Takeaways from WSU's spring football game

Washington State still has one more practice on Tuesday before it wraps up its 2016 spring football, but the main event has come and gone. The Cougars held their spring football game on Saturday and while spring football is hardly an indicator of the season, there is still plenty to take from it.

The spring game is always an interesting session. It's a little glimpse into the future, but with four months until the season begins and a full fall camp to go through, a lot will change. There are always spring game standouts. Sometimes that's an indicator of the season, other times it's a flash in the pan. For the most part, a lot of what happened on Saturday will be forgotten when the pads come out in August.

So now that I've stated that spring football really doesn't mean anything an you shouldn't take anything from it, let's talk about what we took from the game!

The biggest standout appears to be James Williams. He's made headlines during practices and Thursday night football and now showed off some of those skills in front of a much bigger audience. The battle for playing time at running back this fall will be one of the most interesting aspects of fall camp. WSU likes to use three running back and really only three. Gerard Wicks, Jamal Morrow, Keith Harrington and Williams are all making strong cases for playing time. Will Harrington move back to wide receiver? It's hard to imagine the Cougars manage to keep one of those four on the bench.

Defensively, the Cougars once again have holes to plug. Destiny Vaeao is headed to the NFL and playing time is for the taking. I was especially eager and pleased to watch Ngalu Tapa. He was a very interesting prospect when he signed with the Cougars in 2014. He redshirted before seeing some playing time last season. He made a noticeable impact during the spring game. Hopefully that's some momentum for fall camp and he is in store for a big 2016 season.

I took the very easy way out, pulling two of the biggest standout players. But, there was a lot of action in the spring game.

What did you notice, both good and bad?

*****

Baseball:

Cougar Offense Backs Sunitsch In 9-2 Win Over USC - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Sophomore Shane Matheny homered and drove in a career-high five runs and sophomore reliever Scotty Sunitsch threw five innings for Washington State in a 9-2 victory over USC at Bailey-Brayton Field Sunday afternoon.

Football:

WSU Freshman RB Williams makes an impact at spring game | WSU Sports | yakimaherald.com
Washington State running back James Williams stood out every time he trotted onto the field at Joe Albi Stadium on Saturday afternoon at the Crimson and Gray Spring Game.

Not even a little precipitation can stop fans from enjoying a little spring football | The Spokesman-Review
Washington State entered spring trying to shore up a few spots. Whether the Cougars accomplished that goal will be seen in Lewiston come August, when preseason practice begins. But for now, with the summer looming, both are happy where they are.

Basketball:

Washington State grad transfer considering Nevada, Boise State - Mountain West Connection
Former Washington State Cougar guard Que Johnson has told ESPN that he has narrowed his list to Boise State, Western Kentucky, Nevada and Alabama, according to Jeff Goodman.