Mar. 29—The wind was picking up when Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers got to the topic of his quarterback.
Shortly after WSU's practice in Spokane Saturday afternoon was wrapping up, the morning sun beaming on the Cougars' ninth of 15 spring sessions, Rogers seemed to draw a line of sorts.
Entering his fourth month on the job, Rogers understands the intangibles Zevi Eckhaus provides. It's some of the other skills, Rogers indicated, where Eckhaus has room to grow.
"He's a competitor and he's a great leader, but we need to continue to develop the skill set and decision making at times," Rogers said. "I think he's shown that he can play competitive football and be a great leader. We've just gotta manage his decision-making and understand that he doesn't need to make every play — but with the ball in his hand, he makes every decision. So he's growing as a player, and the guys are growing around him."
A little more than a year after transferring from FCS Bryant to WSU, Eckhaus finally has the keys to the Cougars' offense. It's just not the operation he was walking into when he signed with the club. When he committed to WSU last January, his main recruiter was former offensive Ben Arbuckle, who ran a more spread offense, with the pass near the top of mind.
Not exactly the case with Rogers and new OC Danny Freund, who look poised to incorporate the run in bigger ways than this program has seen in a long while. The Cougs have a bit of a logjam at running back — Leo Pulalasi, Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods all featured prominently in Saturday's practice — and it's forcing signal-callers like Eckhaus to recalculate their games and how they fit into this new scheme.
"Obviously, a new system," Eckhaus said. "Just continuously finding different ways to evolve and have my skillset best fit the scheme here. Obviously, it's gonna be a little different. That's OK. That's not a problem. For me, just understanding what we're trying to accomplish as an offense, and then applying my skill set as best as possible."
WSU's practice at ONE Spokane Stadium might have been a harbinger of its first season under Rogers this fall. On offense, some of the Cougars' best plays belonged to their running backs. The most explosive came courtesy of redshirt freshman Maxwell Woods, a transfer from South Dakota State, who ripped off a run of some 45 yards, using a spin move to break free from live tacklers on defense.
It hardly came as a surprise to Rogers, who helped recruit Woods out of the Minneapolis area, then watched him spend his true freshman season operating on the Jackrabbits' scout team. But now Woods is more than just a prospect. He might be pushing for real playing time, if not this fall then the seasons to come.
"I know what I'm getting out of Maxwell," Rogers said. "He's a great competitor. He did that in high school. He's done that every step of the way. Getting him bigger and stronger will be an emphasis in this offseason, just to be able to take the hits, which he's probably gonna take. Maxwell has a skill set that's special, and I'm happy to see him having success the way it was where we were last at."
But WSU's running back room may be thinning out soon. Redshirt junior Djouvensky Schlenbaker was one of a few Cougars to miss Saturday's practice, but not because of injury. Schlenbaker is expected to enter the transfer portal, Rogers said, seemingly including tight end Andre Dollar in that group. Linebacker Dajon Doss was also absent from Saturday's session.
"Some of those guys, they want a bigger role," Rogers said, "and in conversation with them, and kind of seeing where they fit, I ...
