Washington State Cougars football: 4 big position group holes to fill.
Ed Stein
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Due to a huge amount of turnover, the Washington State Cougars have many holes to fill. These are four position groups that face the biggest uncertainty.
The Washington State Cougars are transitioning from Nick Rickolovich to Jake Dickert as the full-time head coach. There are also plenty of personnel changes as well. Some well-known names from the past few seasons have moved on.
Some areas are facing huge upheaval. Here are four position groups that Dickert and his staff need to fill.
Quarterback
The great Pullman quarterback exodus continued this winter. Jayden de Laura decided he had enough of WSU in December. He transferred to Arizona. His move followed Gunner Cruz (Arizona), John Bledsoe (San Diego), and Cammon Cooper (Hawai’i).
To replace de Laura, Dickert and new offensive coordinator Eric Morris brought in transfer Cameron Ward. He was Morris’s quarterback at FCS Incarnate Word. With the Cougs going back to the Air Raid (albeit with a tight end) under their new OC, it’s good to have someone with experience.
But can Ward adjust FCS to FBS? If not, or if he gets hurt, the Washington State Cougars have a problem. Behind him on the depth chart are former walk-on Victor Gabalis and redshirt freshman Xavier Ward.
Cameron Ward, a true freshman, ran the triple-option in high school.
Today he threw for six touchdown passes and 407 yards, ran for another and led his @UIWFootball Cardinals (3-0) to another win. Here's all 7 of them today.@Cameron7Ward pic.twitter.com/vflIGwY7VV
— Chase Shannon (@chase_shannon) March 20, 2021
Offensive Line
Losing seniors Abe Lucas and Liam Ryan was bad enough. In December, guard Cade Beresford transferred to Bosie State. Then before the Sun Bowl, center Brian Greene decided to opt-out. A few weeks later, he entered the transfer portal, eventually settling on Michigan State as his new school.
As for Lucas and Ryan, they were All-Pac-12 First-Team and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, respectively. Woods will be playing on Sundays following his successful run at WSU. That’s a good amount of talent to replace.
Needless to say, building a solid offensive line will be a challenge for Dickert and his staff. Jarrett Kingston, who played guard last season, moves to left tackle. Ma’aki Fifita does the same on the right side. Konner Gomness, Greene’s backup, is the new center.
There should be good competition at the guard spots. Christian Hilborn and Rodrick Tialavea have an advantage over Brock Dieu, Jernias Tafia at this point. According to Jamey Vinick at 24/7, Dickert had high praise for his interior linemen this week
(We’d) really like to see what Rod (Tialavea) is doing on the inside, and I love Christian (Hilborn) at guard. And then Konner (Gomness) has been a staple at our center.
Linebacker
Wazzu lost two mainstays of their defense. Jahad Woods and Justus Rogers are out of eligibility. Replacing their leadership, not to mention production (Woods had over 100 tackles twice), will be a big challenge.
However, the Cougars’ new starters aren’t so new. Travion Brown and Derek Langford move into starting roles. The duo played as reserves last season, combining for 75 tackles. With so much change this season, having a pair of seniors anchoring the defense certainly helps.
Running Back
It seems like Max Borghi and Deon McIntosh were together at Washington State about as long as peanut butter and jelly. They were threats in both the running and passing games. Consequently, the duo will be greatly missed.
Wisconsin transfer Nakia Watson is the new lead back. He was impressive during last year’s fall camp, but with two productive backs ahead of him, it was difficult for Watson to get playing time.
Watson finally got his chance to start at the Sun Bowl when Borghi opted out, and the team left McIntosh home for disciplinary reasons. Behind a patchwork offensive line, he carried 17 times for 62 yards, including one run for 40 yards.
There is a whole lot of unknown behind Watson because his backups have no college experience. Battling for the number two job is redshirt sophomore and career special teamer Jouvensly Bazil and Djouvensky Schlenbaker, a true freshman from Bellingham.
When you we say "Walks into the endzone" 99% of the time it's an exaggeration. Nakia Watson behind his blockers was just apart of that 1%. Zero resistance from this Michigan defense, #Badgers lead 28-0. pic.twitter.com/oWI4gBJMJh
— George Balekji (@GeorgeBalekji) November 15, 2020
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