WSU football notebook: Cougs take on first day of live tackling in spring ball, WR Leon Neal gets scholarship
Mar. 22—PULLMAN — During the last couple of years, Leon Neal Jr. has heard coaches sing his praises tons of times.
The Washington State wide receiver would occasionally get a shoutout during spring ball, maybe another during fall camp, plus some scout team love.
But Neal never broke into the rotation, at least not at receiver. He's become a staple on special teams, blocking a kick that was returned for touchdown in the Holiday Bowl last season. Without a scholarship, Neal never made many waves beyond that front.
As WSU spring ball enters its third week, that may be changing. Neal has earned a scholarship, coach Jimmy Rogers said after Saturday's practice, perhaps signaling a change in the trajectory of the redshirt senior's career.
"I think it was relief a little bit, because he was wondering if it was gonna happen," Rogers said. "He has earned every bit of that right now. He just keeps coming out and keeps competing, and he's always ready to play, and he's always available. He's usually the first guy in the line. Everything that you would say and what you'd want out of a starter right now, he's doing. He's setting the pace for the group right now."
A Seattle native, Neal is making his case to break into the WSU receiver rotation, which includes returners Josh Meredith, Tre Shackelford, Tony Freeman and Branden Ganashamoorthy, plus junior college transfer Devin Ellison, which figures to be the Cougars' main wideout corps. It's a crowded room, which may be a promising development for WSU after the departures of Kyle Williams, Kris Hutson and Carlos Hernandez over the offseason.
If Neal is part of that in the fall, he'll be after the first receptions of his college career, which began in 2021. Since then, he's appeared in 20 games, all in the past two seasons, and all on special teams. He's a bit undersized, at 5-foot-10, but many of the best WSU wideouts of late have been, too.
It's a challenge for Neal, whose father, Leon Sr., played at rival Washington from 1991-96. Time will tell if his son can finally earn playing time on offense at WSU. But after hauling in a long catch-and-run toward the end of Saturday's practice, one of a handful of catches he made during the two-hour session, he's off to a promising start this spring.
More clarity on WSU's spring game
As many teams in college football move away from the traditional spring game model, an effort to fend off transfer portal poachers and keep players healthy, Rogers and the Cougars are doing something similar. In lieu of a regular spring game, which the program has conducted for years, WSU's April 12 event will look more like a regular practice, Rogers said.
It will include 7-on-7 periods, and the clock will be running.
"There's maybe nothing more important than leaving spring ball injury-free as much as possible," Rogers said. "So that will be my focus. It's kind of similar to what you saw today, but maybe a little bit more team, and maybe breaking it up just to give the guys breathers so they're not gassing out and risking the potential of injury."
WSU has a few players out with injuries. Running back Angel Johnson, one of many South Dakota State transfers to follow Rogers to Pullman, is on the shelf for all of spring ball. Cal Poly transfer cornerback Kai Rappolla watched Saturday's practice on crutches, which Rogers said was a precautionary measure to protect him from an ankle sprain. Running back Josh Joyner has also been out with an injury.
The Cougars' final spring practice will still be branded the Crimson and Gray Game, set for Gesa Field as usual, but it won't be as formal as past events. It's an injury prevention measure for WSU — running back Leo Pulalasi went down with an injury in last year's spring game, which kept him out for a couple of months — but likely also a way to keep personnel visibility at a minimum, which gives poachers from other schools fewer chances to evaluate Cougars they might like to pry away.
Cougars focus on tackling technique
Last season's WSU team had its stronger moments, but all told, it never quite shook its tackling issues . The Cougs were among the national leaders in missed tackles , which hampered a defense that was already struggling. It's one of the issues that led to defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding's dismissal at the end of the season.
During Saturday's practice, the first of the 15-practice schedule with live tackling, WSU coaches made a point to emphasize efficient tackling. Many of the Cougars on that side of the ball are new — safeties Tucker Large and Matt Durrance transferred from SDSU, as did defensive linemen Max Baloun and cornerback Colby Humphrey — which Rogers hopes will lead to improved tackling .
"I think it's the angles in which you come in at. I think it's your base in which you come in at," Rogers said. "When you get nervous about missing a tackle, the natural thing is to stop your feet, get a wider base, put your arms out, like you're trying to box him out.
"That's not really how we play defense. We're gonna attack the hip full speed, trust my teammate's pursuit and overlap off of the angle in which the other guy's shooting off of. So we will get better at that. That is something that will be put into strength and conditioning, not necessarily that we're hitting, but the angles and coming out of brakes and having the right foot in the ground on contact."
That approach and others are rubbing off on returning linebacker Keith Brown, who has been practicing with the Cougars' first-team defense this spring. As he develops into a leader in his second year at WSU, he's also enjoying the company of his coaches, who he can tell care about him outside of the gridiron.
"It's just how young, energetic they are, and honest they are," Brown said. "Honesty is kind of a hard thing to come (by) in college football, just kind of the truth of the matter. But all these guys are very honest.
"They tell you exactly how it is, and they're very young and cool, always working out, always making jokes. Our linebacker room, we're serious. Get stuff done. But we do joke a lot, and it's fun."
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