WSU Fall Camp Notes Day 5: Three Freshmen Make Strong Statements, Monroe Goes Down

Day 5 of Washington State’s Fall football camp provided a lot of memorable moments, including a double-scare for the entire Cougar defense.

Darryl Monroe is one of maybe three players on defense that the Cougars can ill-afford to not have on the field come August 31st when they open it up against Auburn. The do-it-all MIKE (middle) linebacker is the heart of the defense, while I’d say Deone Bucannon is the soul and Xavier Cooper is the muscle. At any rate with Bucannon already sitting out most of the session for an undisclosed reason, Monroe limped painfully to the sidelines during a drill around the middle of practice and fell to the ground with an apparent leg injury.

Thankfully, Monroe would return after a good stretching and massage of his hamstring area so he’s probably ok. At this point, we can only conclude a slight pull or cramp, though Mike Leach won’t disclose the significance of the injury.

In other news Robert Lewis caught a bullet over the middle from Connor Halliday and streaked to the endzone before getting mobbed by his enthusiastic offensive line teammates. You simply cannot put a price on extra effort to celebrate by the O-line in PRACTICE! We’re not talkin’ bout a game, we talkin’ bout PRACTICE! … Sorry the Allen Iverson in me just came out. Seriously though, that’s priceless.

River Cracraft appeared in the starting lineup on the day, running with the 1’s at times. As stated in previous articles, he’s not just climbing the latter, he’s leaping over it.

And finally as far as freshmen go Daquawn Brown showed out on the hustle play of the day, when he caught Teondray Caldwell from behind 60 yards downfield to save the touchdown. The play was just another great one in the camp so far for Brown, who is impressing coaches and fans alike with his attitude and early big play abilities. On the other hand where have we seen that from Caldwell before? Anybody recall Oregon? Caldwell has to learn how to house those big runs by running away from guys and then changing the angle on them as they close down.

Vince Mayle has finally officially joined the party, with a 90 yard touchdown reception over the middle of the field. The struggling junior could use a play or two more to really begin to feel like one of the gang out there, as he’s been dropping some very catchable balls throughout.

And Happy Birthday to Gabe Marks yesterday! The kid showed out like he always does, snagging ridiculous catches from anywhere on the field. For a guy that had a terrific freshman year last season, he sure has improved over the offseason. He, Kasen Williams and Marquise Lee, may the three most dangerous receivers in the conference.