Jaylen Thomas races in for pick-six to highlight Day 7 of WSU fall camp

Aug. 13—PULLMAN — Jaylen Thomas first started to accelerate when he saw Caden Pinnick load up to release the football, a cheetah perking up seeing an antelope saunter into its field of view. From his spot in Washington State's secondary, Thomas watched as Pinnick targeted a receiver over the middle, then launched himself into a full sprint in that direction. The ball sailed in the air for a moment, a tight spiral zipping like a torpedo over the crimson Cougar logo at Gesa Field's 50-yard mark. For a brief second, it looked like Pinnick was about to build on what had been a solid practice, the seventh session in WSU's fall camp slate. But in a blink, Thomas whisked into the picture, snagged the interception and raced the other way, cruising into the end zone, a pick-six that sent the Cougar defenders into bedlam. In the back of the end zone, Thomas completed a backflip with the ball in hand. He dapped up a teammate who had made the sprint to the end zone with him. Then the duo returned to the far sideline and celebrated, soaking in the moment, adding another feather in the cap of a defense that has been the story of this WSU fall camp. "We're in the middle of camp," Eastern Washington transfer defensive tackle Jirah Leaupepetele said. "Need some energy going." Across seven practices, Cougar defenders have supplied oodles of it. They have now recorded three interceptions in 11-on-11 periods, one from each quarterback vying for the starting job this fall: Julian Dugger, Owen Eshleman and now Pinnick. Their defensive line has forced all three to think quickly, to scramble, to make errant throws. In recent days, their secondary has held up their end of the bargain, underscoring the theme of six of WSU's seven practices this August. The unit is coached by Greg Burns, who has quite the resume. After wrapping up a three-year playing career at WSU in 1995, he went on to coach defensive backs at all manner of schools: Idaho, Louisville, USC, the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas State, Arizona State, Purdue, UMass, Cal, Oregon State, USC, Arizona and most recently San Jose State, where he coached Thomas for the previous two seasons. This fall, he's in charge of a safety room that has looked promising so far. Thomas and Cal Poly transfer Jeremiah Bernard have been repping with the Cougars' first-team defense, which means they'll likely earn starting roles this season. Those two have been hot lately. In Monday's practice, Bernard went horizontal for a diving pass breakup. Three days later, his counterpart turned in one of the top highlights of WSU fall camp so far. "I like his whole football intelligence," Thomas said after one practice last week, referring to Burns. "He's such a football guru, and he's just been around so long. He's learned so many things, and I feel like every day I'm learning something new from him. He has something he thought about last night that he's like, oh, this could help you help the defense, help the team in just the littlest way. And those little things stack up each and every time." Where does that put the Cougars' QB race, the competition between the trio of Pinnick, Eshelman and Dugger? They've all generated nice highlights, including a head-turning throw from Dugger on Wednesday and deep balls from Pinnick and Eshlelman on Saturday, but none have pulled away in any meaningful capacity. A week into fall camp, maybe that's not entirely unexpected, but head coach Kirby Moore and offensive coordinator Matt Miller have to make a decision at some point. Those two coaches have offered scant details about which way they may be leaning, making it tricky business to evaluate this QB competition, but here is one detail worth monitoring: In the last two days of practice, which have moved over to Gesa Field to finish, Pinnick has taken the field first. He's often been the first quarterback to take reps in team periods, which could indicate he's in the lead for the starting role. Outside of his interception, Pinnick did turn in a nice practice on Thursday. In one 11-on-11 period over at Rogers Practice Field, Pinnick stood in the pocket and delivered back-to-back strikes to Oregon State transfer receiver Darrius Clemons, who hauled in each pass crossing the middle of the field and angling toward the sideline. Those were two of Pinnick's best throws of camp, especially considering he climbed the pocket and went unfazed by pressure from WSU's defensive line, which has wreaked all kinds of havoc during fall camp. Clemons' fall camp has gone a bit understated, but he's been taking consistent first-team reps, meaning he's likely ready to start in WSU's wide receiver corps. Other likely starters include Tony Freeman and Daniel Blood, each of whom have reeled in tough catches in recent practices. Who will that trio be catching passes from this fall? It could be Pinnick, whose spot at the front of the team's quarterback rotation in the last couple practices could indicate some progress he's made. But he did throw a costly interception in Thursday's session. The saga of another Cougar quarterback competition rolls on. Notes —Running back Kirby Vorhees missed a second straight practice, and it was the third straight miss for cornerback Jalil Tucker, each of whom are likely to start for the Cougars —In Vorhees' absence, WSU's first-team running back has been redshirt sophomore Maxwell Woods —It's looking more and more likely that WSU's starting offensive line will include Ashton Tripp at left tackle, Kyle Martin at left guard, Noah Dunham at center, Nick Bakken at right guard and Jonny Lester at right guard. That's the group that took first-team reps the last several practices —WSU's second-team offensive line featured Max McCree at left tackle and returner Jaylin Caldwell at right tackle —In one team period at Rogers Practice Field, Eshelman withstood some pressure and laced a crossing pattern ball to tight end Hudson Cedarland for a nice gain