Less is more for Cougar QBs

PULLMAN – The winter months aren’t necessarily just about bulking up and bringing in new players for a college football team.

They can also be about fixing that which went wrong the previous year. For the Washington State offense, which struggled to consistently put up points in 2004, there were plenty of errors to work out.

One issue last season arose when the differing schematic backgrounds of offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller and quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach sometimes caused confusion and complications for the players on the field.

Levenseller was the offensive coordinator under Mike Price as well and takes much of his philosophy from the former WSU boss. Rosenbach was Paul Wulff’s coordinator at Eastern Washington before coming to WSU.

“We kind of had two different staffs and those two staffs combined offenses,” said rising sophomore quarterback Alex Brink. “It really was a mix and match of stuff.”

With starter Josh Swogger unable to participate in every drill because of his ongoing recovery from foot surgery, Brink has taken plenty of snaps this spring and has been a beneficiary of the changes Levenseller and Rosenbach made in the off-season.

WSU changed much of the terminology used on the field and also will be giving whichever quarterback is on the field more latitude to audible.

“Levy and Rosey have really worked hard in the off-season to get on the same page, to try and get the same offense in place,” Swogger said. “It did seem like last year there were two systems in place. There was the old system and then there was the new stuff with Coach Rosenbach and his influence on the offense. This year it seems like everybody’s on the same page and everything is complementing each other.

“If we want to change stuff, we can just check out of it. There’s a couple of basic things we can check to, but there are so many different variations off of that. It just makes it easier. Things like that, they give us a lot more control without making us think about a lot of stuff.”

So while fans may not notice much difference while watching a game on television this fall, things on the field could be dramatically different for the Cougars. A route call that last year meant a corner route, for instance, is now a stop. And the melding of the two philosophies means a smaller playbook to digest.

“We don’t have to have as many plays if they can get the proper plays, communicate with the receivers,” Levenseller said. “That creates situations where you can cut your play inventory by a great deal.”

In theory, the changes to the offense would make things more difficult at first. But both Swogger and Brink said the simplified system have actually made life easier despite the initial adjustment period.

“It takes a day to process and digest,” Swogger said. “But sometimes less is more, and it seems like less is more right now. It makes everybody understand and grasp the offense a little easier.”

Notes

Swogger sat out the end of practice with an ice bag on his left foot, the same foot that required season-ending surgery in October. “I didn’t like to see that at all,” head coach Bill Doba said. “But that’s just precautionary. He’s doing well.” … Middle linebacker Will Derting paid the doctor a visit to check on his left wrist, which is keeping him out of practice until the fall. Doba said things look good with Derting, who had the scaphoid and lunate bones fused in December.