Countdown to camp: Should WSU be concerned about its defensive line depth?

PULLMAN – Here is the sixth installment of our countdown to Washington State fall camp, which starts on Wednesday. This issue covers the Cougars’ defensive line.

Should WSU be concerned about its defensive line depth?

There’s a chance Washington State does fine on the defensive line this season, a chance that the Cougars flourish with efficient pass rush from the interior. It’s possible WSU turns this into a strength come season time.

But right now, the Cougs are looking a little thin on the interior of the defensive line. They return one starter, redshirt junior David Gusta, and one key reserve in sophomore Ansel Din-Mbuh, who is showing real promise early in his career. Dig a little deeper, though, and WSU doesn’t have much proven experience on that front.

The other two players to keep an eye on, sophomore Khalil Laufau and redshirt sophomore Rashad Mackenzie, have played little college football. Last season, Laufau totaled 12 tackles in nine games. Mackenzie missed the season with an injury, and he sat out spring ball recovering. Besides WSU’s win over FCS Northern Colorado last season, which is when Mackenzie suffered his season-ending injury, he has not played a down of college ball.

The Cougars’ other option on the defensive line, returner Jernias Tafia, transferred to Colorado State over the offseason. Another edge rusher, Lawrence Falatea, tore his ACL during last year’s fall camp and entered the transfer portal during the spring.

That puts the onus on Gusta and Din-Mbuh – not only to be injury-free and available but also to produce . A season ago, Din-Mbuh played behind Colorado transfer Naim Rodman. Now he’ll likely be stepping into a starting role. He’s an auspicious young talent, but that’s a lot of pressure to put on a true sophomore who has only played as many as 21 snaps in one game.

So for WSU, what’s the solution? Hope they get big-time production from Gusta and Din-Mbuh, at least enough to free up edge rushers like Syrus Webster and Nusi Malani, the latter of whom moved to edge last season?

To hear Gusta tell it, his unit is in fine shape.

“This is the best our defense has looked in a long time,” Gusta said during spring practices. “Our defense is just on a whole other level. We’re definitely getting coached on the smaller details now, the smaller points. So our film, it’s not even just getting chewed out. It’s just the real small, minute details now.”

Perhaps it’s also possible that the Cougs shuffle some personnel. A season ago, injuries created a need for Malani to move from interior to edge, and he made the change well. WSU has something like a surplus of edge rushers – Webster, Malani, Andrew Edson, Isaac Terrell, Raam Stevenson, Quinn Roff – so could it move one or two of those guys to the interior? It might be a lot to ask, but that’s the kind of move for which fall camp is made.

It only seems necessary because of last year’s results. WSU finished ninth in the Pac-12 in PFF’s run defense grades, finishing with a figure of 67.8, and the Cougars came in sixth in pass rush with a grade of 74.2.

That was with the services of stars Brennan Jackson and Ron Stone Jr., though, so the Cougars might need a boost in that department this season.

We’ll know soon enough how WSU plans to address that need.