The Cougars concluded their spring season only to find themselves eager to return to the field in August.

After the Crimson and Gray game last Saturday, the Cougars had one more practice to go over some things to improve upon entering the offseason.

Often, teams conclude spring practices with their annual spring game. Head Coach Mike Leach has said he likes the extra practice to assess what went on during the game. Leach believes everything must be improved from a team perspective after Saturday’s spring game.

“Just overall polish things up I guess, not one glaring thing,” Leach said. “I thought we tackled really well in the spring so another chance to improve on that.”

One noticeable difference this spring was the new defensive packaging that defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has brought to Pullman. The new schemes have allowed the defense to adapt more to nickel packages and also come out with fire trying to compete for their new coach’s respect.

Redshirt senior wide receiver Dom Williams believes this camp was more competitive than in recent years.

“It was a lot more competitive, we were actually getting after it,” Williams said. “Everybody was competing on both sides of the ball, you couldn’t really tell on any given day who did better than the other side so I mean it was good just to compete.”

Williams had a terrific day on Saturday in the scrimmage, catching eight balls for 164 yards and two touchdowns. It appears as though the redshirt senior will be the Number 1 option on the outside entering the fall. Redshirt junior wide receiver Gabe Marks had a big spring as well and will likely be the Cougars’ next option.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cougars saw noticeable improvement throughout spring camp as they grew more accustomed to what Grinch wanted from them. With a young secondary, it was important for the Cougars to gain experience. However, senior linebacker Jeremiah Allison believes the unit has more work to do heading into the offseason.

“I mean we have a lot to work on, it went pretty good but we still got a lot to go,” Allison said.

The defense and offense both have room to improve. For Allison, his message to his defensive unit this offseason has one clear focus.

“Stay committed, play as hard as possible,” Allison said. “Try to find that next stage to get to, try to find that next phase to reach.”

The expectations for the 2015 edition of the Cougar football team are a bit unclear after a 3-9 finish last season where many believed the team underperformed. This season, WSU will have a new defensive system with more experience on their end led by Allison. Also, the Cougars will enter the era of either redshirt freshman quarterback Peyton Bender or redshirt sophomore quarterback Luke Falk as the competition continues, however, many believe Falk has the lead on Bender after his impressive spring game.

The spring provides the players a chance to remember how to prepare on a week-to-week basis by playing three days a week. It can be tiring on a player but the Cougars did an excellent job conditioning their players this spring. With the spring over, the Cougars are very excited to get back on the field this fall.

“I’m real anxious, it starts with summer work outs getting bigger, working on our condition and all that but other than that I can’t wait to get back,” Williams said.

The team will have to wait until August to get back out on the field. In the meantime, the players will continue training for the grueling season. The coaches will also spend time looking at film and preparing their strategies for the season, however, Leach has another task to get through this summer.

“I got a pretty big on-deck circle (of books) going right now, I’d have to think about that, they fall over every time I turn on the lamp,” Leach said.