WSU defense prepares for Arizona’s race car offense
After practice Mike Leach said that turnovers weren't any particular point of emphasis on Tuesday, but the defensive ones and twos seemed to make it a priority forcing three consecutive fumbles at one point in practice.
Taylor Taliulu got things started with a big hit on a wide receiver, then the next two were forced by group of defenders all converging on the ball carrier.
"(Upcoming opponent Arizona is) the Indy 500 of offenses," defensive line coach Joe Salave'a said. "Tempo never slows down one bit so I think our tempo in our practices is going to be critical and our work this week is going to be critical. We don't half-step anything and we're trying to keep up with the pace of the offense."
Lineman Darryl Paulo capped a solid day for the defense with a pair of consecutive sacks and Darryl Monroe, who was recently passed on the depth chart by Peyton Pelluer, had the hit of the day on running back Austin Hall as the ball carrier tried to bounce a run outside only to be met by Monroe in the backfield.
We have more from practice after the jump.
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The same offensive line combination that has started every game this season lined up as the starting unit with center Riley Sorenson reassuming his spot with the first string after being limited last week. Jacob Seydel did check in occasionally at right guard as he did during bye week.
Apart from Sorenson, the unit has managed to avoid the offensive line injuries that have plagued some of the conference's teams.
"Well that's just a compliment to our strength staff and how hard these kids have worked in the offseason to prepare their bodies to play a 12, 13, 14 game season," offensive line coach Clay McGuire said. "So I'm proud of those guys in that aspect and we need to keep pushing them to get in better shape."
There were some limited players during Tuesday's practice, however, namely Kahshan Greene, Drew Springfield, Nick Begg, Isaac Dotson, Mack Hopkins and Nate DeRider. I also did not see Kalafitoni Pole, Charleston White, Darius Lemora Calvin Green, Chester Su'a or Kristoff Williams at practice.
Freshman cornerback Pat Porter had a good practice – he's running with the ones with White gone -- although he likely should have hauled in an interception after making a nice break on a short pass.
On the offensive side Cole Madison had the best rep I observed when the offensive and defensive lines went one-on-one, stonewalling Daniel Ekuale on an edge rush.
The Cougars will need a big game from Madison and the rest of the offensive lineman against an Arizona front seven that has been very multiple in its defensive game plans this season.
"A couple games this year they've blitzed quite a bit and then the other half of the games they didn't," McGuire said. "Last year they didn't blitz us very much but we're preparing for the things that they've shown and also some stuff that we haven't' seen on tape so we're just going to go out there and focus on what we do and protections and take it as it comes."
During WSU's "good on good" portion of practice Jamal Morrow had a nice run that went the distance thanks to an early move that got defenders running the wrong way and River Cracraft made a number of catches.
