Washington State’s Ayden Hector won’t play at Utah after positive COVID-19 test

SALT LAKE CITY – Washington State’s beleaguered defensive secondary again won’t be at full strength when the Cougars play the Utes on Saturday in the season finale at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Ayden Hector, the true freshman walk-on who’s made an impact for WSU at strong safety this season starting in two of three games, announced on Instagram Friday he tested positive for COVID-19 and wouldn’t be available to face Utah.

It’s unclear if other WSU players are being held out of the game because of positive tests or contact tracing.

A former four-star prospect who was initially signed to play at Stanford, Hector walked on to WSU’s football team at the outset of fall camp and started in his college debut while the Cougars dealt with attrition in the secondary.

Hector’s absence means more attrition for the group, which has been thin in numbers since the opener.

Tyrese Ross, a projected starter, missed the first game of the season against Oregon State. Despite returning to play Oregon the following week, the Florida native wasn’t available to play at USC and wasn’t spotted warming up with the team before last week’s game against California was canceled.

Another safety, Chad Davis Jr., hasn’t appeared for the Cougars this season, although he’s still listed as a backup to Hector on the team’s depth chart.

If the trio of Hector, Ross and Davis can’t play against Utah, the Cougars will be left with just two safeties who are listed on the two-deep: starting free safety Daniel Isom and backup free safety Armauni Archie.

Hector shared the team with seven tackles in his debut with the Cougars and was named the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Week after contributing to three turnovers in WSU’s 43-29 loss to Oregon. Hector recovered two fumbles in the game and came up with an interception in the first half. On the season, he’s recorded 13 total tackles.