
|
Gabe Marks |
2 |
16 |
0 |
|
Zaire Andre |
1 |
15 |
0 |
|
Robert Lewis |
1 |
14 |
0 |
|
Vince Mayle |
2 |
12 |
0 |
|
Isiah Myers |
2 |
5 |
0 |
|
Daniel Lilienthal |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Defense
Three sacks were recorded on the day from Toni Pole, Robert Barber, and a split sack with Jeff Waldner and Hercules Mata'afa. As mentioned above Coen had an interception with the first team and Leniu with the third.
Overall it looked like the defense won the day to continue their dominance throughout the camp.
"Since we've (defense) been out here, I think we have pretty much won everyday, which is great because when you've got a lot of young guys come in on this defense you think they can get intimidated by the big college level. But no, these guys came to play," said linebacker Darryl Monroe after the scrimmage.
The big news personnel wise was Darius Lemora getting reps at the No. 1 strong safety position. Again, referring back to Leach's statement about if the season would start on Saturday, this is a pretty big development. Mike Breske noted that Lemora had a good spring, but still has a little ways to go.
"He's (Lemora) behind in terms of learning the defense just because of his age, but he has a lot of spunk, is an aggressive player, and has great speed," said Breske.
The number one defensive backs looked solid when put in with their unit. Throughout the week they have struggled at times working one-on-one with receivers. However, when working as a unit the defensive line is really setting the tone. Mike Breske is pleased saying that's how it should work.
"Just like offense. It starts with the offensive line. It's the same on the dark side, it starts with the defensive line and we've got eight quality people there and that's going to allow us to be able to get quality reps and keep guys fresh, be a unit in the fourth quarter, and hopefully continue that," said Breske.
Kickers
Both Eric Powell and Quentin Breshears got a kicking session before practice started. Breshears looked much improved on the day only missing one attempt from 38, but hitting from 20 (extra point), 37, 37, and 40. Powell was again the better kicking on the day connecting from 35, 35, 35, and 40.
Powell won kicking duties for the scrimmage and connected from 29 and 32. Again, this means that Powell is in the lead for the competition. But it's a good sign that Breshears made it much more competitive today.
More on scrimmage
Quotes from WSU's scrimmage - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Aug. 9, 2014
The Cougars went live for the first time today, scrimmaging for 62 plays. After practice we asked players and coaches their thoughts on the scrimmage, tackling for the first time and more. Stats from the scrimmage are available here, and the interview transcriptions are after the jump. ...WSU scrimmage stats - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Aug. 9, 2014
WSU its first scrimmage of fall camp, working through roughly 60 plays at Sacajawea Junior High School Saturday.
WSU scrimmage stats - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Aug. 9, 2014
WSU Scrimmage Stats