PULLMAN – Here is the fifth installment of our countdown to Washington State fall camp, which starts on Wednesday. This issue covers the Cougars’ defensive line.
Which WSU defensive linemen will separate themselves?
Back in December, when Jimmy Rogers accepted Washington State’s head coaching job, he was inheriting a defensive tackles room light on depth and experience. The Cougars were set to return edge rusher Isaac Terrell and lineman Bryson Lamb, but thanks to a few offseason departures via the transfer portal, the position group needed work.
Fast forward a few months and it’s clear the priority Rogers and Co. placed on making over the room. Since the year began, the Cougars used the transfer portal to land several key additions to their defensive line: Cal Poly’s Soni Finau, SMU’s Mike Sandjo, New Mexico State’s Buddha Peleti and Malaki Ta’ase, San Diego State’s Darrion Dalton, Kent State’s Kaden Beatty and Max Baloun, the last of whom was one of several players to follow Rogers from South Dakota State to WSU.
Some of those players fashion themselves edge rushers, who are now called defensive ends under the Rogers regime, including Terrell, Peleti and returner Raam Stevenson. But because they’re all under the defensive line umbrella, they’re all coached by Jalon Bibbs, who also coached at SDSU previously. The Cougars do not have a specific coach for defensive ends.
This story profiles as one of the most intriguing to develop during fall camp: Which defensive linemen separate themselves from the pack? Or will that matter less because of the surplus of players, allowing coaches to rely on depth to stay effective?
“They’re coming together,” Rogers said during the Cougs’ spring practices, referring to his defensive linemen. “We need to get better up front, on both sides of the ball, and continue to develop depth. And that’s always been a focus for us and programs that we have been a part of. So (that’s) a focus there. We’ve gotta become physical. We’ve gotta win the line of scrimmage. That’s how games are won.”
During spring ball, WSU’s first-team defensive linemen included Stevenson and Terrell at the DE spots and Lamb and Baloun at the DT positions, with Finau getting a healthy dose of snaps as well. But it wasn’t until after spring ball wrapped up that the Cougs hit the portal and added several more names who figure to be in the mix for snaps: Sandjo, Peleti, Ta’ase and Dalton.
That makes evaluating WSU’s defensive line a little tricky ahead of fall camp. That quartet will likely face real consideration for meaningful snaps come the Cougars’ season, which begins Aug. 30 with a home matchup against FCS Idaho, but will they be able to unseat the ones who established themselves in the spring? The returners who have compelling game tape as Cougars?
If there’s one player who might be able to do so, it’s Peleti, a veteran of three seasons at New Mexico State. As an Aggie, Peleti played in 33 games, posting six tackles for loss and 41/2 sacks last season, starting all 10 games he played. As a sophomore in 2023, Peleti totaled 34 tackles, 12 solo, including 5½ for loss and 4½ sacks, taking over starting duties four games into the season.
Listed at 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, Peleti has the frame to create consistent pass rush, and he did last season. He picked up 21 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, which also credited him with five sacks (official numbers give him 4½). He did miss seven tackles on the season, a weakness that haunted last season’s WSU group.
But whether or not Peleti finds his niche in the Cougs’ pass rush, Bibbs has no shortage of options to toggle between. WSU’s defensive line coach can likely count on consistent push from Lamb and Stevenson, two returners who look poised for breakout seasons.
“Definitely being able to keep us fresh in and out of every series is gonna be really important,” Lamb said after WSU’s spring finale. “Going on for drives, five, six, seven plays is gonna be really taxing initially, but being able to sub, get guys fresh and having the depth for that is gonna be really important for games. It’s gonna allow us to win a lot of games.”
A season ago, the Cougars’ pass rush – or lack thereof – cost them. Across the first half of the season, WSU only registered a handful of sacks, which frustrated coaches, especially because their players were getting pressure. They just weren’t generating sacks.
During fall camp, look for Rogers, Bibbs and other coaches to find ways to help their defensive linemen get all the way to the quarterback, avoiding that problem altogether.
