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The depth review aspect of this countdown comes to an end today with the final review. After reviewing all of the offense and the front seven of the defense, let's take a closer look at WSU's secondary depth.
In order to properly grade the depth, we first need to figure out who's on the depth chart. Deone Bucannon is a lock at one of the safety spots and based on fall camp, Damante Horton and Nolan Washington are going to start at corner. Taylor Taliulu ran with the first team during Sunday's scrimmage. Freshman Daquawn Brown looks like he'll see some time at corner this season with Alex Jackson, Rahmel Dockery and Tracy Clark also in the mix.
Casey Locker is one of the backup safeties as is Anthony Carpenter who is currently playing safety after spending most of last season at corner. Paris Taylor was supposed to provide some depth, but he's been hurt all of fall camp. David Bucannon and Mitchell Peterson round out the depth chart.
It's really tough to grade this unit, because all of the players outside of Bucannon have been up-and-down. Taliulu was impressive last fall before falling way down the depth chart. Locker's issues in coverage and with penalties have been well documented. Washington has shown flashes at times with injuries derailing much of his career. I haven't seen him listed on an injury report this fall, one of the best signs of camp thus far. Horton appeared to regress as a junior, so it will be interesting to see where he is this season.
There is a lot of youth in the mix here with Brown possibly playing a significant role as a true freshman. He may have the most potential of the group, but he, Dockery and Jackson have yet to get their feet wet.
I think WSU's secondary is going to be better and I really like the potential of a few players. If Washington is healthy, that's a big deal too. Still, It's really Bucannon and a lot of question marks at this point. If we were getting specific I would give the secondary a C- grade heading into the season as they appear to be slightly below average. That's not an option with this poll, so I'll go with a D. Bucannon is a great starting point and if I knew Washington would stay healthy for the season I'd bump it up a grade, but for now I'll stick with the D.
The group has a chance to develop into a league-average unit, but they are not there yet. What grade would you give?