Aug. 5—PULLMAN — The throw looked perfect right away, a smooth parabola off the hands of Washington State quarterback Zevi Eckaus, who was targeting wideout Kaden Harken toward the end zone. The ball reached its peak at around the 15-yard line, underneath a cloudless Tuesday morning sky at Gesa Field, before heading back toward the turf.
As that happened, Harken jockeyed for position with freshman cornerback David Kuku, who played him well. Neither freshman could create much separation. Turns out, Harken didn’t need to. As the ball sailed toward him, he reached his arms out and secured it at about the 5-yard line, falling to the ground in the crimson-painted end zone.
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That prompted Eckhaus, the likely frontrunner in the Cougs’ four-way battle for starting quarterback duties, to jump for joy and sprint toward the end zone. Many of his teammates did something similar. They zoomed to the spot like ants toward a stray potato chip, hooping and hollering their approval, a moment of validation for a promising young prospect at the receiver position.
For WSU, though, the more pressing development was Eckhaus’ throw. It was one of his best of the Cougars’ fall camp, which completed its sixth day on Tuesday. Eckhaus wasn’t perfect in practice — earlier in the two-hour session, he sailed a toss out of the back of the end zone — but otherwise, he turned in the kind of steady outing that has landed him at the front of the pack thus far.
In this competition with returner Jaxon Potter, Pitt transfer Julian Dugger and Rutgers transfer Ajani Sheppard, Eckhaus has established himself the favorite because of his experience. Because of his ability to make passes like that with more and more frequency, to point his teammates in the right direction and earn their respect along the way.
“Zevi, his leadership has been awesome since we’ve shown up,” said WSU offensive coordinator Danny Freund, who indicated it remains a true four-way battle. “He’s a really accurate thrower from the pocket. He can make quick decisions. He’s got a really good command of the offense. He takes a lot of pride in that.”
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What makes WSU’s quarterback situation interesting is the personnel. Many QB competitions, including the Cougars’ last fall, center around two players. This one involves four. That means lots of different skillsets and options for Freund and head coach Jimmy Rogers to evaluate, but it also means more work and study, forcing them to decide who fits best in this new offensive scheme.
Each brings something different to the table. Eckhaus offers experience, skill, respect around the locker room. Dugger is perhaps the best athlete of the bunch, a true dual-threat quarterback. Sheppard can run just as well, pairing that ability with an accurate throw. Potter is similarly accurate, using his 6-foot-5 frame to deliver strong throws on a line.
Freund and the Cougs have taken care to find creative ways to see quarterbacks show what they can do. Their first two practices of fall camp were split into two sessions, that way quarterbacks could log more reps and have space to do their things. But because injuries started to befall the team, WSU scrapped plans for a split practice Friday and went to one session.
Since Saturday, the Cougs have been running one practice in the morning, letting all four quarterbacks take reps with different teammates. That’s how Harken, a freshman walk-on, gets on the field with Eckhaus. In other action, Potter connected with wide receiver Tony Freeman for a touchdown and Eckhaus turned a run-pass option into a rushing touchdown, angling toward the corner of the end zone.
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The Cougar quarterbacks will also be facing a handful of live reps, meaning they can get tackled like any other player, like they did at the end of Monday’s practice. Coaches may be risking injury, Rogers acknowledged, but they also value the intel that comes from quarterbacks’ responses. The way coaches see it, quarterbacks face more urgency with their footwork, more urgency to get the ball out faster, like they would in a real game.
“And the ability to go make a play with your feet I think stands out because you know you could get hit,” Freund said. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing, and it’s the most realistic thing to playing a live game. So when you’re truly in a competition, you’re truly trying to evaluate guys, and it’s close, sometimes those are the types of things you go to.”
To Freund, that’s the next step in Eckhaus’ development: Can he improve his mobility? Eckhaus is most comfortable as a pocket passer, which he showed in last winter’s Holiday Bowl, filling in to complete 31 of 43 passes for 363 yards, three scores and two interceptions. But in that game, Eckhaus also scampered in for a short rushing touchdown, putting on film what Freund believes he can keep getting better at.
On that front, Dugger and Sheppard are two of the Cougs’ best options, dual-threat signal-callers who waste no time scrambling and sprinting upfield. Both did so at their previous schools. Dugger used that kind of athleticism to record one of fall camp’s top highlights on Monday, evading tackles and gliding into the end zone for a touchdown in a live rep.
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“We’re just trying to evaluate the guys every day, give them grades, tell them what they can work on, tell them what they’re doing well,” Freund said. “And I’ve just been really impressed with the type of teammates they’ve been, and that’s what we expect out of Cougs.”
Non-participants in Tuesday’s practiceWorking to the side in Tuesday’s session were linebackers Keith Brown and Jovan Clark; defensive tackles Mike Sandjo, Donovan Fitzmaurice and Connor Sullivan; safety Kyle Peterson; offensive linemen Chris Lino and Dylan Hildebrand and cornerbacks Kai Rapolla and Jamarey Smith.
Safety Tucker Large missed his third straight practice, and fellow safety Cale Reeder also missed, but those are two of the players Rogers trusts most, so it’s likely the team was resting them out of precaution.
New absences include redshirt freshman Maxwell Woods, who had his arm in a sling, and redshirt freshman wideout Mackenzie Alleyne, whose left leg was in a cast. Rogers was not made available after practice, but Freund said neither injury was serious.
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“Don’t know. I know they’re not super serious,” Freund said. “I know they’ll be back at some point, hopefully, to help us here in the near future. But yes, it’s not something that’s, I don’t think is long term. I know those guys are itching to get back.”
