Washington State may be getting tight end Trey Leckner back sooner than expected, and that’s a welcome development for a Cougars offense still searching for traction.
Coach Kirby Moore said Monday that Leckner will be a gametime decision Saturday evening against Fresno State and “will be back full go this week in practice.” That’s a notable shift from the timeline Moore laid out at the start of the season, when he said Leckner was expected to miss the first half after suffering a foot injury over the summer.
If Leckner is ready, he should give WSU a real lift. The Cougars are 1-3 and have coughed up seven total turnovers, and Leckner is their best pass-catching tight end. In his absence, UCLA transfer Jack Pedersen has handled the starting job, catching five passes for 20 yards and one touchdown, with that score coming against FCS Duquesne.
“We wanna be able to utilize both those guys. Obviously, try and get our best players on the field on offense,” Moore said.
“That’ll probably be determined how (Leckner) looks today, Tuesday, Wednesday with the big work days. But I think he’s really progressed from the previous week, last week, and so he’s definitely shown that in the past, and we’re excited to get him out there.”
Leckner, a redshirt junior from Snohomish, started nine of 13 games last season and caught 24 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns. That total tied for the third-most by a tight end in WSU single-season history. In 2024, he played in 12 games, starting two, and had three catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, cornerback Jalil Tucker remains uncertain. Moore described him as “game-to-game, day-to-day,” and Tucker has now missed three straight games since getting hurt in the Sept. 6 Apple Cup.
Tucker, who transferred from Oregon State, has dressed and warmed up for each of the last two games but still hasn’t been able to get on the field. WSU has already tried a couple of different fixes in his place.
Against Kansas State, the Cougars used redshirt senior Kai Rapolla, who struggled with two missed tackles and allowed three catches on four targets. Against Duquesne and Arizona, they slid nickelback Jamarey Smith to cornerback and brought safety Jackquintin Bal off the bench.
That move paid off against Arizona, when Bal returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.
If Tucker can’t go against Fresno State, WSU may stick with that setup. Bal could also see more work after playing a career-high 67 snaps against Arizona and leading the team with nine tackles, another personal best.
“Just doing my 1/11th, trying to be myself and just try to be the best person I can be in my position,” Bal said after the Arizona game, “no matter if it’s boundary safety, field safety, just doing my part.”
Moore also defended his decision late in the first half against Arizona, when the Cougars let 40 seconds run off the clock before settling for a field goal from first-and-10 at the Wildcats’ 12-yard line. He said he didn’t want to hand the ball back to Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and that offense.
“Whether we scored or we kicked a field goal too early, giving the ball back to that quarterback,” Moore said, “I did not think was in our best interest before the half.”
Moore also addressed the challenge of pushing for more explosive plays without inviting the turnovers that have already hurt WSU. He called it a balancing act and pointed to the weekly conversations around it.
“It’s definitely a balance. It’s dialogue during the week.
If something’s there, if it’s not there, self-preservation, making sure we’re playing the next play. Every play has a life of its own, and we had some of that come up on Saturday.”
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There is also some familiar coaching overlap in the backdrop, with Moore now trying to put his own stamp on the Cougars after stops as an offensive coordinator at Fresno State and Missouri. Meanwhile, Fresno State has gotten important recent production from quarterback Jayden Mandal and running back Rayshon Luke, giving the Bulldogs a steadier profile as Moore steps into a game that connects his present job to parts of his past in more than one way. [Read more 🡒]
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For Washington State, the game also sets up a few individual matchups that could shape the afternoon. Fresno State receiver Josiah Freeman has been one of the names to track, while cornerback Simeon Harris will be part of the Cougars' effort to keep the Bulldogs from finding easy answers outside. Early conference games can punish a team that assumes the record tells the whole story, and this is the sort of home opener in league play that can reveal whether Washington State is ready to handle the details that matter. [Read more 🡒]