Washington State’s tight end room is still waiting on Trey Leckner, but the veteran has not disappeared from the picture.
Leckner, a 6-3, 243-pound fourth-year from Snohomish, is working back from a re-aggravated foot injury that required surgery this summer, and tight ends coach Derham Cato said Friday that the timeline has pushed his return to the middle of the season. Even so, Cato said Leckner has stayed locked in through the setback.
“Trey's handled the whole situation like a professional, been really pleased with that,” Cato said. “Sometimes when something like that happens, obviously you worry about kind of losing that mental intensity, but that has not been the case.
He's still got his notepad out every meeting, he's taking notes, he's dialed. He's right behind with the guys that aren't in on the sideline every team period.
Talking to them just in terms of technique stuff, scheme stuff, responsibility stuff.
“So he's done a hell of a job with it. Really happy with him and I really appreciate his leadership.
He's all football and obviously we can't wait to get him back. I know it's going to be a little delayed, but he's owned that role.”
The delay is a setback for the Cougars, because Leckner was a meaningful part of the offense last season. He started nine games and finished with 24 catches for 186 yards and three touchdowns.
With him unavailable, Jack Pedersen has handled most of the first-team reps at tight end. Beau Baker has also been in the mix, though he has missed the last few days with injury. That has opened the door for Hudson Cedarland, Peyton Read and Cash Landau to get more work.
Cato said the group has kept moving forward.
“It's a great group of guys. Jack's been having a really solid camp.
Beau's been having a good camp. And then the young guys are really coming on and starting to play a lot faster.
A lot of things have been improved since the spring with those guys kind of understanding the scheme. And so been happy and pleased with the progress for sure.”
The extra reps have mattered, especially for the younger players.
“It's just kind of next man up mentality. Beau's thing wasn't too bad.
He's going to be back with us here pretty shortly. But it gave Huddy, Peyton and Cash a lot more opportunities.
You can install stuff, talk about stuff on tape, walk through stuff a bunch of different times. But nothing relates to practice reps and live reps.
And so with that increasing, I think the game's starting to slow down for them a little bit.
“And they've been doing some good things, like Peyton's made some good plays. I'm sure you guys have seen out here in the end of half drill and just some football savvy stuff, knowing where to take the space.
And it's been really good to see that progression and kind of just seeing more confidence grow. So that's been what I've been pleased with.”
Friday’s practice came one day before Saturday’s first scrimmage of fall camp, and it was handled as a walkthrough designed to mirror game-day operations. The players were not in cleats, no plays were run and there was no live action.
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