WSU First Spring Scrimmage In The Books
WSU participated in their first mostly full-contact scrimmage of the Spring on Saturday, with the offense being the highlight of a windy morning on the Palouse. In total, six quarterbacks took snaps, while 17 different Cougars caught passes.
Quarterback Cameron Ward led the way offensively, going 16-26 for 151 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The lone touchdown came on a 12-yard completion to Lincoln Victor. The interception came early with Jordan Lee making a great play on the ball to take it away. The pick was on just the eighth pass Ward threw. Ward is beginning to start off slow before getting things going. Ward gave up just two sacks.
“In my opinion, I gave up the sacks today,” Ward said following practice. “I made bad plays to start it off. I don’t think they gave up a sack one time.”
Victor Gabalis seemed to have further cemented his spot as the No. 2 guy on the depth chart with another great performance under center. Gabalis went 15-17 for 129 yards and two touchdowns. The quarterback found C.J. Moore and Donovan Ollie on five and four-yard touchdown passes.
More Offensive Weapons
Emmett Brown seems to be the third-string quarterback, despite still having a chance for that second spot. The freshman went 7-11 for 90 yards and a touchdown. Brown’s touchdown came on an eight-yard touchdown pass to Orion Peters.
“Emmett should be in high school right now,” WSU head coach Jake Dickert said of his freshman. “Little undersized, really not recruited to the level I think he should have been. He’s done one heck of a job battling for our two spots.”
Furthermore, fourth on the depth chart is Xavier Ward. Saturday, the second-year freshman went 3-8 for 44 yards. A 25-yard pass to Leon Neal Jr. was the highlight of Ward’s time tossing the rock. Ward also took three sacks on the day.
Luke Holcomb completed one of three attempts for 12 yards. Chris Irvin went 3-7 for 41 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Irvin’s one touchdown came on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Bode Brewer that sent the offensive sideline into a frenzy and closed out the scrimmage.
In the rushing attack, the offensive line did a good job with their assignments and creating holes. One such instance came on a play midway through the scrimmage. Djouvernsky Schlenbaker was the beneficiary as he exploded through the hole for a 60-yard gain before getting caught from behind.
Notably, Victor led all receivers on the day with six catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. Peters had five catches for 36 yards and a touchdown. Ollie had four catches for 32 yards, one touchdown, and a drop.
Dean Janikowski hit four of five extra points and missed a 35-yard field goal attempt. However, the impact definitely came from the defensive end with the defense recording 10 sacks and two takeaways on the afternoon.
WSU will return to practice on their normal Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday Spring schedule with their second of three scrimmages coming in two weeks.
