WSU Spring Football 2013: Day 7 Draws a Little Rain and Pain, Plus an Update On Willie Roach
In the seventh day of spring practice, some injuries started to catch-up with some members of the WSU Football Team. There was a little bit of rain, but not too much compared to the first practice.
The first injury that occurred was to Senior LB Junior Sagote, who left the field after a drill, was inspected for a little bit by a trainer and then had an ice pack strapped to his left shoulder after removing his pads. He left the stadium but returned later, but didn’t participate for the rest of practice. Toni Pole also went down with what appeared to be a right leg injury during team session. He was helped off the field by a pair of teammates, then had an ice pack wrapped around his right knee. Pole didn’t participate for the rest of practice and just watched his teammates from the sideline.
Deone Bucannon was limited once again and spent the entire practice on Rogers Field working on conditioning drills. Senior DT Ioana Gauta didn’t participate and wasn’t there in uniform. It could be injury related, though Mike Leach’s response when asked was that “he’s doing great. He’s doing exactly what we want, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
With Pole and Gauta both out for most of team session, Darryl Paulo got quite a few reps with the No. 1 defensive line. The 6-foot-2, 270-pound redshirt sophomore immediately made a pretty nice play in the backfield, busting through to drop Leon Brooks for a loss (though it should be noted that this was a shoulder-pads-only practice, meaning no leg pads so no full contact, either). This is a sign of good news due to the fact that he got a lot of hype before arriving to campus as a freshman and hasn’t made any noise in practice or in a game until now.
Rahmel Dockery is really starting to make a lot of noise, which is making Mike Leach and Cougar Nation very happy.
Dockery was covering Brett Bartolone on a ball thrown by Austin Apodaca down the left sideline, but it was underthrown and Dockery snagged it for an interception.
Leach had more nice things to say about him afterwards.
"Real fast, really explosive, the light’s kind of gone on, getting a lot less of the blank look,” Leach said. “Dockery can focus for a while and then he can break out the blank look on you, so we’re not getting too much of the blank look, which I think is a good thing, and as a result he’s making a bunch of plays.”"
The offense won two out of the three “games” that were played, moving the ball very effectively on the first trip, then stalling on the second before Connor Halliday capped things off with a touchdown pass over the middle to Robert Lewis (who Leach went out of his way to praise afterward for picking things up quickly).
If Robert Lewis continues to improve his route running skills, having him and Galvin in the slot this season will be very exciting to watch.
Halliday also threw a touchdown pass to Isiah Myers earlier in practice.
Gabe Marks had another strong showing during 7-on-7 drills — his diving catch in the end zone would definitely have made the highlight reel if there was one.
Feddie Davey, Alex Jackson, Chester Su’a, Brent Anderson, Jake Rodgers, Logan Mayes and Robert Barber are still limited and working on conditioning stuff. Mansel Simmons was again absent.
Here is some video of Mike Leach and Darryl Monroe after practice being interviewed by reporters;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kQZhzkpU2IY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sAf-iWdh_8c
Update On Willie Roach:
I spoke with Willie Roach last night and asked him about the reason for his departure from the football team.
Me: We’re you kicked off the team?
Willie Roach: Yeah pretty much it was more complicated then that though it was because of the NCAA
Me: How come you got kicked?
Willie Roach: Because the NCAA doesn’t consider one of my classes a core class so they said I’m ineligible. I talked to coach about everything so it’s like they could get this wavier for me but by that time spring ball would be over. They said they are going to try and get me next fall so hopefully that work if not I got to go to a community college and get that credit .