Washington State Football Early Quarterback Depth Chart Projections: It’s Up To Connor Halliday

Washington State has really struggled finding quality depth all over the field over the past 5 or 6 seasons, it’s no secret that many Pac-12 caliber players just haven’t filled out the charts in that time. But this year seems to be a bit of a corner turner for the Cougars, as they strive to actually attempt to compete in their second string with players that could actually hold down the position at this level of college football.

CougCenter put together an early projection of the 2013 Offensive Depth Chart and we’re going to put in our own thoughts with their projections for each position group. For CC’s full projection thoughts, click the link.

Nov 5, 2011; San Francisco CA, USA; Washington State Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday (12) warms up before the game against the California Golden Bears at AT

Quarterback has unfortunately been in constant transition over the past 4 or 5 seasons, really since Alex Brink left after 2007. Paul Wulff thought he had found his QB of the future in Jeff Tuel, but the kid was never able to consistently stay on the field and while he ended up nicely in the record books at WSU, just never truly solidified the position.

So now Tuel has graduated and after beginning the Leach era in an up and down, back and forth season at quarterback, I’m sure the goal is to find one guy and go. That guy for Coug fans would ideally be the true junior, Connor Halliday. It’s going to take some work for him to lock it down though, since Leach has two that he feels are “his guys” in the freshman class (Apodaca is a redshirt) and it is highly probable that they are a little more accurate than Halliday has been. Early projections tab him as the starter but he’ll have to grow immensely to keep it.

Quarterback:

No. 1 – Connor Halliday (JR)
No. 2 – Austin Apodaca (RSFR)
No. 3 – Tyler Bruggman (FR)
No. 4 – Isaac Dotson (FR)

ACU Analysis: I’m honestly surprised to see Dotson here being that I thought he would be a defensive player. However I can see him being in two depth charts and I suppose he isn’t going to be in a two deep or even 3 deep right now at either the safety or linebacker positions.

Halliday had better win this job, because if he doesn’t it says much less about how good Apodaca is, in comparison to how very little Connor progressed over the offseason. With as much experience as CH has, there’s no excuse for not beating out a RS Freshman. I fully expect Bruggman to get his shot in the Fall, but I also fully expect him to redshirt.

In the end, how good the Qb’s are will depend on Halliday and health. If his acceleration in the program is high and he can stay on the field, the Cougars will be a surprisingly explosive team. If not, they will probably be only mildly better than last season and Connor may give up the starting role early to Apodaca or Bruggman. Either way, expect the Cougs to attempt to stick to their choice throughout for a continuity they didn’t experience in 2012.