The first WSU depth chart has three OR’s at quarterback

Before fall camp, Mike Leach told reporters he hoped to have the quarterback competition whittled to two within a week or so and down to one around the time school started last Monday. He did omit, notably, that he wouldn’t necessarily be telling everyone just who that was. He has been typically evasive with the media about it and even joked on Sunday night that he “has four OR’s”.

Well, it’s not quite four. But, on the first depth chart of the season, it is three!

It’s worth noting at least that Gardner Minshew is listed first. We’ve expected throughout camp that Minshew would have the upper hand on Anthony Gordon, Trey Tinsley and Cammon Cooper but Leach is sticking with his preseason assertion that he has four quarterbacks that he likes. I would expect Minshew to be the guy though this Saturday against the Wyoming Cowboys despite the insistence of the depth chart that it could be anyone.

Here is the rest of the depth chart:

No surprise that OR gets a good work out at running back again with the expectation that James Williams, Max Borghi and Keith Harrington will all be featuring in the offense regularly. One spot worth noting is Z receiver, where Easop Winston is listed ahead of Dezmon Patmon. Patmon certainly has the size advantage to play outside over Winston but he has never really had the breakout performance we’ve been waiting for since he arrived on campus. The rest of the receiver spots look like we expected; no surprises on the offensive line.

Despite missing all of training camp with an unspecified injury, Nnamdi Oguayo is atop the defensive end spot. We’ll see if he actually plays this week, Leach is notorious for leaving obviously injured players on the depth chart. Taylor Comfort and Nick Begg form the remainder of the line.

It looks like Dominic Silvels will take over for Frankie Luvu at the RUSH position while Jahad Woods will hold on to WIL and Peyton Pelleur comes back to reclaim the MIKE starting position. Hunter Dale is starting at nickel but I would expect to see heavy doses of Patrick Nunn throughout the season.

Darrien Molton and Sean Harper, Jr. make for a pair of very experienced corners with Skyler Thomas getting the nod at free safety along side Jalen Thompson. The OR party continues at kicker and punter with Oscar Draguicevich and Oliver Graybar both listed at punter and Blake Mazza and Jack Crane sharing the top spot at kicker.

So, any other surprises? Anyone you had hoped to see closer to the top?