PULLMAN, Wash. — Spring football is just a few weeks away.
The Washington State Cougars are looking to bounce back after missing out on a bowl game last season.
WSU Head Coach Jake Dickert stopped by the 4 News Now Studio to chat with me about the upcoming season.
Julian Mininsohn: Well Jake, we can talk about your players all day long. But I think the number one position group everyone wants to talk about is quarterback. You guys are going to have a new starting one next season. I know you’ve stressed competition. But John Mateer seems to be the guy that has the most experience under his belt, outside of the great flow he’s got. Top five hair on the team, probably, right?
Jake Dickert: Caught a pass last year. I don’t know if that’s the criteria for a quarterback or not. It’s going to be a great competition. I think John, when we were out there looking in the portal, one thing we were unwilling to do was just say hey we’re going to bring somebody in just to be a starter. We got a guy that we’ve developed, not only as a leader, but as a football player, his confidence is growing each and everyday. I think he’s going to be really efficient running our offense. Now, just like any other position that we have. Zevi Eckhaus has come in, Evans Chubba, Jaxon Potter. Obviously when you get the quarterback position right, we all know it will create success for your football team. This announcement will go all the way to about game week at Portland State. I’m just excited to see these guys compete their tail off each and every practice.
Julian: Continuity is another important thing. With the NCAA NIL rues being suspended for now, how does that impact Washington State when it comes to preventing other programs from trying to lure those guys away?
Jake: I think the biggest thing I told our coaches coming back from the Christmas break is we retained 97 percent of our roster. That’s something that you can’t take lightly. A lot of people want to give me the credit. We got a bunch of players that want to be around each other and formulate a sense of connection. They don’t want to let each other down. They want to be around our coaches. We got a bunch of good mentors and men. that want to lead them and create value for them as football players. Rules are changing each and everyday. It’s hard to keep up with it. All we can do is as Cougs and as a football program is continually put our best foot forward and maintain our roster here because we are going to be a developmental program. We got to be able to find that two-star that we feel has great size, attributes and develop those guys. But then when it’s time to keep them we have to be able to reward those guys.
Julian: At WSU, the standard is the bowl game and postseason opportunities. How do you get this program back to one after missing out last season?
Jake: I think the biggest thing is you got to stay true to the process. The biggest thing is things have changed around us. All we can do is worry about ourselves. Our motto is always us, never them. No matter what happens it’s the things that we do and we control. When you stack a bunch of 1-0’s that’s how you give yourselves an opportunity to go to bowl games. It’s one game at a time. Bowl game is what you do at the end. As we go throughout the process of the season. We’re excited about our schedule. We’re excited about how that came about in a short period of time. But at the end of the day it’s about what we’re willing to do and sacrifice to be successful every Saturday.
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