How have WSU's running backs looked during spring practices?
PULLMAN - A beaming grin washes over the face of Leo Pulalasi, one of the Washington State running backs who chose to return to the team. It's the end of the Cougars' seventh spring practice, which unfolded last week, and he's asked if anything about this spring slate, the coaching or the structure or anything else, has taken him by surprise.
"I know this is gonna sound bad," he begins with a laugh.
But ...
"But I used to dread morning practices," Pulalasi said. "But with this staff, the morning practices have been super fun. It's kinda easy to not ease our way into it, but wake up in the morning and be excited to come to practice every day. That's one thing that I realized."
Not long ago, Pulalasi wasn't sure he would be coming to practices at Washington State at all, let alone those in the morning.
On Jan. 3, Pulalasi decided to enter the transfer portal, which would have ended his three-year stay with WSU. In the Cougars' orbit, it registered as a significant blow to the program, considering Pulalasi's potential - even with limited touches in his first trio of years, he always seemed to produce - and what he could have added to their running back corps.
"I was kinda unsure of how (my) whole role and everything was gonna be," Pulalasi said, referring to the Cougars' head coaching change from Jimmy Rogers to Kirby Moore. "Or how my situation was gonna be with my family."
Which is also why he made waves when he changed his mind. Five days later, Pulalasi took to social media to announce he was in fact returning to WSU, joining forces with returning tailbacks Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods, becoming what figures to be a fearsome trio in the team's backfield.
As for why he reversed course, Pulalasi kept those details quiet - "I'd kinda prefer not to say if that's OK," he said - but he did share some excitement about the Cougs' spring ball slate and his role in it.
"They just talked about, I gotta earn my role," Pulalasi said. "That's just something that I've been trained to do. So as this camp goes by, just continue to get better and better."
Whatever led him back to WSU, Pulalasi is in prime position to make a foreboding running back trio alongside Woods and Vorhees, the latter of whom also decided to reverse course from the portal and return to the Cougars. This fall, that group will likely feature prominently under Moore, whose offense at Missouri often made the most of its running backs.
Even through nine spring practices, it's been a little tricky to evaluate WSU's running backs' progress. The only time the Cougars have tackled in earnest was the first 30 minutes of the team's scrimmage last weekend, and otherwise, they've gone with touch tackles. That means that while ballcarriers always run through simulated tackles, it's hard to tell whether they would have been dragged down earlier or not.
Still, Moore has found ways to measure their reps. He places one trait higher than others.
"Ball security has been great," Moore said. "That's the most important thing. We gotta take care of the football. Those guys, I think, the one cut and getting vertical in terms of some of the zone schemes. You saw them get on the edge there today a little bit. I thought Kirby has caught the ball well. I think that's one thing he's really working on, Max in the open field. And then Leo, during the live part of the scrimmage, he did make those guys miss a little bit, and I thought that was great to see."
At Missouri, where Moore worked as offensive coordinator for three seasons prior to arriving at WSU, the Tigers enjoyed a mixed bag of success in the ball security department. Last fall, they averaged 1.4 fumbles per game, which ranked No. 120 nationally. But in 2024, they lost only 0.8 per game, which was No. 9 nationally. And in 2023, the number was also 0.8, which was No. 17. It's clear that Moore really prioritizes avoiding turnovers.
Still, one play that left nothing to the imagination unfolded earlier this week, in Tuesday's practice. In one team period, QB Owen Eshelman dropped back, looked to pass to his left, then looked back to his right, where Vorhees had leaked out. Eshelman lasered a pass Vorhees' way, and the running back did the rest, racing the remaining 50 or 60 yards to the end zone at Rogers Field.
If Vorhees can keep that up, if Pulalasi can continue making defenders miss and Woods can leverage his speed, the Cougars might have something brewing this fall.
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