PULLMAN - Washington State’s second and final fall camp scrimmage ended the same way so many of the Cougars’ August practices have gone: with the defense making the louder statement.
Late in Friday’s work, defensive tackle transfer Jirah Leaupepetele erupted off the sideline after the third-team defense forced a fumble from walk-on running back Ryan Salcedo. A crowd of white jerseys swarmed the ball, another moment in a camp that has repeatedly belonged to Trent Bray’s defense.
“I think we dominated on defense,” Leaupepetele said.
That has been the shape of camp at Washington State. The highlights have piled up on the defensive side, with defensive ends Matyus McLain and Linus Zunk, safeties Jaylen Thomas and Jeremiah Bernard, and linebackers Keith Brown and DJ Warner all standing out over 14 fall camp practices.
Friday’s scrimmage, though, showed the flip side of that success. The Cougars’ offense managed only two touchdowns on 19 drives, committed four turnovers and absorbed several sacks.
Likely starting quarterback Caden Pinnick threw three interceptions, though two came after tipped passes. With Julian Dugger out because of an undisclosed injury, Pinnick and returner Owen Eshelman handled all the quarterback reps.
Pinnick worked with the first- and second-team offenses, while Eshelman led the second- and third-team units. Their combined work produced the two scores: a long touchdown run from freshman back Tre Hill Jr. and a short rushing score by Eshelman, who was likely two-hand-touch tackled short of the goal line but was still awarded the touchdown.
The turnovers came in a few different forms. Early in the scrimmage, Jaylen Thomas jumped Pinnick’s eyes for an interception and a long return, his third pick of fall camp. One of Pinnick’s other interceptions was snagged by safety Trey Ridley after a tip, and the other came when a strong defensive play jarred the ball loose from freshman running back Marquez Wimberly and into the air, where walk-on defensive back Kenny Miller-Terry came away with it.
“There’s some decisions out there that you’d like to get back. I think there’s some plays that they’d like to have back,” offensive coordinator Matt Miller said.
“But overall, needs to be better from all those guys, and they know that. They have a high standard for themselves.
There’s probably nobody more down in that locker room right now than those guys because they have such high standards for themselves. But they’re also very hungry and they’re competitors.
They’re gonna get back tomorrow, and they’re gonna be their best versions of themselves.”
He was even more direct afterward.
“Not to the standard. Starting with me, I gotta be better.
Gotta lead better. Gotta prepare a better plan for the guys for them to go execute it.
So everybody’s gotta look themselves in the mirror.”
The offense’s final line was a rough one: two touchdowns, four turnovers and one field goal. Kicker Jack Stevens made from 48 yards, but he also missed wide left on two other attempts, one from 48 yards and one from 55. Stevens had been perfect earlier in fall camp before missing for the first time Tuesday and then twice more since.
There was also important context around who was and wasn’t on the field. Running back Kirby Vorhees and right tackle Jonny Lester remained out, as they have been for about a week.
Left tackle Ashton Tripp played only a couple of series. The same limited workload applied to other key pieces, including starting tight end Jack Pedersen, running back Maxwell Woods and other offensive linemen whose roles are essentially settled.
That makes Friday’s scrimmage a little tricky to read. Washington State’s starting lineups are close to set on both sides, so the work was not a full snapshot of the offense.
Hill, who has flashed throughout camp, handled featured back duties but is unlikely to have a major role behind Vorhees, Woods and Leo Pulalasi. Two of the sacks also came from defensive end Malachi Wrice, who has been disruptive all month, even if his place in the rotation remains uncertain because of McLain and Zunk.
“We gotta take care of the football on offense,” Kirby Moore said.
Moore also pointed to the volume of work already piled up in camp.
“I think the big thing is, we have played 780 snaps of team football in fall camp so far,” Moore said. “We did 770 in spring ball, so that’s a total of 1,550, right.
And you look at those acclimation of reps. We wanna make sure we get our guys back from a legs standpoint.”
Washington State gets Saturday off before wrapping up fall camp with a practice Sunday evening. After that, the Cougars turn their attention to the season opener against Washington, with an offense that has been shaky with the ball lately and a defense that has spent all month looking ready to pounce.
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