Washington State Football: Positive And Negatives Of The Spring Game
Aug 30, 2012; Provo, UT, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach (right) walks back to the Cougars locker room before a game against the Brigham Young Cougars at Lavell Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
As the annual Spring game came to a close, there was some positive and negative news, unfortunately. It was a bit more interesting this year due to the fact that both quarterbacks were able to participate in the game, unlike last season.
The crowd was obviously not going to be as big as it was last season, but one thing for sure, everyone was hanging out at the Beer Garden which comes as no surprise. The crowd was announced at 8,340, which had more to do with the fact that everyone went last season just due to the arrival of Mike Leach… last season.
The Gray team defeated the Crimson team by a score of 22-21.
The QB battle is still 50-50 if you talk to Coach Leach but it’s obvious Connor Halliday has the edge over Austin Apodaca. Still, it’s a competition between these two and it will continue to be until the midway point of Fall Camp. One thing for sure is once Apodaca set in he was looking solid and both got plenty of valuable time in this game. Something that Apodaca needs improvement on is his timing with some wide receivers because it’s still not at the level it should be, but that should definitely be vastly improved over the Summer.
One thing I found odd is Apodaca had three of the starting wide receivers on his team which definitely helped his case in this game.
Here are some stats from both quarterbacks:
Stats:
Connor Halliday – 38-58 406 yards, 3 TDS, and 2 INT
Austin Apodaca – 27-45 279 yards 1 TD and 1 rushing TD
Positives:
– Halliday is definitely improving on his reads along with Apodaca.
– Gabe Marks is stronger and still a very good wide receiver
– Kristoff Williams broke out and looks to be poised to make some noise this season
– Theron West is definitely very quick and can help out the offense in certain situations
– Lots and Lots of Sacks
– Rickey Galvin is healthy and still very quick
– The players that didn’t play, their injuries don’t look to be serious.
Negatives:
– The Offensive Line struggled and they aren’t where they need to be weight-wise still
– Turnovers are still an issue with Halliday
– Halliday still forces the ball at times
– Robert Lewis wasn’t much of a factor
– Ivan McLennan struggled but is still learning his position
– Defense had limited players, hard to make sense of where they are at
One thing for sure is that the Kristoff Williams is going to be key for this team, it’ll be interesting to see where he fits in with Vince Mayle coming in who will no doubt start right away. The running backs are still struggling but don’t be too worried yet because Daniel Jenkins and Gerard Wicks haven’t arrived yet. The buck position isn’t solified yet but there is some depth with Mayes, McLennan, and Palacio.
The final Spring practice will occur on Tuesday and then they will start their off-season workouts and it won’t be long after that until the Freshman arrive on campus.
It’s going to be a very long Summer with not a lot of news regarding football but for those of you who play video games, NCAA Football 14 comes out July 9th and they may have the new press box in the game (hopefully).