COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN -- With last week being a day short and this week being a day long, Washington State took Saturday off and returned to the practice field for its usual Sunday night practice session. We have some notes, so read on.

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First of all, it appears quarterback Jeff Tuel is recovering from his apparent knee injury. He took some snaps with the No. 1 offense during scout work, splitting the load with Connor Halliday. Those were the first practice snaps Tuel had taken since before the Eastern Washington game, and he appeared to throw the ball well and move around OK, too. Other than the brace on his right knee, not sure you'd have noticed there was anything different about him from the other quarterbacks out there. ... From my perch on the elevator tower, I didn't see Rickey Galvin involved in practice. ... Spoke for a little while after practice with defensive coordinator Mike Breske. He said Taylor Taliulu didn't play at safety on Friday because he had a bad week of practice, something the coaches have been harping on. Tyree Toomer played in his place and responded well to getting into the game, Breske said, though he wished Toomer had graded out better. Casey Locker still needs to work on his pass coverage, Breske said, and leaves his feet too often on tackle attempts. But he thought Locker played well against the run, which is his strength, and commended his team's effort in bottling up UNLV running back Tim Cornett. ... Justin Sagote spent some time at WIL linebacker with the No. 1 scout defense, and Tana Pritchard, Kache Palacio and Logan Mayes continue to work together with WSU's "cheetah" package.

That's all for now. Tomorrow is WSU's media availability, so we'll be back with more then.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple

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