Brink, Dillon impress
PULLMAN – Bill Doba is wondering if it’s too late to change the starting times for Washington State’s football games.
“We’re going to all night games,” Doba said Saturday after WSU’s third and final scrimmage, played under the lights at Martin Stadium.
“I don’t know what else they do at night, but I know they play some football.”
And they did even before most of the crowd – estimated at 600 – was in its seats.
The No. 1 offense set the tone, opening against the No. 2 defense. On the third play, wide receiver Charles Dillon – one of the guys Doba wanted to feature – broke free from cornerback Brian Williams on a double move, finding open field 10 yards behind the safeties.
Quarterback Alex Brink rolled to his left and led Dillon perfectly for a 58-yard scoring toss.
“We started fast,” said Brink, who continued that way, finishing perfect on seven passes for 121 yards. “We had some good plays, reacted well to blitzes, things like that, things we needed to work on. The starters got in and out pretty quick and did a pretty good job I thought.”
Not wanting to be upstaged, the No. 1 defense took just one play to score. Devin Giles, fighting for a starting spot at corner, corralled a Gary Rogers pass in the flat and raced down the left sideline 49 yards for a score.
Giles also showed his speed late in the scrimmage, coming from the far side to track down running back Kevin McCall and deny what looked to be a sure touchdown. That 78-yard run helped McCall lead all backs with 81 yards on four carries.
“The last two scrimmages I didn’t do too good,” said Giles, a sophomore transfer from Coffeyville College in Kansas. “I had to do good tonight.”
He – and the rest of the starting defense – did.
“Defensively, there was some pretty good hitting from the young kids,” Doba said. “We got Brink out of there early; we don’t need to see him a whole lot. We got (Michael Bumpus) out of there early and gave Dillon a chance. We threw the ball to him quite a bit.”
Before he left, Brink led the starters on their best drive of fall camp, covering 60 yards on 11 plays. The big play was a 21-yard connection to Jed Collins, who, after making safety Christian Bass miss, was sandwiched at the 1 by Alfonso Jackson and Marshal Pirtz. Dwight Tardy took it in on the next play.
“Things have been coming together for us,” said center Kenny Alfred of the drive. “But we still have to just keep getting better. We’re working better together everyday.”
The starting defense didn’t yield a touchdown, even though starting lineman Ropati Pitoitua and safety Husain Abdullah sat out with a sore sternum and shoulder, respectively.
But it did give up points when Romeen Abdollmohammadi launched a 52-yard field goal, his first as a scholarship player.