WSU Football: "All of them have elevated their play" | Coach Nick Whitworth after Practice | 8/20/24

well we're going to of course start out Gunners right Gunners of course yeah Gunners is great uh so this year it's uh it's a different crew you know experience has kind of uh left us with graduation now we're talking about a handful of guys with with no experience but Talent reminds me of the first year I was here and um excited to see a few of these guys I mean Leon Smithson probably has the most experience coming back uh you've got the corner guys with Steven Hall and jamor Coulson that have talent um we got a couple of young guys I wouldn't mind seeing that Chris Barnes kids pretty fast I'd like to like to see him run on one of these one of these times so yeah I think those those guys are going to fill in good and I expect you know I expect him to do well I'm excited to see him go uh talk about the snapping a little bit you kind of have an idea who's going to be the the primary Snapper yeah I think right now as we look at it I think it's uh it's a three-way race between those three um you know Durham Harris um uh Coulson or Coulson Bruner and and sha Burrus excited to see how those guys do and and quite haven't quite got to that situation yet but fired up about how they're doing and then just on the tight end front uh I asked coach dickard yesterday about Trey lechner and it just seems like he's really come on strong in uh over the course of camp and it seems like you really do have four guys you can trust how do you kind of feel like that rotation might play out with with Trey Billy Coupe and uh and Andre you know it's uh I think all of them have elevated their play which has been the hard part for me as a coach um I love what Andre is doing in the Run game right now and and he's gradually getting better in the pass game and becoming reliable and you know those other two have played quite a bit between Coupe and and and Bill so it's going to be exciting to kind of rotate those three and find out where their strengths are and see if we can get them in to maximize um you know their roles in this offense but I mean Trey lner has flashed he has done some good jobs and he's made some rookie mistakes too man and you know he's out there doing his thing but uh it's exciting to see what uh what that young man can do I couldn't say more about his attitude and and uh really how hard he's practicing right now obviously John is qb1 is he also holder number two for Place kicks John John's actually became a really good holder too now okay he yes he yes um no obviously Nick's the holder Nick's going to be our holder but JN has come so far that I'd feel great with John in a game I have no worries he's been Nick had the Nick had a little bit of a ailment there for a few uh few days in which John had to kind of take over and we didn't miss a beat man so I know nobody's worried about it except for me but it's nice when you have um competitive players at that position right at the holder the most important position on the field right yeah I'm curious about uh Dean's progress what is progress look like for a kicker is it just kind of accuracy and kind of putting it where you want or like in your eyes what does that look like it's consistency man it's consistency and I think that's the way you measure any specialist is as they continue to develop it's how consistent are they you know with their routine the the the swing the accuracy is a big part of it obviously we want to be as accurate as possible but just how predictable are they right and ultimately when it's you know it's go time can you count on them and I think those are how you measure Specialists yeah tell us about about the uh onti kick drill you were running over here just a minute ago what uh do you see what you want out of that yeah I can't talk to you about that no no you'll put that out there and then everybody will know we'll onside kick them I'm kidding that's I'm kidding that's a hands team drill okay we're out there working our hands team uh guys yeah and uh just working different types of uh kicks that they can field and the rules of fair catching and when not to and all this stuff you know that's a that's a team that if it's out there it's usually to win the game so we want to spend a little bit of extra time on it after practice make ourselves feel better about it who who are a couple guys that kind of stood out in the special team's whole operation uh overall or like new guys who who've really impressed you uh let's see a couple of guys um as far as young guys that are a little bit of surp oh well I'll tell you what Wes Steiner is doing a heck of a job okay and you know he comes from Auburn so he's been coached he kind of knows it's not a complete he's not completely foreign to the Special Teams realm or what we're doing here so it's been a good transition practice is hard I mean really into it in the meetings um great at getting information to application I mean I'm excited to see him go out and play he's been a pleasant surprise Parker um Parker's been a a great addition as well love seeing him I mean he really flies around pretty physical player excited to see him on special teams I mean there's a few new guys in here that I'm really excited about Keith Brown being another one um you know there a couple guys that uh going to be different and it's and we need them you know we graduate a lot of our core guys from last year so these guys are going to step up for us and I'm excited to see them get down man I really am often times times you know special teams is seen as like a way to you know Play on Play yourself onto the field and you know possibly to to other roles um how have guys kind of responded to that opportunity and um what's kind of your your approach to telling that message well I think it's I think uh the culture um of our team and I really mean team because at the top coach di Dicker makes a u a real conscious effort uh to make sure that special teams are understood by our program okay and it's not really just special teams it's really offense defense anything we got our hands on and our name on has to be our best and that includes every phase of the game so we don't downplay that that part of the game and I think our team culture kind of bleeds into All Phases of our football plays from football for um from offense to defense to special teams right so when isn't really hard I think the culture building that coach Digger does kind of sets the table for that all we have to really do is get them organized and get them in the right direction man so yeah it's it's it's it's great that way uh for Dean what's kind of the one thing that you want to see him really Elevate this year who's that uh Dean Janowski de danowski you know I think the biggest thing is just being very present in the moment and focused on kind of a one- swing mentality you know that's keep talking to him about it you know he's a guy that's got a lot of things he's doing all the time man he's very he's very busy kid but he's just going to focus on that one swing and and and be good at it and and Elevate that consistency excited excited excited no thank you that was an that was an easy question I love those throw a hard one at me I'll be like I'll get you man that's it