PULLMAN \u2013 Washington State tight end Trey Leckner is on track to return earlier than anybody quite expected.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the word from coach Kirby Moore, who said Monday that Leckner will be a gametime decision Saturday evening against Fresno State, adding that he \u201cwill be back full go this week in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
A likely starter if he were healthy, Leckner suffered a foot injury over the summer. At the beginning of the season, Moore said Leckner was expected to miss the first half of the season, which would have put his return a few more weeks away. But it appears Leckner has made quicker progress than anticipated.<\/p>\n
Whenever he returns, Leckner figures to provide a nice boost to the Cougars\u2019 offense, which is still finding its footing amid the team\u2019s 1-3 start to the season. Leckner is the team\u2019s best pass-catching tight end, which could help unlock a WSU offense that has lost seven total turnovers.<\/p>\n
In Leckner\u2019s absence, WSU\u2019s starting tight end has been UCLA transfer Jack Pedersen, who has caught five passes for 20 yards and one touchdown, which came against FCS Duquesne.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanna be able to utilize both those guys. Obviously, try and get our best players on the field on offense,\u201d Moore said. \u201cThat\u2019ll probably be determined how (Leckner) looks today, Tuesday, Wednesday with the big work days. But I think he\u2019s really progressed from the previous week, last week, and so he\u2019s definitely shown that in the past, and we\u2019re excited to get him out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
A redshirt junior from Snohomish, Leckner started nine of 13 games last season, catching 24 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns, which tied for the third-most by a tight end in WSU single-season history. In 2024, he played in 12 games (two as a starter), reeling in three passes for 56 yards and one score.<\/p>\n
Tucker remains questionable<\/p>\n
Starting cornerback Jalil Tucker remains \u201cgame-to-game, day-to-day,\u201d Moore said. Tucker has now missed three straight games after sustaining an injury in the Sept. 6 Apple Cup. A transfer from Oregon State, Tucker dressed and warmed up for each of the Cougars\u2019 past two games, but he hasn\u2019t been able to play.<\/p>\n
In Tucker\u2019s absence, WSU has tried a couple different approaches. Against Kansas State, the Cougars went with redshirt senior Kai Rapolla, who had a forgettable game, missing two tackles and allowing three catches on four targets. Against Duquesne and Arizona, they moved nickelback Jamarey Smith to cornerback and brought safety Jackquintin Bal off the bench, the latter of which turned out to be a great decision from WSU \u2013 Bal returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.<\/p>\n
If Tucker can\u2019t play Saturday against Fresno State, look for coaches to go with the same approach. They might even give more snaps to Bal, who played a career-high 67 snaps last weekend against Arizona, earning an expanded role in defensive coordinator Trent Bray\u2019s unit. He also recorded nine tackles against Arizona, tops on the team and also Bal\u2019s career-best.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust doing my 1\/11th, trying to be myself and just try to be the best person I can be in my position,\u201d Bal said after the Arizona game, \u201cno matter if it\u2019s boundary safety, field safety, just doing my part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Extra points\u2022 Moore seemed to stand by his decision to let 40 seconds tick off the clock at the end of Saturday\u2019s first half against Arizona, when the Cougars had first-and-10 from the Wildcats\u2019 12-yard line. WSU got a field goal, but Moore explained that he didn\u2019t want to give the ball back to Arizona QB Noah Fifita and his explosive offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether we scored or we kicked a field goal too early, giving the ball back to that quarterback,\u201d Moore said, \u201cI did not think was in our best interest before the half.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 How can the Cougars generate more explosive plays, which Moore has often expressed a need for, when those are the times QB Caden Pinnick has lost turnovers? Moore said this: \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a balance. It\u2019s dialogue during the week. If something\u2019s there, if it\u2019s not there, self-preservation, making sure we\u2019re playing the next play. Every play has a life of its own, and we had some of that come up on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PULLMAN \u2013 Washington State tight end Trey Leckner is on track to return earlier than anybody quite expected.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-478751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}