PULLMAN — During the first nine weeks of last season, Stephen Hall played 33 snaps against FBS competition. The Washington State University cornerback was all but buried on the depth chart, hearing his number called only in lopsided games, and it didn’t help that his Cougars were mired in a long losing streak.
Ten months later, as the Cougs kicked off the first day of fall camp on Wednesday, he’s flourished into one of the best leaders on WSU’s team, at least according to head coach Jake Dickert. How did Hall get the confidence to start speaking up?
“Because he’s got a great story now,” Dickert said. “About perseverance. About not getting what you want immediately, staying the course.
“It says a lot about who he is as a man — not just as a football player. Last night, we talked about it. Everyone’s out here to carve a role out on this team.
“But you talk to Steve, you talk to Jamorri (Colson, cornerback) — what was your role in Game 1? ‘It was nothing.’ What was your role at the end of the season? ‘I was starting.’ So you gotta stay the course. He’s got a great story to share, and I think his personality is really coming out now because he’s very comfortable.”
Injuries opened an opportunity and Hall started in three of WSU’s final four games of the season, skyrocketing up the depth chart to record one pass breakup, nine tackles and allow five receptions on nine targets. Now a redshirt junior and his starting role cemented, Hall is drawing on that experience to point his teammates in the right direction — valuable for the Cougs considering what they’re losing at the position.
Gone are cornerback staples Chau Smith-Wade and Cam Lampkin, who moved on to the NFL in different capacities. Dickert and new cornerbacks coach Allen Brown are asking Hall and Colson to become capable replacements. At the risk of drawing too many conclusions from the first day of fall camp, they’re off to a nice start.
Not just based on their leadership qualities, either. On one long pass attempt, Hall reached his arm in and recorded a nice pass breakup, showing off some real speed on the play.
“Stephen Hall has emerged as one of the best leaders on this football team,” Dickert said, “and not because of what he wants to accomplish, but what he wants that group and those corners to do. I think he’s just given his wisdom and leadership every day, and I thought it was really evident today on the first day.”
Elsewhere on the practice field in this helmets-only session, quarterbacks John Mateer and Zevi Eckhaus split time with the first- and second-team units, a signal from Dickert and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle that the position battle is tight as ever. It might not mean anything, but it’s worth noting that Mateer was under center with the first team for the initial team period of Wednesday’s practice.
They looked about even to the untrained eye — and even to the trained ones. They’re both “ultracompetitors,” Dickert said, which was evident in the way Mateer and Eckhaus laced passes to receivers new and experienced, from veteran Kyle Williams to Oregon transfer Kris Hutson.
Mateer, who after practice lamented his speed rating of 72 in the new EA College Football 25 video game, used one designed QB keeper to show why that rating seems a bit low.
In any case, it’s much too early to make any assumptions about which way coaches are leaning in this position battle. Mateer looked like the more capable quarterback toward the end of spring practices, running with the first team more often than Eckhaus, but those developments mean little now that fall camp is off and running.
WSU’s receivers weren’t perfect — returner Carlos Hernandez and Hutson each dropped a pass in team periods — but that’s to be expected early on. More important, they’re developing rapport with Mateer and Eckhaus. They were doing so during the summer, though, so maybe the beginning of fall camp is only a more formal extension of the work they put in earlier in the year.
“Kris Hutson has a lot of experience,” Mateer said. “Those guys have different points of views, what they like. They all run their routes a little differently. Tre (Shackelford) has great hands. You throw anything his way, he’s gonna catch it. Kris dropped one up the seam, but it’s fine. It’s Day 1, and they look good, and we’re only gonna get better.”
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