Washington St Cougars

Head Coach

Paul Wulff	1st year
07-08	5-7
PAC-10	3-6
FCR	76

Previous Season Wins

Washington St Preview by Chris Farrelly

Head Coach - Paul Wulff is the new head coach for the Washington St this season, Wulff is installing the no-huddle spread attack and the team adjusted well this spring but this will clearly be a transition year for the Cougars. They return fourteen starters but will be braking in a new quarterback, the defense which ranked 85th last season will need to step up, it’s been four years without a bowl invite and Wulff will be expected to change that quickly.

Quarterback - Senior Gary Rodgers is the frontrunner to start at quarterback this fall, he’s a big bodied, big armed player who showed good accuracy this spring and a quick grasp of the new system, he’s not very mobile but if he can make the quick reads the offense will be fine. Kansas St transfer Kevin Lopina will compete for time but Rodgers is clearly the front runner to start when the season begins.

Running Backs - Questions at running back as juniors Dwight Tardy and Chris Ivory both missed spring ball, Tardy is recovering from a torn ACL and Ivory was taking care of his academics. Tardy rushed for 676 yards and six scores and Ivory averaged an impressive 6.3 yards per carry, both will play if healthy and are quite capable of contributing to the attack.

Receivers - The receivers are led by All-PAC 10 wide out Brandon Gibson, the senior had 67 receptions for 1,180 yards and 9 TD’s and will clearly be the go to gut for Looker this season. Looking to step in are speedy sophomores Jeshua Anderson and Daniel Blackledge, senior Benny Ward will also be a key contributor. At tight end senior Devin Frishknecht returns and leads a deep rotation on the inside.

Offensive Line - The Cougars are solid upfront and return four starters from last season. The right side returns intact with senior Dan Rowlands at guard and sophomore Micah Hannam will be at tackle, at center will be junior Kenny Alfred and at the all important left tackle will be senior Vaughn Lesuima. This is an excellent run blocking unit that should be better prepared to protect Locker in the passing attack this fall.

Defensive Line - The Cougars will return to the 4-3 front this season and returning upfront are seniors A’i Ahmu, Matt Eichelberger and Andy Roof, Ahmu excels against the run and State will have a solid rotation in the middle. On the outside junior Andy Mattingly will make the move from linebacker and on the other side will be junior Kevin Kooyman. Mattingly is an excellent edge rusher and led the team with eigth sacks and also is leading returning tackler with 91.

Linebackers - Three senior starters return and this is going to be the strength of the defense this year. In the middle will be Greg Trent and on the strongside is Cory Evans and Kendrick Dunn will man the weakside. They excel against the run but will need to more against the pass as the PAC-10 will have their share of pass happy attacks this fall.

Defensive Backs - Lots of questions in the secondary and the spring didn’t supply many answers. The coaching staff has moved a few bodies around and senior Alonso Jackson will move from his strong safety spot and will man one corner while sophomore Chima Nwachukwu will now be the new strong safety. Junior Devin Giles returns at the other corner but missed the spring and senior Markius Dawes has claimed the starting spot, junior Xavier Hicks has some starting experience and will be the free safety.

Special Teams - Sophomore Reid Forrester averaged 40.5 yards and returns at punter, the placekicking duties are still unsettled. Sophomore Patrick Rooney and Wade Penner will battle through the fall camp to determine the starter.

Schedule - Quite manageable for the Cougars this season, the non-conference slate includes Oklahoma St and Portland St at home and a road game at Baylor, all three are winnable. They do close at Hawaii but this means they’ll have 13 games this season and seven home games. It’ll be a roller coaster as they adjust to the new attack and in conference it’ll be a struggle. Expect a second division finish and Washington St will win 4 games this fall.