Nylan Brown didn’t spend fall camp trying to get away from Washington State. He moved into the Cougar Football Complex and stayed there, choosing the long days and cold nights inside the building over going home and risking distractions.
For Brown, a junior transfer from Kent State, the setup was simple: an air mattress, a mattress topper, a pillow, Normatec sleeves and access to everything else he needed. He spent the first week of August through the end of camp around the team as WSU installed Kirby Moore’s offense and the assistants’ playbooks through practices and scrimmages.
“It was cold in there at night. Nobody’s bothering you,” Brown said.
“Got every snack I need. Go to the weight room, go stretch before I go to bed.
If I got questions, I can go ask Coach (Trent) Bray. I’ve got everything I need.
All the food is here. Everything’s here.
So it was good. It was really good for me.”
That kind of commitment is part of why Brown is expected to be in the linebacker rotation this season behind starters DJ Warner and Keith Brown in Bray’s 4-2-5 defense. He’s not the headline name in the room, but he brings real production and a style that fits.
Last season at Kent State, he played in 11 games and finished with 38 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and three QB hurries. In the year before that, he appeared in 11 games again and posted 20 tackles, a half tackle for loss and two forced fumbles.
Keith Brown saw the setup firsthand and got a kick out of it.
“I knew about it because that was my favorite nap spot during fall camp, was his air mattress,” Keith Brown said with a laugh. “So I’d go out there and find a place to nap.
But yeah, just shows his determination and commitment to this program of being around ball and being able to ask questions. Staying within the facility is huge.”
The one area that stands out when looking at Brown’s game is tackling. He missed 14 tackles last fall, fourth-most in the Mid-American Conference, and that’s something worth watching as he gets snaps for WSU. At 6 feet and 246 pounds, he isn’t built like a towering linebacker, but he makes up for it with strength and a tough, no-nonsense edge.
Brown’s path to Pullman also ties him to another Cougar starter. He played with Kaden Beatty at Kent State in 2024, when the Golden Flashes went 0-12 and became the only FBS team to go winless that season.
That team took some brutal hits along the way: three shutouts, plus back-to-back road losses to Tennessee and Penn State by a combined 127-0. Only two of Kent State’s losses were by one score.
Beatty remembers it clearly, and not just because of the record. He sees that season as part of what shaped both players.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Beatty said. “It build our skin a little bit thicker, and it really helped us to develop our mind and develop through, ‘this is a process.’
Like I said earlier, you gotta take every minute, what you’re doing, every single minute, every single hour, every single day matters, and that’s what really it shows to me. As long as we’re on our work and we’re locked in, then it’ll come to fruition and everything will roll out and be where it’s supposed to be.”
Beatty will have a much bigger role in Sunday’s Apple Cup at No. 17 Washington than he did a year ago, when the Huskies beat the Cougars 59-24 in Pullman and he recorded one tackle in 24 snaps. This time, he’s set to start, and Brown could be part of the mix behind him.
Beatty says the rivalry already feels real to him. Born in Baltimore and raised in Virginia Beach, he grew up pulling hard for the Ravens in their games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he sees the Apple Cup in a similar light.
“I’m a Coug now, through and through,” Beatty said. “It’s in my blood.
I bleed crimson and gray. So now, just having this rivalry is just something that I’m I’m thrilled to be a part of.
And now, I’m gonna be immersed in history with some of the other greats that have went through this building, these walls, and so I couldn’t be more excited and more fired up.”
In Other News...
Washington State Enters Apple Cup With One Roster Question Still Looming
Washington State is heading into the Apple Cup with most of the roster trending in the right direction, a welcome development as the Cougars prepare for one of the seasons most important games. Coach Kirby Moore said only two players, tight ends Trey Leckner and Hudson Cedarland, will be out against Washington, while several others who had been limited recently are expected to be available, including defensive tackle Kaden Beatty.
Kirby Moore also took a moment to acknowledge the passing of former Washington State coach Bill Doba, adding a somber note to a week otherwise centered on getting as healthy as possible. With the availability picture clearing up, the Cougars still have one lingering roster question to sort through before kickoff, and it could shape how they approach the rivalry game. [Read more 🡒]
Keith Browns Apple Cup Return Just Changed The Feel Of This Opener
Keith Browns return gives Washington State a meaningful veteran presence as the Cougars head into the Apple Cup, a game that already carries its own built-in edge. The linebacker has been out since December 2024 because of injury, and his perspective matters in a matchup where emotion can easily take over if a team lets it. Brown said the approach still has to stay consistent, even with the rivalry energy around it, and he sounded eager to get back into this one right away in Week 1.
Ashton Tripp also put a finer point on what makes this opener stand out, noting the significance of the rivalry and the atmosphere waiting at Husky Stadium. For Washington State, that combination of a returning defensive voice and the usual Apple Cup intensity adds another layer to a game that rarely needs much help drawing attention. The Cougars know the setting, the stakes and the noise will all be part of the test. [Read more 🡒]
Kaden Beatty Brings Extra Edge To A Cougars Rivalry That Still Hurts
Kaden Beatty is bringing a little extra bite to the buildup around this years Apple Cup, and for good reason. The Washington State defensive tackle has already lived through one of the sports most emotionally charged rivalries, and he spoke this week about how much the matchup against Washington still means as the Cougars prepare for another shot at their cross-state foe.
Beattys perspective gives the game a little more urgency for Washington State, especially with his emphasis on doing the job for four quarters and his confidence in the direction of his coach. He sounded eager to be part of a Cougars effort that turns last years experience into something better, and in a rivalry this heated, that edge can matter as much as anything else. [Read more 🡒]